Segun Lee-French

I do not know who I am, or where I belong. I write in an attempt to find out. A task like that of Sisyphus, because by the time I finish writing, everything has changed. Indeed, simply by writing, I change, like Schrodinger’s cat, what I have been to what I could have been.

We live in a time when people are acutely aware that meaning is fluid; certainties can crumble into dust from one day to the next. Such uncertainty and ambiguity are the essence of poetry, what makes it so unpredictable and inspiring. Poetry can literally set us free, by inciting us to reimagine the meaning of what we previously accepted as commonplace.

Biography

Nigerian Mancunian Segun has worked as a pot washer, cleaner, pop singer, jazz dancer, telephonist, newspaper vendor, poet, playwright, post worker, waiter, club promoter and community activist. Segun’s poetry questions assumptions of what means to be British, playfully contrasting his Yoruba roots with his Mancunian upbringing. As a writer, he has worked extensively in a variety of schools, prisons, and youth centres. In 1999, Segun’s fierce belief in the power of writing and performance to set people free led him to found Manchester’s Speakeasy People poetry collective, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. Segun is currently commissioned by Theatre Writing Partnership to write Palm Wine & Stout, a new theatre show for rural touring about his Nigerian roots.

His debut collection, Praise Songs for Aliens, will be published by Shorelines in October 2009.

Publication history

• RED: new contemporary anthology of Black British Poets (Inscribe/Peepal Tree Press Sept, 2009)
• Suitcase Book of Love Poems anthology (Suitcase Press, 2007)
• Hair poetry anthology (Suitcase Press, 2006)
• Poetry Society Poetry International website - guest editor (2006)
• Citizen 32 Magazine – featured poems (2006)
• Transparency poetry anthology (Crocus 2005)
• Brothatalk poetry chapbook (Crocus 2005)
• Route Magazine – featured poem (2001)

• Facing Leicester Square (2004) - BBC commission, broadcast on Radio 3
• Bloodlines (2005) - BBC commission, broadcast on Radio 3

Plays

• Booty Call (2006) - commissioned by Big Creative Ideas
• Ayo & Ade's Big London Safari (2005) - commissioned by Host Universal for Flight 5065
• Bro 9 (2003) - commissioned by Contact Theatre, Manchester & North West Playwrights

Readings

• Chinua Achebe “Things Fall Apart at 50” Conference, SOAS London (2008)
• Lancaster Litfest (2007)
• The Drum, Birmingham (2006)
• Inscribing The Island Literature Festival, Margate (2005)
• Birmingham Rep (2005)
• Battersea Arts Centre (2005)
• Off The Shelf Literature Festival, Sheffield (2005)
• Manchester Literature Festival (2004)
• Decibel International Festival, Manchester (2003)
• Commonwealth Games Cultureshock Festival, Manchester (2002)
• Crossing Borders Festival, Amsterdam (2001)
• Oldham Festival (2000)
• Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester (1999)
• ICA, London (1995)

Adobe Flash Player not installed or older than 9.0.115!

Workshops and Residencies

• Queen Katherine’s High School, Cumbria (2008) - Poetry & Creative Writing Facilitator
• Poet-in-Residence on BBC Radio Manchester Listening Post (2007-2008)
• READY Writer-in-Residence (2006) – greenroom, Manchester
• Spoken Like A True (2005) - MC/Poetry workshops at Contact Theatre, Manchester & Unity Theatre, Liverpool
• Poet-in-Residence (2002) - HM Prison Kirklands
• Over to You 2002 (2002) - workshops for anti-racism conference at Oldham City Council
• Values Into Action (2001) - workshops at Conference for People with Disabilities
• At Home Writer in Residence (1999) at Contact Theatre, Manchester