This week Peter deGraft-Johnson (The Repeat Beat Poet) speaks to poet , educator, and writer Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan. The pair start by speaking about overcoming the fears of speaking your truth publicly, learning to trust readers and publishers outside of immediate live audiences, and Suhaiymah's journey discovering poetry. Next, we jump into the thick fogs of British colonialism, spend some time naming and shaming it and discussing the legacy of inequality it leaves in how histories are held and taught in our libraries, archives, and museums. Across an hour that felt like a minute, Suhaiymah also squeezes in some self-care tips, and gives another beautiful answer to the perennial ultimate question - why poetry?

Suhaiymah reads three poems - 

06:19 - Where Is My History?

35:03 - A Virtue Of Disobedience 

42:17 - Bacon, Bank Notes, Benjamins

Download a full transcript here: (COMING SOON)

For more from Suhaiymah: https://www.suhaiymah.com/ 

https://twitter.com/thebrownhijabi

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Buy Suhaiymah's debut collection Postcolonial Banter here, published by Verve Poetry Press - https://vervepoetrypress.com/product/suhaiymah-manzoor-khan-postcolonial-banter-pre-order-free-uk-pp-out-12-09-19/?v=79cba1185463 

For more from PJ: linktr.ee/repeatbeatpoet

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For more from us: lunarpoetrypodcasts.com

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Buy the 'Why Poetry?': The Lunar Poetry Podcasts Anthology here: vervepoetrypress.com/product/why-poetry/

Episode music is an original composition by Snazzy Rat. You can find more from Snazzy here: snazzyrat.bandcamp.com 

Our production team is Mystery Planet Productions. https://mysteryplanet.net/ 

Also mentioned on the podcast - 

Dan Hicks - The Benin Bronzes, Colonial Violence and Cultural Restitution http://www.plutobooks.com/9780745341767/the-brutish-museums/

Ian Cobain - The History Thieves Secrets, Lies and the Shaping of a Modern Nation https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/The-History-Thieves-by-Ian-Cobain-author/9781846275838