The week is up and running smoothly . Only five or so days to go and I’ll be in Botswana. Seems like there is no one at The Southbank at the moment. The entire literature team
is on holiday so except for Monday I’ve been at home.  On Tuesday I visited the Eritrean embassy for visa and had the pleasure of a one hour conversation with the Eritrean
Ambassador. 

It’s taken some time but I now have a solid team around me.   Live events are perfectly put together by Ruth Hey whom for ten years worked for Britian’s premier literature festival
The Hay Festival and my project  management is sorted by Gill Lloyd, executive producer of Artsadmin.  

Last week the arts council granted my next play £23,000 ($46,000) which is great news. It’s called Why I don’t Hate White People and will be on at The Hammersmith Lyric
next year.  I went to see Jude Kelly’s Wizard of Oz.  I’m artist in residence at
The Southbank centre and I enjoyed it. 

I went on the press night which is never the friendliest audience, they tend to be
conservative in their live feedback which seems strange as a show such as
Wizard of Oz feeds off  audience. It is testament to her tenacity that Jude would bring Wizard of Oz to The Southbank centre. Theatre for the people.   I saw shades of Steinbeck in  Frank L Baum’s work.   The music was incredible,  but I take a Southbank workers advice and shall go when the theatre is full of children with their parents. 

Been an interesting press week: There’s some press in Botswana here and there’s some press  in New Zealand Herald  here and there’s a film of me reading a  poem called Godsell launched on The Guardian website that went up today here.  And finally (drum roll please)  The South Manchester Reporter  here .