Kitchen Sink to Black Ink:

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE USE

Kitchen Sink to Black Ink: Four of Birmingham’s Best Black Women Writers take to The Drum Stage

Thu 12 April 7.30pm – The Drum, 144 Potters Lane Aston Birmingham B6 4UU

Four of Birmingham’s best known Black women writers; Jasmine Johnson, Ava Ming, Sue Brown and Kim Trusty will be taking to the stage at The Drum in April for the spoken word event Kitchen Sink to Black Ink. With music from Ella Fitzgerald to The Skatalites, monologues and extracts from the writers’ work the interactive, semi-dramatic presentation will explore the music and words that inspired them to break out of conventional ‘women’s roles’ to pursue careers in the literary world.

Ava Ming states: “Kitchen Sink to Black Ink will go beyond the words to the music and life experiences that inspired our writing. The performance will feature excerpts from songs that inspired us and the audience will be invited to sing along or dance with us as we reminisce about the music and how it has impacted on our work. There’ll also be plenty of opportunity for audience participation with a lively Q & A session. ”

Ava Ming’s first novel Once Upon a Lie was published in March 2005. Ava has a weekly show on New Style Radio, showcasing the best in Black Literature and is currently editing a new anthology of short stories by Birmingham Writers called Original Skin. Jasmine Johnson won The New Nation’s Writer of the Year Award in 2001 for her debut novel Mr Soon Come. Her second novel The Devil I Know was self-published and in 2006 she made the headlines with her sensational and groundbreaking publication, The Day Hell Broke Loose, the sequel to her first two novels. Kim Trusty has published in numerous anthologies in Canada and the UK, her first collection, Darker Than Blue was published in 2002. Sue Brown is a key member of Writers without Borders and has performed alongside great poets such Jean Binta Breeze, Moqapi Selassie and Kwame Dawes.

Tickets for Kitchen Sink to Black Ink are on sale now priced at £5. For more information or to purchase tickets contact The Drum Box Office on 0121 333 2444 or book online at www.the-drum.org.uk

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For further info please contact Emma Bangham on 0121 333 2421, e.bangham@the-drum.org.uk