Adult’s Poetry Workshop, with Owen Atkinson
We are really delighted that local poet, and longtime supporter of Manx Litfest, Owen Atkinson will be running a poetry workshop for adults this year! Don’t forget to bring a pen and something to write on, as Owen guides attendees through creating their own poems.
Owen is a former Manx Bard, the winner of Gef’s 2023 30under30 in the ‘Trailblazers’ catagory, a drag performer under the stage name ‘Fenella Beach’ and the author of the poetry book ‘Nature Is Real and So Am I’, which tells the story of their relationship with the seasons of the Island's unique landscape. Owen’s second poetry book is due out this year - keep your eyes peeled for news of a launch just after the 2024 festival!
Autistic Not Weird, with Chris Bonnello
As well as being an award-winning author of fiction and non-fiction for adults and children, notably the neurodivergent dystopia series, Underdogs, Chris is an autistic advocate, author and speaker, whose aim is to go beyond raising awareness and acceptance of autistic people, to inspiring real appreciation of their inherent value. He is also the creator of the highly-acclaimed website, Autistic Not Weird.
This event is for parents and family members, teachers, professionals and anyone who would like to know more about autism, and what it’s like to grow up autistic.
The Third House, with Amina Atiq
Amina Atiq’s photogenic live-performance anthology lives between houses; inherited and existing national anthems; exploring her Arabness of fragmented memories in a dark-tender migration journey from a colonised Aden to 1960s Liverpool port. This passage is a reimagination between her war-torn child- home and her conflicting Muslim identity in a western society after the heightened events of 9/11; shaping her adolescent political life. Underpinned by biographical key events and intergenerational exchanges, Amina impersonates a lifeguard to save her third house from drowning.
This event combines audio and visual, as poems are accompanied by a captioned short film of building bricks & henna fingertips.
Buy a combined ticket to ‘The Third House’ and ‘Sunny’ for £17.50
Sunny, with Sukh Ojla
Manx Litfest is thrilled to welcome the multi-talented Sukh Ojla: a stand-up comedian, actress, playwright and novelist, whose many film and TV appearances include Black Mirror, Mock the Week, The Big Asian Stand-Up and Victoria and Abdul.
In 2017 Sukh starred in her own play, Pyar Actually, which toured the UK.
In 2021 Hodder & Stoughton published her first novel, Sunny, a romantic comedy about a woman living a double life, which was hailed as heartwarming and utterly relatable.
Sukh will be discussing the experiences that led her to write her first novel, and what comes next.
Buy a combined ticket to ‘The Third House’ and ‘Sunny’ for £17.50