Please join me Online on my birthday to celebrate the launch of my latest book black.queer.womxn: three plays, an anthology featuring androgyne, benu, and she mami wata & the pussywitch hunt.
The idea to publish this collection came after I was contacted by a young person, eagerly looking for contemporary theatrical works that reflected Black queer womxnhood. A member of the community had referred them to me, so they were enquiring after my work, the play androgyne specifically. I explained that I was in the process of putting a larger anthology together but that it would not be ready till 2021. When I got offline, I felt my own heart sink at the thought of the urgency of the situation. Why had I not yet published such a collection? I realised what I needed to do. I wrote back to the enquiring practitioner and let them know that I had decided to create an anthology immediately, one that they would have as soon as possible. And so here we are.
I will be reading excerpts of all three plays, followed by a Q & A. Hard-copies and e-books of black.queer.womxn will be available for online purchase. This night is a gratitude ceremony from me to you, global village, for supporting my growth and development throughout the years. I would be honored if you came to my birthday party!
black.queer.womxn: three plays by d'bi.young anitafrika
androgyne is a love story between best friends, one of whom is homophobic.
benu is a story about a young queer black mother who is entangled in the health care system and in her own mind.
she mami wata & the pussywitch hunt is a story about four friends who navigate queerness in their unique ways while negotiating their safety in a neocolonial shitstem that would sooner see them dead than liberated.
d’bi.young anitafrika is an African-Jamaican UK-based dub poet, theatre interventionist and decolonial scholar, committed to embodying art that ritualises acts of recovery from violence inflicted upon the people and the planet. Shx is a multi-award-winning Canadian Poet of Honor, author of twelve plays, seven albums and four poetry collections and was recently recognised as a Global Leader in Theatre & Performance by Arts Council England.
After receiving hxr Masters from University of London, d’bi.young was awarded a Dean's Scholarship by London South Bank University to conduct doctoral research in decolonial performance, praxis & pedagogy. In addition to teaching hxr Anitafrika Method worldwide and holding a core faculty position in program design and pedagogy at Soulpepper’s new Theatre Academy, d’bi.young has worked as Theatre Interventionist in the UN's Global Initiatives Fellowship and is currently planning the inaugural Dub(b)in Poetry & Theatre Festival. Hxr next anthology is black.queer.womxn: three plays by d’bi.young anitafrika.