I am The Tower of London's Poet in Residence and throughout the year, I will be curating: CONFESSIONS — a new strand of performances designed for adult audiences. For each show, key themes are pulled out of events that occurred in the Tower’s 1,000 year history and contemporary poets and performers will create new pieces of in response. This is an opportunity to showcase stories and characters from history, to reframe and examine common, human themes that still resonate today.

This event’s theme is CONDEMNATION. It will be held in the Medieval Palace at the Tower of London. and will feature newly commissioned and a selection of older pieces of work from: Leone Ross, Alim Kamara and Vanessa Kissule.

Leone Ross writes magic realism, erotica and literary fiction. She has published two novels, All The Blood Is Red(ARP/Actes Sud) and Orange Laughter ((Anchor/Farrar Straus & Giroux/Picador USA). Orange Laughter was shortlisted for the UK Orange Prize and named by Wasafiri magazine as one of the most influential British novels of the last 25 years. Her short fiction has been shortlisted for the V.S Pritchett Prize, Salt Publishing’s Scott Prize and the 2018 Jhalak Prize. She has judged the Manchester Fiction Prize, the Wimbledon Bookfest Short Story Competition, the London Short Story Prize, and the 2018 VS Pritchett Prize. Ross’s latest work is short story collection, Come Let Us Sing Anyway (Peepal Tree Press, 2017) was described on Radio 4 as “incredibly rare, extraordinary.” Ross is an editor and university lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Roehampton.

Alim Kamara is an African storyteller and hip hop artist. As a child in Sierra Leone he listened to Griots (storytellers) and admired the way they weaved lessons through tales. On returning to London, Alim discovered different styles of storytelling, from the slapstick humour of Tom & Jerry to the vivid poignant imagery of Hip Hop.

He graduated with a first class degree in Creative and Media Writing, and the Edna Fuller Prize for community. He has performed in Dubai, Holland, Canada, Sierra Leone, Gambia and the USA. Like the Griots from his past, Alim captivates his audiences and leaves them craving to learn, relate and elevate.

Vanessa Kisuule is a writer, performer, burlesque artist and general empress of blag based in Bristol. She has won over ten slam titles including The Roundhouse Slam 2014, Hammer and Tongue National Slam 2014 and the Nuoryican Poetry Slam. She has been featured on BBC iPlayer, Radio 1, and Radio 4's Woman's Hour, The Guardian, Blue Peter, Sky TV, Don't Flop and TEDx. She has performed up and down the country and internationally at Glastonbury, Vienna, Sweden, Belgium, Germany, Bangladesh, Barcelona, Oslo, Finland and New York. Her debut poetry collection 'Joyriding The Storm' was published in 2014. She was the recipient of The Jerwood Micro Arts Bursary and The Leverhulme Arts Scholarship in 2017 and her one woman show SEXY is currently under development with the support of Arts Council England, Bristol Old Vic and Camden People's Theatre. She is currently appointed as Bristol City Poet 2018-2020.

Venue: Tower of London
Time: 7pm
Address: Tower of London, London, EC3N 4AB
Tickets: £20/£18* Buy Here.