Monday 8 March 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm

Join us for the launch of our exciting international project, a partnership between Quay Words, Exeter and Poetry Africa, Durban, funded by a British Council’s “Working Internationally” grant.

Two UNESCO Cities of Literature present five development days for women writers. Day one features readings by Efemia Chela, Quay Words International digital writer-in-residence for February and Louisa Adjoa Parker, Quay Words first ever Summer writer-in-residence in 2019. Louisa will be launching her short story collection, Stay With Me.

Efemia Chela is a Zambian-Ghanaian writer and editor. In 2014 her debut story, ‘Chicken’, was shortlisted for the Caine Prize for African Writing. In 2018 she was the Andrew Mellon Writer-in-Residence at Rhodes University. Her writing has appeared in places like the Johannesburg Review of Books, Pen Passages: Africa, Wasafiri and New Internationalist amongst others. She currently lives in Johannesburg, South Africa.

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Louisa Adjoa Parker is a writer of English-Ghanaian heritage who lives in south-west England. Her poetry books include Salt-sweat and Tears (Cinnamon Press) and How to wear a skin (Indigo Dreams). Louisa’s writing has appeared in a wide range of journals and anthologies including Envoi, Wasafiri, Acumen, Out of Bounds (Bloodaxe) and Closure: Contemporary Black British Short Stories (Peepal Tree). She has been highly commended by the Forward Prize; twice shortlisted by the Bridport Prize; and her grief poem, ‘Kindness’, was commended by the National Poetry Competition 2019. Louisa has written books and exhibitions exploring Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) history, and set up the Where are you really from? project telling stories of black and brown rural life. Her first short story collection Stay with me was published by Colenso Books in December 2020. Louisa will be launching the collection at this event.