4 BROWN GIRLS WHO WRITE are a poetry collective and sisterhood made up of Roshni Goyate, Sharan Hunjan, Sheena Patel and Sunnah Khan. The collective was born on the waters of the Thames in 2017 where Sheena gathered friends on a boat to share in creativity and vulnerability. The four found resonance in each other’s voices and formed a WhatsApp group that became a safe place to share and receive each other’s writing. Their first collection of poetry was published in 2018 by FEM Press and recommended by Forward Prize shortlisted poet Shivanee N. Ramlochan.
They went on to open for T.S. Eliot prize winner Roger Robinson at the 2019 Stoke Newington Literary Festival and took a 5 star sell-out show to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival that same year where they also showcased other Black and Brown artists—upholding their principle of creating circles not pyramids in dismantling the exclusionary nature of artistic space. Over the past year, 4 BROWN GIRLS WHO WRITE have given performances and talks across the UK and internationally, including at the British Library, Tate, and the Muscat Literature Festival, and have been featured on Poetry Unbound and British Vogue, among others. They are a harbour and a sisterhood—each other’s biggest fans and fairest critics – and this is their first collective offering of solo works.
A number of them will join Toppings in the bookshop for a wonderful evening to share their work, insight, poetry, and literary brilliance.