It was great that the Emerging Writers Festival was digital this year. I really enjoyed each and every presenter. However, I have to say that Omar Sakr’s presentation ‘In Poetic Times’ inspired me the most. So much so I bought one of his books and intend to buy his second one when it is back in stock. His poetry is somehow both vulnerable and menacing – like rolling thunder before a storm! Check out the link below, even those of you who don’t like poetry will appreciate this one, especially teacher friends. Click on the image to listen to it here:
Coffee coloured.
Yes, I have colour
Just a tinge, like a cup of coffee. Not of my desire.
My family are white, my stepfather, half-sister, and mother
I was the brown sheep, the disparate one
It was okay to treat me differently back then.
I was deemed inferior.
Black and white was how whole countries ran
Not to be white a cause for intolerance.
I worked harder
I strove to prove I was equally bright
Pretty, compassionate, forgiving, more white.
To be a better daughter,
I would always have colour,
It was all I knew – not being good enough.
Until I stopped
Eila Jameson-Avey 
[…] reading the Son of Sin, Omar Sakr’s debut novel (he’s also my favourite poet—click to hear his reading of “Workshop: Borders”), I initially thought—Bildungsroman. […]
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