Irish Writers Centre & Poetry Ireland: A Black History Month Celebration
The Irish Writers Centre & Poetry Ireland Present: A Night in Celebration of Black History Month
On Friday, 24th October, the Irish Writers Centre and Poetry Ireland will join forces to co-present a night of readings from Black-Irish writers and poets in celebration of Black History Month.
Set in the historic surroundings of our Georgian headquarters at 19 Parnell Square, this special event will feature readings from acclaimed writers and poets shaping the Black Irish literary canon today.
Chaired by poet and editor of Poetry Ireland’s Trumpet for 2025, Nandi Jola, the lineup features the incredible talents of Zainab Boladale, Chiamaka Enyi-Amadi, Jade Jordan, Ola Majekodunmi, and Samuel Yakura,
All are welcome to celebrate and hear these incredible voices of Ireland’s Black community. The night will run from 6:30 – 8:00 pm. Tickets are €5 and available now on Eventbrite.
More about our writers:
Nandi Jola is editor of Issue 14 Poetry Ireland’s Trumpet, born in South Africa and growing up under Apartheid, she writes and researches about colonial legacies, belonging and identity. Nandi published her debut collection ‘Home Is Neither Here Nor There’ in 2022 and has graduated with MA in Poetry from the Seamus Heaney Centre, QUB.
Jade Jordan is an accomplished actor, writer & author who recently wrapped on a sci-fi feature film White Mars opposite Lucy Hale and Luke Newton. Her extensive screen credits include Hallmark’s The Reluctant Royal, Video Nasty (BBC/Virgin Media), Blackshore (BBC/RTE), Harry Wild (Acorn/RTE), Northern Lights (TG4,) Kin (RTE/BBC), No Return (ITV), The Virtues (Channel 4), The Catch (Channel 5 & Paramount+), and Redemption (ITV). Feature films include How To Tell A Secret, You Are Not My Mother, Twig, and Amongst the Wolves. She has a leading role in the upcoming Crazy Love directed by Jason Byrne & Kevin Treacy. Jade won the Suil Eile Award at Irish Film Festival 2021 for outstanding contribution to Irish film. She wrote, produced, and starred in The Colour Between, funded by Screen Ireland and nominated for Best Short Film at the Irish Film and Television Awards 2022. As a published author, her autobiographical book Nanny, Ma & Me (2021) ranked in Ireland’s top 10 bestsellers and received an An Post award nomination in 2022.
Ola Majekodunmi was born in Lagos, Nigeria and raised in Dublin, Ireland. She is a broadcaster, writer, Gaeilgeoir, creative producer and workshop facilitator. She’s produced and spoken/performed at literary events with the likes of San Patrizio Livorno Festival, IASIL Conference, Dublin International Literature Festival, Cúirt International Festival of Literature, West Cork Literary Festival and Irish Writers Centre. Majekodunmi has performed her poems at home in Ireland and internationally in Italy and Egypt. Her poetry and prose work have been published in Cnámh & Smior, including poetry journals, magazines and zines such as COMHAR, Storms, Airmid and Blue Bodies. Majekodunmi writes primarily in Irish, English and Yoruba. She has also released poetry films with NÓS Magazine and Axis Ballymun, Dublin.
Zainab Boladale is a multi-talented Nigerian-Irish journalist, presenter and author known for her captivating storytelling across diverse platforms including television, film and print. She marked a historic milestone in 2017, becoming the first Black woman to present Irish TV news. Zainab’s creative contributions include her impactful short film Worthy, which premiered at the GAZE Film Festival in 2023. Her debut Young Adult novel, Braids Take a Day, published by The O’Brien Press in 2024, quickly garnered acclaim with an An Post Irish Book Award nomination.
Samuel Yakura is a Nigerian-born writer and performance poet residing in Ireland. In 2015, Yakura began actively participating in Nigeria’s literary scene and developing his budding poetic craft. He became a member of the Abuja Literary Society, the local literary space and community for creatives in Abuja, Nigeria, where he attended open mics, readings, workshops, and master classes. His efforts soon paid off in the multiple competitions he won against poets from across the country, including the Abuja Literary Society Slam and Grand Slam and the Oxfam Slam. Yakura also opened for and performed at famed performance poet Dike Chukwumerije’s Night of the Spoken Word, one of the foremost spoken word shows in Nigeria, among other events. Yakura moved to Ireland in 2018 and became involved with the Irish literary world, co-curating the Speakers Corner event for Central Arts Waterford’s Summer in the City event and winning the first Talkatives Slam Competition in Dublin, put together by Boundless & Bare, Slight Motif, and WeAreGriot. In the fall of 2019, Yakura was one of six poets shortlisted for Poetry Ireland’s Versify 2019. Presently, Yakura is the newest member of WeAreGriot, a collective of Nigerian-Irish poets and storytellers consisting of himself, Dagogo Hart, and Felicia Olusanya (FeliSpeaks). The group’s focus is on curating poetry and rap events, including the Talkatives Slam series, and they also write plays and their work has been presented at Dublin Fringe Festival’s Utopia or Bust: Manifestos for a New Era.
Chiamaka Enyi-Amadi was born in Lagos, Nigeria and bred in Dublin, Ireland. She is an honours graduate of University College Dublin, and as well as poetry and creative writing, she works in copy writing and editing. Her work has been published in various magazines both online and in print, and she has performed in festivals, cultural events and workshops around Ireland. Her writing and videos are heavily saturated with themes of shifting and marginal identities, particularly cultural diversity, bodily autonomy and self care. She aims to promote women’s rights, positive mental health and the importance of creative expression.
