New Podcast “The Amplify Project” Launches in Black History Month : Black British Writers In Their Own Words

 The Amplify Project podcast launches today, at 12pm, to celebrate and highlight the importance of Black British writers across stage, page and screen in the UK.

Hosted by award-winning writers; playwright, author and director, Patricia Cumper MBE and writer and creative producer, Pauline Walker, each episode is an in-depth conversation with a Black British author, delving into their backgrounds and inspirations, the art and craft of writing, and what it means to be a Black British writer and how it has impacted their writing, and more. Listeners are invited to join in the conversation. Listen to the trailer here.

Funded by the Arts Council England, this ground-breaking new podcast is dedicated to addressing the undervaluing of Black British writers by promoting and examining the Black British literary canon, exploring the history and ideas of some of Britain’s most influential and innovative writers.

Each week Patricia and Pauline speak to a different guest, about their own unique experience of being an author, and deep dive into the topics that impacted their lives and their writing.

Guests include Alex Wheatle MBE (author profiled in Steve McQueen’s award-winning BBC drama Small Axe), Colin Grant (author, independent historian & producer for BBC radio), Diana Evans FRSL (London based award-winning, bestselling author), Hafsa Zayyan (winner of Stormzy’s inaugural #Merky Books new writers’ prize), Juliet Gilkes Romero (award-winning writer for stage and screen,) Nick Makoha, (award-winning author) and Oladipo Agboluaje (winner of the 2009 Alfred Fagon Award).

Pauline Walker co-creator of the podcast said, “We started talking about this project in May 2020, wanting to find a way to profile the careers and work of Black British writers, something we felt was lacking.  When you read something like “Publishers claim that they would like to reach more diverse audiences but do not know how to, or are reluctant to expend resources on doing so” in a report [Re:Thinking ‘Diversity’ in Publishing] it’s quite disheartening because Black British writers and their work is no less valuable or vital than non-Black writers and we wanted to change that and I’m so thrilled that we’ve been able to bring the project to life with the support of Arts Council England.  One of my favourite things about the podcast is listening to our guests’ stories of how they found their way to writing and what it means to them to be a writer”.

Patricia Cumper MBE, co-creator of the podcast, continued, “There is no one Black British identity. More than anything else, that is what I’ve learned from making these podcasts.  The range of life stories and the many routes that Black writers have found into making work and viable careers for themselves is astonishing. What comes through in all of the interviews is the power of storytelling: to entertain, to educate, to heal, to reveal hidden worlds and new stories, and the sheer bloody-mindedness and determination to speak out that it takes to be a successful storyteller whatever your genre.  And it was was fun: challenging, surprising, riveting but most of all fun.  I am deeply grateful to the writers for these conversations”.

Season one of The Amplify Project will feature twelve episodes, with episodes 1-4 readily available on the Amplify Project website here. Episodes will be released fortnightly.