
Strangeness as Metaphor
Novelist, short story writer, editor and educator Leone Ross join our hosts for ep 9, S2. In this episode we learn that being a writer comes from the impulse to tell stories to try to make sense of things with sentences.

Speculative fiction. I think it is who I am. I build worlds on things that annoy me. It is usually some kind of injustice, small or large. It's like taking a kernel of injustice and then beginning to extrapolate from that into characters, amplifying magical experiences or strangeness that then act as metaphors for the point, for the theme.
Leone Ross is a novelist, short story writer, editor and educator. Her third novel, This One Sky Day was nominated for the Women’s Prize, the Goldsmiths Prize, and the Ondaatje Prize, among others — and named a New York Times Editor’s Choice. Her short fiction has been widely anthologized and her first short-story collection, Come Let Us Sing Anyway, prompted the Times Literary Supplement to call her ‘a pointilliste, a master of detail…’. In 2021, she won the Manchester Prize for Fiction for a single short story. Leone has taught creative writing for 25 years and worked as a journalist throughout the 90s. She is the editor of Glimpse: A Black British Anthology of Speculative Fiction, published by Peepal Tree Press in 2022. Leone is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
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Nick Makoha
The greatest gift bestowed upon us is the ability to tell and share a story
For this episode, writers Patricia Cumper and Pauline Walker are joined by poet Nick Makoha.

Diana Evans
Finding my voice
For this episode, writers Patricia Cumper and Pauline Walker are joined by novelist and journalist Diana Evans.

Alex Wheatle
Reading became my saviour
For this episode writers Patricia Cumper and Pauline Walker are joined by award-winning author Alex Wheatle who shares with us how reading became his saviour.

Juliet Gilkes Romero
Soy Negra
For this episode, writers Patricia Cumper and Pauline Walker are joined by Juliet Gilkes Romero who speaks about how her identity as a Black woman is integral to her writing.

Colin Grant
I've been a ventriloquist
For this episode, writers Patricia Cumper and Pauline Walker are joined by memoirist and biographer Colin Grant. He tells us about writing his memoir Bageye at the Wheel and how he was inspired to write about Jamaican greats Marcus Garvey, Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer.

Hafsa Zayyan
It's Been a Wild Ride
For this episode, writers Patricia Cumper and Pauline Walker are joined by debut novelist Hafsa Zayyan, winner of the #Merky Books New Writer’s Prize.

Rachel Long
Black Joy
For this episode, writers Patricia Cumper and Pauline Walker are joined by poet Rachel Long. She tells us about being inspired by Jean “Binta” Breeze, wanting to write poems that sound and feel real and why she set up Octavia Poetry Collective.

Anthony Joseph
Infiltrating The Canon
For this episode, writers Patricia Cumper and Pauline Walker are joined by award winning Caribbean poet, novelist, musician, and creative writing lecturer Anthony Joseph.

Trish Cooke
My Caribbean Heart
In this episode writers Patricia Cumper and Pauline Walker are joined by children’s writer and writer for theatre, TV, Radio and film, actress Trish Cooke

Oladipo Agboluaje
The Unapologetic Writer
In this episode, writers Patricia Cumper and Pauline Walker are joined by playwright and academic Oladipo Agboluaje.

Pat Cumper & Pauline Walker
The Amplify Project Series 1 wrap-up
The hosts of The Amplify Project, Pauline Walker and Patricia Cumper, passionately believe that the Black British canon is fragmented and rarely recognised particularly in the UK. In this episode, they reflect on the first series of The Amplify Project in which they interviewed 10 esteemed Black British writers for the page, screen and stage.

Common Threads: Black and Asian British Women’s Writing International Conference 2022
The Amplify Project at the Common Threads Conference 2022
In this special podcast we speak to writers and academics attending the conference at Brighton University in July 2022.

Yomi Sode
The Malleable Storyteller
Introducing the first episode in this, the second series of The Amplify Project. Our podcast hosts Patricia Cumper and Pauline Walker are joined by award-winning Nigerian British writer, Yomi Sode.

Roy Williams
Climbing The Racial Mountain
In this second episode in the series, our hosts are joined by one of the country's leading dramatists Roy Williams OBE FRSL

Dean Atta
Claiming His Tick Box
For the third episode of this series, our hosts are joined by YA writer Dean Atta.

Ben Tagoe
The Pragmatic Optimist
BAFTA nominated writer Ben Tagoe joins our hosts Pauline Walker and Patricia Cumper for episode 4 of The Amplify Project.

Dreda Say Mitchell
Honouring Oracy
Crime writer Dreda Say Mitchell MBE, joins hosts Patricia Cumper and Pauline Walker for episode 5 in Series 2 of The Amplify Project.

Inua Ellams
Icaraus' Wings
Our guest for Episode 6, S2 of The Amplify Project is award-winning poet, playwright & performer, graphic artist & designer, Inua Ellams.

Courttia Newland
Cyclical Evolution
For Ep 7, S2 our hosts are joined by author, screenwriter, playwright, creative writing tutor and literary activist Courttia Newland. In this episode we learn about Courttia's drive for diversifying his writing using different genres and formats.

Titans of Black British Publishing
Titans of Black British Publishing
In this special podcast we meet three women - Verna Wilkins, Susheila Nasta and Margaret Busby - who, over the last half a century, wrote, published, edited, curated and blazed a trail for today's writers.

Patrice Lawrence
Mind Mapping
Joining us for Ep 8, S2 is writer and journalist, Patrice Lawrence. She is the author of the award-winning children and YA books, Orangeboy, Indigo Donut and Eight Pieces of Silver.