The Multilingual London Festival brought together writers, poets and academics in order to celebrate London’s many languages.

Explore some of the panels from the festival below!

My languages, my London: Aamer Hussein and Selma Dabbagh in conversation with Wen Chin Ouyang and Francesca Orsini

Pakistani-British writer Aamer Hussein (The Cloud Messenger, 2010; Love & its Seasons, 2017) rediscovered Urdu literature in London. British-Palestinian Selma Dabbagh (Out of It, 2011) writes on the contemporary Middle East. How is their London shot through with other languages and other places? How much space is there in literary London for literatures in other languages, and do they intersect?

Verses in many Voices: performances by Jennifer Wong (English), Shephali Frost (Hindi), Mustafa Abu Sneineh (Arabic), Exiled Ink poets Fatima Hagi (English), Nada Menzalji (Arabic), Alemu Tebeje Ayele (Amharic), and Caasha Luul Mohamud (Somali): host Malika Booker.

A series of poetry performances, with many poems performed in the language in which they were written. All poems performed in languages other than English are accompanied by an on-screen English translation.