We heard from Ashley Hickson-Lovence, Bryan Beadyman, Elizabeth Okoh, Amber Massie-Blomfeld, Zelda Rhiando, Anne Enith Cooper, Troy Onyango and Mik Artistik as part of the Virtual Lambeth Country Show

Watch it again on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Npu8AhJzECg

The writers

Ashley Hickson-Lovence is a writer from Hackney currently completing his PhD in Creative and Critical Writing at the University of East Anglia. His debut novel The 392, set almost entirely on a London bus over just 36 minutes, was released with OWN IT! in April 2019. He is currently writing his second novel.

@AHicksonLovence | ashley-hickson-lovence.com

Elizabeth Okoh is a British-Nigerian Writer, Photographer and Content Creator with a penchant for storytelling and wanderlust. She holds a degree in Psychology and Sociology from the University of Sussex and a certificate in Novel Writing and Longer Works from City University. Her work has been published in online and print magazines, as well as curated in exhibitions internationally. Her debut novel The Returnees will be published by Hodder & Stoughton on 6 August 2020. She’s currently working on her second novel and empowering women through the art of boudoir photography. You can find her on all social media platforms @Lizeokoh | elizabethokoh.com

Amber Massie-Blomfeld is a non-fiction writer and arts professional. Her first book, Twenty Theatres to See Before You Die, was published by Penned in the Margins in May 2018, and received the Society of Authors’ Michael Meyer Award. She is a regular contributor and columnist for The Stage, and has written for The Independent, The Guardian, The Pool, Standart, Exeunt, Brixton Review of Books, New Internationalist, Open Democracy, Run Riot, The Journal of Wild Culture and many more. She regularly appears in the media and at events, usually talking about the power of the arts, and is represented by Becky Thomas at Johnson & Alcock.

@ambermb / ambermassieblomfield.com

“My favourite band on the planet” (Martin Parr)

“The best live act I’ve seen all summer” (Gideon Coe, 6music)

Mik Artistik is a poet, performer, artist and comedian . With his compadre Jonny Flockton on guitars and and a selection of well heeled bass players , they travel from city to city, frightening and delighting adults and children with their special brand of joyous madness. They’ve played Glastonbury for the last twelve years, were featured on BBC iPlayer highlights, supported Faust, Chas and Dave, played the London Fashion Show, and Batley Rugby Club , and are loved by all/some, including Iggy Pop who named their song “Sweet Leaf of the North” as ‘Song of the Decade’.. Support them at GoFundMe

https://www.mikartistik.com/ | @mikartistik

Troy Onyango’s work has appeared in Prairie Schooner, Wasafari, Johannesburg Review of Books, Nairobi Noir, Caine Prize Anthology and Transition among others. The winner of the inaugural Nyanza Literary Festival Prize and first runner-up in the Black Letter Media Competition, he has also been shortlisted for the Short Story Day Africa Prize, the Brittle Paper Awards, and nominated for the Pushcart Prize. He holds an MA in Creative Writing with distinction from the University of East Anglia, where he was a recipient of the Miles Morland Foundation Scholarship.

@TroyOnyango | troyonyango.com

Zelda Rhiando lives in South London with her husband, two daughters and four cats, and is one of the founders of the Brixton BookJam – the quarterly literary event that has hosted readings by established and emerging writers since 2012. She is the author of two novels, Caposcripti and Fukushima Dreams, and is currently working on a third. When not writing she can be found child-wrangling and making digital products.

@badzelda | http://www.badzelda.com

Bryan Beadyman is one of London’s premier street poets, known for his rapid fire and passionate narratives about poli-tricks and the wars in our name

https://soundcloud.com/bryan-wilson

Anne Enith Cooper is the author of Touched and the antiwar poem-essay 21st Century Guernica described as, “Powerful and deeply moving,” by the late Tony Benn MP. She also has poetry published by Leaf Books, the Loose Muse Anthologies and Proletarian Poetry. Life, art and her activism merged with the position of writer-in-residence at Cressingham Gardens, a council estate facing demolition, leading to the publication of 306: Living Under the Shadow of Regeneration. She has performed poetry widely in London and at the Bowery Poetry NYC. https://seedsandfuses.wordpress.com