Join us for a Sensational spring event with Bookbag favourites Emma Warren and Salena Godden. To celebrate Emma's new book Dance Your Way Home and Salena's republished Pessimism is for Lightweights, Emma and Salena will be reading, performing and in conversation with Dr John Sealey. After the talk they'll be signing copies of their books.
Writer, broadcaster, and DJ, Emma Warren has been writing about and documenting grassroots music culture throughout her career. In new book Dance Your Way Home she explores the relationship between culture, music and dance, and the power that dance has as a form of communication without language, as a means of empowerment, escape, and freedom. Emma draws from her own experiences and talks to those who have facilitated and created spaces in which to dance, from youth clubs and school discos to reggae sound systems, loft parties, and underground dancefloors. Warren is a founding contributor to Jockey Slut magazine, an editorial mentor at Live Magazine and works with young people helping them recognise the power in documenting their culture.
Salena Godden is an award-winning author, poet and broadcaster. Her power as a performance poet has been known to unite women's marches and rallies. Godden's book Pessimism is for Lightweights is a collection of 30 poems of courage and resistance, reissued for publisher Rough Trade's 5th anniversary year. Godden's novel Misses Death, Mrs Death won the Indie Book Award for Fiction and the People's Book Prize, and was shortlisted for the British Book Awards and the Gordon Burn Prize. Our bookseller Ocean says she will never stop recommending it. Godden's writing has been a source of inspiration and empowerment for writers and activists alike, and we're very excited to be hosting her at Bookbag.
Hosting the conversation is film-maker, academic and creative Dr John Sealey. Dr John spent his formative years as a teenager visiting undergound jazz-dance clubs in London, and this movement (jazz-dance) influenced both his work and love for culture.
The event will be held in the arcade with Sacred Grounds hosting and serving a range of natural drinks on the night, so come early to enjoy.
Tickets for this event are £5 (plus Eventbrite fee) and can be booked via Eventbrite.