The First Five podcast sees Yomi Ṣode talk to the producers, influencers and champions behind the art and artists that matter to us, and delves into their First Five to find out who and what has influenced them. Joining Yomi for this evening’s podcast recording is journalist, author, artistic director and SO much more, Hannah Azieb Pool. Don’t miss this captivating conversation as part of a live podcast recording!
Yomi Ṣode is a Nigerian-British poet, playwright, facilitator and recipient of the 2019 Jerwood Compton Poetry Fellowship. His acclaimed one-man show COAT has toured nationally to sold-out audiences. In 2019, his essay The F Word was featured in Safe: 20 Ways To Be A Black Man In Britain, and in 2020 his libretto Remnants, written in collaboration with award-winning composer James B. Wilson and Chineke! Orchestra was lauded by BBC Radio 3 and The Guardian. He is a Complete Works alumni, member of Malika’s Poetry Kitchen, founder of both leading spoken word platform BoxedIn and The Daddy Diaries – an online blog platform for Fathers & guardians. Yomi’s debut collection is scheduled for publication by Penguin in Spring 2022.
Hannah Azieb Pool is Artistic Director and CEO of the Bernie Grant Arts Centre and founder of the Tottenham Literature Festival. A journalist for over 20 years, Hannah has written for many international publications including The Guardian, The Times, Stylist and Vogue Magazine UK. Hannah Azieb is the author of two books: Fashion Cities Africa and My Fathers’ Daughter, and was Associate Editor of Arise Magazine and was previously the Senior Programmer for Contemporary Culture at the Southbank Centre, where she curated Africa Utopia, the annual festival celebrating arts and ideas from across Africa and the diaspora; she was also a lead programmer of the WOW Women of the World festival. Hannah Azieb is a trustee of LIFT (the London International Festival of Theatre), and on the Artist’s Advisory Board of the Manchester International Festival.