Random Article Summary #104

The Bristol Black Writers group was a collective of poets and writers, co-founded by writer Bertel Martin in the late 1980s. It was based at the Kuumba Centre in St Pauls, Bristol, England. The group published a monthly newsletter and ran performance groups and workshops. These activities helped support and shape the careers of many British poets and spoken word artists of color. Members included Bertel Martin, Edson Burton, Ros Martin, Rob Mitchell, Restee Kabi, Miles Chambers, and Doreen Baidoo. Martin co-founded the Bristol Black Writers Group in 1986 after meeting other Bristol writers at a Black writers meeting in Lumb Bank, with instructors Fred D’Aguiar and Jean “Binta” Breeze. In 1988, Lemn Sissay and Martin helped organize an exchange between Bristol and Manchester, leading to performances and discussions that highlighted the need for the group to build a clear identity in local poetry. In 1991, Lilleith Morrison released the short film Black ’n’ Write, featuring members of the group through performances and interviews. Members of the Bristol Black Writers Group felt that the Poetry Slam often did not offer enough critique or respect for their craft, and they were even criticized in the 1990s for not engaging enough with it. Despite this, they collaborated widely—working with artist Andrea Baum on a poetic play in 1998, joining major festivals, and publishing the anthology The reality is... in 1999. They also partnered with other poets and ran workshops in schools, created works such as Songs for Saartje and Edson Burton’s theatrical piece Seasoned, helped develop new spoken-word spaces, and by 2019 the group had become defunct. Caryl Phillips and Edson Burton began their creative writing careers through the Bristol Black Writers group. Poet Shagufta Iqbal, also a member and mentee of Bertel Martin, felt the spoken word scene in 2005 was “very male and very white,” and later created Kiota to support poets and women of color. She credits Bristol Black Writers with giving her the confidence and encouragement to pursue poetry. Bristol Archives holds several collections of material from the Bristol Black Writers Group and its members. This includes a 1991 video about the group and poetry performances, collections of black publications from 1986–1990, records from Kuumba, Bwerani and Inkworks (1970s–2007), records of the Bristol Black Archives Partnership (2005–2009), and festival leaflets from 1999 featuring Bristol Black Writers.