Dark Angels Note 109

Dearest Friends—

Welcome back to our Friday Note. 

Observing

This week marks the birthday of writer, poet, editor and teacher, Warsan Shire (born 1 August 1988). This Somali British writer became the first Young Poet Laureate of London and was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2018.

“In The End, I Write For Myself”– Interview with Vogue, March 2022

Her poems have featured in Beyonce’s Lemonade and Disney’s Black Is King. Her first full-length poetry collection, Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head, was released earlier this year. 

Watching

‘Driving through the city towards whatever is beautiful’ A commission in her role of Young Poet Laureate of London, listen to Shire’s love letter to the capital.Watch: The London Story 

Writing

Take a drive towards whatever you think is beautiful.Write your own love letter to a place you love. 

Sharing

In this section, we’d love for you to share all the wonderful things you’re doing and writing with the wider Dark Angels family. Keep sending us your poems, writings, links and writerly whatnots. 

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Diary

Writing With Constraints: London, 9th November
One way to make writing easier is to make it harder. That sounds illogical, but putting some obstacles in the way of your writing can be a great way to get the creative juices flowing.A fun workshop for first-timers to experienced writers to creative people generally. Find out more about the Writing with constraints workshop on the website. 

We Are Nature: Aracena, 23rd – 28th September
One space has come up for We are nature. Check out more details on the course here, or email Susanne directly to reserve the final spot. 

Weekly Tuesday Gatherings 
There will be an intermittent service of Tuesday gatherings over the next few weeks, as we take a break for the summer. Neil will next be hosting on August 16. Back to normal from August 30.Join us for a reflective hour of reading, writing and communing led by Neil Baker. Everyone is welcome; in fact invite a friend along. We meet at 7pm UK time. To join us, click here on the night. There’s no need to register in advance and we’ll be using the same link every week from now on. 

Be well, keep reading, keep writing and know that we’re always here.

From everyone at Dark Angels  

Photo by Gordon Williams on Unsplash