Waiting for Godden: Books & Festivals: Summer 2026

HOT Summer Dates:

Hello, here's a post to let you know about some summer events:

It Sounds Like Courage: Music and Solidarity - 26.06.2026, 7.30pm.

Music and spoken word shaped by migration, co-curated by Anoushka Shankar and Counterpoints Arts. Hosted by comedian Nish Kumar, this performance brings together award-winning Palestinian singer, composer, and flautist Nai Barghouti, conducted by Robert Ames with the London Contemporary Orchestra. There are also musical performances from renowned Kora virtuoso Seckou Keita, Afrofusion rapper MoYah, Mercury Prize-nominated songwriter Nadine Shah, and soul singer and songwriter Nectar Woode. Plus, poetry from award-winning poets Inua Ellams, Nikita Gill and Salena Godden. Featuring artists with lived experience of displacement, musicians with migrant heritage and high-profile allies in the fight for justice and equality, It Sounds Like Courage is a night to imagine new possibilities together, with community and solidarity at its centre.

tickets: https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk

June 26th: Royal Festival Hall, Southbank

June 27th: Ledbury Poetry Festival

July 19th: Maryville with Joelle Taylor

July 23 - 26: Latitude Festival

August 24th - 29th: Arvon with Nikita Gill

September 9th: Manchester, The Good Immigrant

September 12: Hastings Book Festival

September 13th: London, The Good Immigrant

September 15th: Bristol, The Good Immigrant

September 19: Morecambe Poetry Festival

This September is the 10th anniversary of The Good Immigrant. And we are celebrating its induction into the British Literary Canon. Canongate has selected it for their iconic The Canons series. Very excited about this good news. Beautiful new cover. We are publishing the book in September 2026, ten years to the day after its post-Brexit release in 2016. Ten years have passed, we keep fighting the good fight. Thank you Nikesh Shukla.

Pre-order is available now and to mark the book’s 10th anniversary, editor Nikesh will chairs a series of live panels bringing together original contributors to The Good Immigrant, to reflect on what’s changed in Britain in the decade since publication, what hasn’t. To book your tickets and re-discover the collection that lit a fire and gave voice to a generation, click the links here and visit the Fane website: https://www.fane.co.uk/nikesh-shukla

All you fascists bound to lose.

I'm honoured to have a poem 'Is There Anybody Out There' featured on this new album, Natural Symphony's HUMAN | NATURE

HUMAN | NATURE translates movement, rhythm, and biological signals into music, blurring the boundaries between technology, humanity, and environment. Find out more about HUMAN | NATURE, stream on all major platforms, or purchase the gift set from Natural Symphony. A multi-genre, storytelling electronic music album.

The gift set contains:

1 x Hand made wooden case with glass lid

1 x Crystal/wood USB stick

1 x 100 page picture/story book

1 x USB is loaded with the Human | Nature album and bonus Amazon Rainforest documentary by Remi Bumstead featuring Natural Symphony

100% of all Royalties are going to Earth Sonic and Seeds of Sound environmental projects around the world.

label: https://naturalsymphony.co.uk/products/human-nature-album

Sharing art that captures the now, the new Banksy:

See the man in his suit, blinded by his flag, marching into the abyss.

See you all this Midsummers, see you at these beautiful events at the RFH Southbank and at Ledbury and at Latitude. I'm a bit like a hermit crab right now, quietly working on my new books. Trying to make time to stare at big skies, take deep breaths, dream big dreams, grow flowers and patiently birth new worlds. Please take care, eat your greens, drink plenty of water, rest when your body tells you to, and we keep on keeping on, fighting the good fight,

With love, grief and fury,

Xxsg