Shasta H Ali

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This is going to be the best blether on belonging, language and poetry @edbookfest.bsky.social. So excited to be chairing Karen on her beautiful collection - Minx @karendownsbarton.bsky.social. See you next week #EdBookFest #poetry

This is the week Scotland was forced to confront its role in slavery, and say: ‘Yes, that was us’ | Hannah Lavery Guardian revelations about Edinburgh University’s links to both the practice and theory of the evil trade must now provoke a national reckoning on race, says poet and playwright Hannah Lavery

This is the week Scotland was forced to confront its role in slavery, and say: ‘Yes, that was us’ | Hannah Lavery

This is the week Scotland was forced to confront its role in slavery, and say: ‘Yes, that was us’ | Hannah Lavery Guardian revelations about Edinburgh University’s links to both the practice and theory of the evil trade must now provoke a national reckoning on race, says poet and playwright Hannah Lavery

Powerful read from @hannahlavery.bsky.social over on @theguardian.com

‘History is not settled. Our story is not finished’

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
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Come join us for an evening of poetry and fundraising for families in Gaza @lighthousebks.bsky.social

This picture! 💙

Come see us for #DisruptingTheNarrative at the @edbookfest.bsky.social

A poetry performance interrogating Edinburgh’s historic & heritage collections. Photography by Kat Gollock’s & music set to our poems by S.Niroshini

Hannah Lavery
Niall Moorjani
Jeda Pearl
Alycia Pirmohamed

What did you do during the genocide in Gaza? | Arwa Mahdawi When future generations read about Gaza with horror and wonder how we allowed a livestreamed genocide to happen, what will you say?

What did you do during the genocide in Gaza? | Arwa Mahdawi

Rereading this poweful little beauty @sidhepress.bsky.social @shastahali.bsky.social @oormilaprahlad.bsky.social @janeburn.bsky.social as we really need light right now. #Poetry #domesticviolence

Their silencing must be our speaking. Words to encourage in our homes, institutions, and neighborhoods.

Source: NYT

In March's @edinreporter.bsky.social 📰

Read it here t.co/kmNfGqthZm

Image shows a poster advertising the opportunity. More info at https://regenerativefuturesfund.org.uk/join-us/residents

We're looking for people living in Edinburgh who have experienced poverty and/or racism and want to see real change in the city. A paid opportunity to help decide which community projects will really make a difference and get funded for ten years. regenerativefuturesfund.org.uk/join-us/resi...

A woman smiling at the camera in front of a table hosting haikus

A conference haiku displayed in the window and postcards and pens on the table

With a bonus Haiku corner which basically all conferences should have going forward. Here’s my lovely colleague Catriona and her conference #haiku

A woman with long brown hair, back to the camera looking at postcards stuck on a wall.

A woman standing at a conference delivering a talk with a sign at the back of her which says “hope is a radical act. Nothing changes without dreaming and doing’

Two postcards with hand drawn images and writing saying ‘we did it’ and ‘revolutionise, disrupt’

Reflecting on @corra.scot brill #CYPFEIFConference2025

I had the best audience to travel to the future with. Huge thanks to all the delegates for being open, hopeful & visionary. As always 🙌🏽 @lighthousebks.bsky.social whose shopfront messages of hope I use for all my #CollectiveImagination sessions

Regenerative Futures Fund | Working Together Towards A Regenerative And Just Future For Edinburgh | Community Fund | Scotland - UK The Regenerative Futures Fund is a ten-year community fund for Edinburgh that puts decision-making power into the hands of those who are most often excluded. It supports approaches to improve the live...

Hey there it's Andy here, just arriving in bsky. Working with the brilliant @leahblack.bsky.social and Aala on the Regenerative Futures Fund regenerativefuturesfund.org.uk a 10 year community fund for Edinburgh that puts decision-making power into the hands of those most often excluded.

Postcard pinned on wall that says 'hopeful / unwritten' with a red origami fox beside it

One of my conference takeaways today, from a beautiful imagination exercise led by my colleague @shastahali.bsky.social

So nice to be chairing the CYPFEIF&ALEC/CYPFAL conference with @corrafoundation.bsky.social . Such a brilliant bunch of people in the room, and loved our Collective Imagination Session session with the lovely @shastahali.bsky.social this morning.

After months of collective punishment and the death of over 40,000 in Gaza, any suggestion Palestinians should be removed from their home is unacceptable and dangerous.

There must be no ethnic cleansing.

Only a proper two state solution will bring lasting peace.

Graphic with the I Am Loud Productions logo and text reading: We are incredibly grateful and relieved to have been awarded Multi-Year Funding to support our work through 2028. This vital long-term investment will enable us to continue supporting, developing, and showcasing the fantastic Scottish spoken word poetry scene. We are excited to continue expanding access to this brilliant art form to all, making this scene more sustainable, and innovating new projects and collaborations. We are immensely thankful to Creative Scotland for this support, and to all of the poets, producers, partners, and audiences who have believed in what we do over the past 11 years: this has always been, and continues to be, for you. Thank you, and LET'S GO!

A big update:

I'm in Pitlochry. It's gorgeous, as are these writers. @hannahlavery.bsky.social @catacts.bsky.social @shastahali.bsky.social

How to start the year! Celebrating achievements of Edinburgh based Bengali women’s group Mohila Ogrojatra in Scottish Parliament. Women, confidence, showing leadership, public speaking, there was even poetry 💜 Supported by @shastahali.bsky.social and her colleagues at @corrafoundation.bsky.social

Developing A Regenerative Futures Fund #13: ‘All That Is Needed Is A Dream’ In 2021 I started with a dream, a funding utopia an imagining of a different future for communities in Edinburgh. My funding utopia was…

A wee reflection on our Regenerative Futures Fund collective imaginagion work in 2024 💜 leah-black.medium.com/developing-a... @shastahali.bsky.social + not sure who else is on here, hopefully I find you all! 🌿✍️

Bangladeshi, Black African and Pakistani families are up to 5x more likely to be living in severe poverty for a long time compared to white families in the UK 📢

We've carried out new research to understand what these families experience and why they have this elevated risk 1/6

Maybe now the silent majority will get behind a ceasefire and start calling it a genocide.

Thank you!

Word of the day is a favourite, from old Scots.

To ‘tartle’ is to hesitate while introducing someone because you have completely forgotten their name.

Hello, could you add me please ☺️ TY

so inspired by Jasleen Kaur

makes me think of how representation at the gallery or lit event isn't the work done. the politics that underline our art aren't thought experiments. real life action must happen, a changed world must follow. if not, these places aren't housing our art, they're caging it

YouTube video by chunkymark Turner Prize 2024 Jasleen Kaur

❤️‍🔥 Jasleen Kaur, on winning the Turner Prize:

“I’ve been wondering why artists are required to dream up liberation in the gallery but when that dream meets life we are shut down”

youtu.be/6RoLMAf37qY

Last night Turner Prize 2024 winner Jasleen Kaur used her acceptance speech to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people, to demand an end to institutional complicity in Israels genocide & to call for an immediate arms embargo.