Generations Dreaming is an online celebration of National Windrush Day.  Through a combination of literature and music, Emily Zobel Marshall and Khadijah Ibrahiim will celebrate the Windrush Generation and their legacy.

Emily and Khadijah will be joined by special guests throughout the night - find out who below! 

Colin Grant

Colin Grant is an author, historian, and Associate Fellow in the Centre for Caribbean Studies. His five books include the memoir, Bageye at the Wheel, which was shortlisted for the Pen/Ackerley Prize, 2013. Grant’s history of epilepsy, A Smell of Burning, was a Sunday Times Book of the Year 2016

As a producer for the BBC, Grant directed several radio drama documentaries including A Fountain of Tears: The Murder of Federico Garcia Lorca.

He also writes for several publications including the Guardian, TLS and New York Review of Books.  Grant's latest book is Homecoming: Voices of the Windrush Generation.

 

Linton Kwesi Johnson

Linton Kwesi Johnson’s work has always been political, vital and necessary, drawing attention to topics like systemic racism, police abuse and National Front attacks, calling for government, institutions and society to be held to account. His performances are gripping and true to a quote he gave in a 2008 interview: "Writing was a political act and poetry was a cultural weapon."

The legendary reggae poet and social activist was born in Jamaica before moving to London. He was a member of the Black Panthers and the poetry editor of political magazine Race Today, using the platform to introduce important ideas and new voices to the British public, including Michael Smith and Oku Onuora.

In 1974 Race Today published Johnson’s first collection of poetry: Voices of the Living and the Dead. He has had four more books published and in 2002 became only the second living poet and the first black poet to have his work included in Penguin’s Modern Classics series, under the title Mi Revalueshanary Fren: Selected Poem. One of his best known poems, Inglan’ is a Bitch, was part of the self titled 1980 collection and the ablum Bass Culture.

Jonson’s first album, Dread Beat An Blood was released in 1978, and since then he has released 14 more albums made with long-time collaborator, dub producer Dennis Bovell. He has been running his own record label, LKJ Records, since 1981, bringing new artists to the attention of wider audiences.

Christella Litras

Christella is a Bretton Hall graduate and a musical director, composer, lyricist, vocalist, keyboard player, percussionist, workshop facilitator and musical mentor with a 20-year track record, which was recognised in 2013 with a Runner’s Up award on The Arts Foundation Fellowship Programme. She combines formal training with a background in developing musicians and singers and is the founder of Caution Collective.

She has worked across popular musical genres nationally and internationally, supporting and performing with luminaries including Martha Reeves, Jamiroqui, Peabo Bryson, Billy Paul, Candi Staton, Denise Pearson, Sting, Ricardo Ajorna, Glen Scott, Brenda Holloway, Kofi, Beverley Knight, Kim Weston, Eric Bibb, Tom Jones and many more.

Christella has worked alongside Phoenix Dance founder, David Hamilton; composed for First Cut commissioned by WYP and for Misrepresented People at Nottingham Playhouse. In 2017 she composed and arranged music to accompany a performance of two poems by Queen’s Gold Medal winner, Imtiaz Dharker, commissioned by Alchemy for Sacred Sounds. Most recently I worked with world renowned choreographer, Sharon Watson and composed the soundtrack for Phoenix Dance Theatre’s multi-award-winning performance and film Windrush (BBC).

In 2019 Christella was chosen by Choir director Glen Scott to join an elite group of vocalists to sing on the Sting and Kate Prince West End production of Message in a Bottle at Kensal town Studios-This opportunity led her to sing backing vocals for Latin America’s most successful artist of all time, Ricardo Ajorna. She was also invited to feature on his Abbey Road Studio acoustic live recording.

Camille Quamina

Camille Quamina is a Senior Lecturer at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, School of Drama, Jamaica. As a theatre practitioner, she worked regionally and internationally – with a special focus in applied theatre. As an actor-director, she specialized in Caribbean theatre for over two decades. She’s worked with the likes of Nobel laureate, Sir Derek Walcott, and playwright-directors, Geraldine Connor, Rawle Gibbons and Tony Hall, among others. As a member of Arts-in-Action, an Applied Theatre collective at the University of the West Indies (UWI), St. Augustine, she has been a recipient of the Vice Chancellor Award for Excellence. She has also served as adjunct faculty at The UWI, and as project manager with Contact Theatre, Manchester. She has received the highest acting accolade in Trinidad and Tobago, and has been nominated for her directorial work in Jamaica. Camille's ongoing research focuses on Caribbean culture and aesthetics in theatre. She holds an MPhil in Cultural Studies and a BA in Literatures in English from The UWI.

Generations Dreaming took place on Monday 22nd June 2020 to celebrate National Windrush Day.