A Black History Month Celebration with Poetry Ireland and The Irish Writers Centre

Chaired by the award-winning author and activist Leon Diop the evening will feature readings from the brilliant Shakeema Edwards, Gustav Parker Hibbet, Sandrine Uwase Ndahiro, and Chiamaka Enyi-Amadi.

This event will take place on Thursday 22nd October at 6:30pm at Poetry Ireland, 11 Parnell Square East, Dublin. Tickets are €5 excluding booking fee.

Learn more about the evening’s contributors below.

Shakeema Edwards

Shakeema Edwards is an Antiguan American writer living in the U.K., where she writes about heritage, immigration, nature, and loss. She completed a master’s in poetry at Queen’s University Belfast and is a member of Obsidian Foundation’s Class of 2025. Her writing is currently supported by the Jerwood Arvon Writer Residencies 2026–7 program and has previously appeared in magazines such as Poetry Ireland Review, Banshee, Magma, and Propel. Her debut pamphlet, Recipe for Leaving, is out with Green Bottle Press.
Gustav Parker Hibbett

Gustav Parker Hibbett is a Black poet, essayist, and MFA dropout. Their debut poetry collection, High Jump as Icarus Story (Banshee Press, 2024), won the John Pollard Foundation International Poetry Prize and was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize, among other honours. They were the 2025 Commissioned Writer for Temple Bar Gallery + Studios, and they have recently completed a PhD in Literary Practice at Trinity College Dublin.

 Sandrine Uwase Ndahiro

Sandrine Uwase Ndahiro is a Rwandan-Irish early-career researcher focused on postcolonial literature, Black environmentalism, and contemporary Irish literature. She examines representational modes of the political economy of race and autonomy on a global scale. Sandrine is also the founder of the literary and cultural magazine Unapologetic, which champions ethnic minority writing in Ireland. Her public engagement efforts and interdisciplinary research approach aim to bridge academia and the creative industries to discuss important social issues, such as race and climate change, from diverse perspectives.

Chiamaka Enyi-Amadi

Chiamaka Enyi-Amadi is a Wicklow-based writer, performer and facilitator born in Lagos, Nigeria. She is a commissioned poet on the Poetry as Commemoration project run by the Irish Poetry Reading Archive. She is working on her debut poetry pamphlet.

 Leon Diop

Leon Diop is a mixed race man from Tallaght, Dublin. Leon graduated from Maynooth with a degree in psychology before going on to be Maynooth Students’ Union President for two terms. In June of 2020 he founded Black and Irish. An organisation working on the behalf of Black and mixed race people in Ireland. He is the co-author of the award winning book, Black and Irish: Legends, Trailblazers and Everyday Heroes and a host of the Black and Irish podcast. In September 2024, Leon was named as a European Leader for the Obama Foundation. In November 2025, Leon published his second book, “Mixed Up” to help young people become more comfortable in their identity. Leon is formerly the head of equality, diversity and inclusion at the Arts Council of Ireland. He is currently undertaking his masters in Trinity College Dublin and is serving as Director of Black & Irish.