As part of the Off the Shelf festival, ‘The Stories that Woman Tell’ aimed to be part of a larger movement currently trying to readdress the inequalities that women, especially Black women, face when it comes to recording and preserving their stories. This event was in partnership with Speaking Volumes, a non-for-profit literature producer. Their current project, Women Speak Volumes Between Generations, is connecting older Black women writers with young Black women writers in order to inspire them and to encourage them to discover the stories that are there within their communities.
During this event, Désirée Reynolds, a Sheffield-based writer, editor, curator and DJ, interviewed Joy Francis, a creative entrepreneur and producer, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, an award-winning writer, and Cheryl Martin, a poet, playwright and theatre director. Reynolds asked her guests a series of interesting questions that prompted a lot of discussion between them. They spoke about how their journeys started, what they believe the value of creativity is, and what they believe are the stories that women tell. I thought that Makumbi’s response to the final questions was particularly enlightening because she spoke about how, in Uganda, women are traditionally the ones who tell stories and pass tales down to the next generation, but up until the 1970s, it was only men being published. What I found interesting was that she connected women’s novels being published from the 1970s onwards with the rise in girls’ education from the 1950s.
Whilst I did really enjoy the event and thought that was the Reynolds, Francis, Makumbi and Martin said was really interesting, in my opinion, the format of the event didn’t really work with it being open to the public. Speaking Volumes had invited some of the young Black women involved in their project to the event, and the speakers were largely directing what they were saying at them. This was obviously fair enough, as these young Black women are the ones who were likely to be impacted the most from the event, however it did unintentionally create the sense that the rest of the audience were watching something that wasn’t theirs to watch. It did make me wonder if this event could have been done in a different way however, I came to the conclusion that this wasn’t really something that I could answer as, in fairness, it was centred on the right people and that my slight sense of discomfort was not theirs to worry about.
Overall, I did really enjoy this event, and I found what the women said very inspiring and thought-provoking. Finally, what I found most striking of all was Martin acknowledging that young writers today do not have all of the same opportunities that she had, so it is important for older women to do the work to open the doors for younger women.
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
