• Imagination Station

Join poet Paul Lyalls for a fun hour of laugh-out-loud poems and then be prepared to change the world with the magic of your imagination! For ages 5+

Thursday 11 April- 2-3pm – Central Library, 2 Fieldway Crescent N5 1PF
Saturday 13 April – 2-3pm – N4 Library, 26 Blackstock Road N4 2DW

www.paul-lyalls.uk 
Twitter @paullyalls

Linden K McMahon is a poet, performer, fiction writer and arts facilitator – they write about our connections with ecology, dreams for the future, ideas about belonging and family, and queer joy!

They have been an artist in residence at Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park, created a trail of poems and stories through the community gardens of Bethnal Green with the Live Art Development Agency, and run creative writing clubs for young people at Ministry of Stories in Hoxton. They also like baking elaborate desserts, making pots, and reading sci-fi novels.

Linden is leading on the schools programme for Islington.

About Harriet O’Grady

Harriett O’Grady is a multi-disciplinary creative, with her work spanning many artistic forms. Having trained predominantly as an Actor on Rose Bruford’s prestigious BA(Hons) Acting course, she has taken that training and branched into several creative disciplines, now working as a director, facilitator, movement director, singer, dramaturg and creative problem-solver.

As an actor, her work has been extensive in the 4 years since graduating, and she has worked with classical text, children’s theatre, commercials, guides for the UN, international performance (working in Shanghai 2019-2020) voiceovers and research & development projects, translating work for international audiences, with specialist experience in immersive theatre. As a director/movement director/dramaturg,

Harriett’s work spans from new writing to classical Shakespeare to political/reform theatre. She works holistically with her casts, always keeping the room and the conversation open, encouraging people to give their full selves to the work with no judgement and full acceptance. She is currently working towards staging her take on Shakespeare’s ‘Love’s Labour’s Lost’, set in an underground jazz club and featuring live musicians and immersive elements. Most recently, she assisted on Adjoa Andoh’s bold retelling of Shakespeare’s ‘Richard III’ at the Liverpool Playhouse and The Rose Theatre in Kingston.

Instagram: @harriet_oghttps://instagram.com/harriett_og

Desree, an award-winning spoken word artist, facilitator, and producer, has held prestigious roles such as Poet in Residence for Glastonbury 2022 and TEDx Speaker. 

Beyond performances, Desree’s work graces publications like Joy/Us, Wetgrain Poetry, and she has been featured on Life and Rhymes with Benjamin Zephaniah. Desree’s diverse contributions also extend to her role as a commissioned playwright, curator of live events, and visual media. 

Her pamphlet “I Find My Strength In Simple Things” was published by Burning Eye Books in 2021, and her debut collection slated for release in 2025 with Bad Betty Press. 

For more information, visit www.iamdesree.co.uk.

I began my career as an MC in the arena of battle rap, winning the national freestyle battle championships (FKO Raw) in 2000, at the age of 16, and later signing to BMG / Arista as part of the group Poisonous Poets which I founded — alongside Lowkey and Doc Brown. Poisonous Poets and myself were instrumental in the formation of the early UK HopHop scene alongside acts such as Taskforce, Jehst and Klashnekoff

Born in Tehran, Iran, and raised in West London, I am considered a pioneer of the international Iranian Rap scene for my work with the godfather of Persian hiphop, Hichkas.

I have worked as a ghost writer for several high profile UK and international HipHop artists. I have toured the world with the likes of Busta Rhymes, De La Soul and Immortal Technique.

For the past decade I have been heavily involved in the field of education and youth work. I deliver HipHop workshops to at risk youth in primary and secondary schools, pupil referral units, youth centres and youth offending teams around London and the UK. Much of my work revolves around utilising HipHop lyric writing as a form of meaningful engagement with young people. The nature of my work means that I am used to collaborating and working under difficult conditions to deadlines. I lecture ethnomusicology at SOAS, University of London, where I am completing my PhD about technology and the mediation of popular culture, HipHop and UK Drill music. I am the co-founder of RoadWorks, an educational consultancy that launched in 2018 which uses UK Rap and Drill music to engage with at risk youth. Part of my work involves providing bespoke mentorship to young artists. In response to the COVID-19 lockdown, we recently launched Drillosophy, a series of educational videos that combine contemporary music culture, urban sociology and philosophical discussion that I co-wrote and presented.

Zohab Zee Khan is a Performance Poet and Executive Coach.

Zohab has conducted over a thousand poetry and self- development workshops across the globe. His work seamlessly integrates Urdu and Punjabi as he paints poetic pictures of family, heritage, and a better world.

His first poetry collection “I Write” reached best-seller status in Australia within months of its release. In 2014 he became the National Poetry Slam Champion of Australia and has performed his poetry at some of the world’s premier writers’ festivals. As a 4th generation Australian of Pakistani heritage, Zohab has channeled his distinct life experiences into stories with the intent to educate.