News & Articles

A selection of latest news and published articles

Tweets by MarjorieMorgan

Granted a HomeWork Commission from Heart of Glass as part of their Compendium of Care Package during the Coronavirus Pandemic 2020.

http://www.heartofglass.org.uk/project/home-work/

Joined Board of Trustees 2020

www.homotopia.net

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Cultures of Love

by LUMA Creations – FREE entrance.

7pm Friday 21st Feb 2020 at John Archer Hall, L8 1YR

An evening of food, music & spoken word celebrating love, books, and stories inspired by the novels that shaped our world.

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at Hope Street Theatre, 9-10 March 2020 – more information / book here

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http://www.fingerfoodshorts.uk

I’m one of the writers presenting new work at Finger Food Shorts, Liverpool Everyman & Playhouse theatres, 27-28 March.

Tickets available here.

With Soulla Eriksen, Saphena Aziz et al. https://www.fingerfoodshorts.uk/

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Grant Winner: Marjorie Morgan, Oral History In North Of England

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Each weekly session costs £10.00 per participant. Book here.

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Moonlight (2016)
“Moonlight”: Removing the Physical Armour
Who Wants To Live Forever?
Slideshow installed in Tate Liverpool 30 Sept 19 – 6 Oct 19

Who Wants to Live Forever? tells the incredible story of Henrietta Lacks through art, science, storytelling and documentation.

https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-liverpool/tate-exchange/workshop/who-wants-live-forever

Celebrating Liverpool’s Windrush generation

Home From Home, featuring Kel Nkondock and Dorcas Sebuyange. With production assistance from Curtis Watt and Gabe Morgan.

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Liverpool will premiere a major play to celebrate city’s Windrush Generation

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President Macron and Cultural Reparations

British colonialism is alive and thriving in the art world. The museums of the UK, and of the Western world, are filled with objects of uncertain provenance. Museum culture ignores the realities and sensitivities of the centuries of illicit trade as they are largely self regulated – they justify retaining their collections by claiming they are ‘universal museums’ that serve the citizens of every nations, not just one nation – this theoretical global access is a western luxury as the citizens of London, Paris, and New York may benefit, but not those of countries like Benin – access is not a global reality.

The British Museum was one of 18 museums who, in 2002, signed released a ‘Declaration on the Importance and Value of Universal Museums,’ as providers of “a valid and valuable context for objects that were long ago displaced from their original source”. This ‘displacement’ is a contested term used by mainly Western museums instead of looting, uncertain provenance, plunder, theft, and extortion. The use of the umbrella term, ‘universal museums’ provides institutions with a defence against the discussion of cultural reparation of objects to the countries of origin.

More from this piece available at: https://blkbld.uk/304PkDP

An extended article will be posted here soon.

October 2018

“Art in Liverpool usually writes very outwardly, reflecting on the highs and lows of what’s going on around us, so the upcoming book has been a fascinating opportunity to self-reflect, often very critically of the festival, and its context.

Working with eight of Liverpool’s most exciting writers, the book includes work from Richard Billing, Jessica Fenna, Joanie Magill, Bernadette McBride, Paul McDermott, Marjorie Morgan and Callan Waldron-Hall.”

https://www.artinliverpool.com/art-in-liverpool-magazine-issue-8-2018-editorial/

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Liverpool Mental Health Week – October 2018

“This Festival’s final event launches the TranScripts anthology at Museum of Liverpool on 14th October. This features new writing and launches an anthology of work from a creative writing project run by Liverpool Mental Health Consortium … and led by tutor Marjorie Morgan, writer-in-residence for Independent Liverpool Biennial and recently shortlisted for the prestigious Kenneth Branagh Award. “

https://www.artinliverpool.com/liverpool-mental-health-festival-takes-over-city-venues-this-week/

‘Girls Trip’: a dose of Black Girl Magic

When one discusses female comedy films, invariably “Bridesmaids” (2011) and “Mean Girls” (2004) are mentioned. This is not it. “Girls Trip” (2017) is new and different. There is the usual chaotic series of events that accompanies film comedies, but this movie has Black females friendships as a central focus. Written by Kenya Barris (scriptwriter of …

‘Wi likkle but wi tallawah’: enduring NHS cuts and Windrush deportations 70 years on

In 2018 we should be saying Happy 70th Birthday to the National Health Service (NHS), and Happy 70th Anniversary to the Windrush arrivals. These two significant events in British history took place in 1948, and they have been inextricably linked since that time. However, far from being a cause for celebration, the NHS is facing a …

“Moonlight”: Removing the Physical Armour

“Moonlight” (2016) is a poetic and universal tale. It is a coming-of-age story for everyone who has every questioned “Who am I?” The central character in Tarell Alvin McCraney’s story is a Black American young man in Miami, yet he is also all of us, in all locations of this world growing up and coming …

Black and European. A Better State of Affairs than Black Americans?

Illustration / Eddie Stok for AWE “All for one, one for all,” the dashing motto of The Three Musketeers, is almost as well known as the devise of the French Republic itself: liberté, égalité, fraternité. Less well known is that Alexandre Dumas, who wrote the classic tale of swordplay, camaraderie, and France’s wars of religion, …

Black bodies and the white gaze in 2018

Black bodies and the white gaze in 2018. A personal insight into the destructive societal and political dichotomy of Blackness and Whiteness. Understanding the social structures of Blackness and whiteness in the 21st century is a mission in a time of crisis. It is important because the human body is a metaphor of social relationships; …

Black Excellence – BBC Radio Merseyside

Upfront Show presented by Ngunan Adamu, Sunday 12 May 2019 featuring Marjorie H Morgan. Soundcloud link to the Black Excellence segment: http://bit.ly/2MqFdY5 https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p001d7gj

Breaking the silence surrounding black female infertility

How often have you had a conversation about infertility amongst black women? Not very often, I would suspect. Or even never. Infertility is often viewed through a colour-coded prism: while white female infertility is frequently discussed and treated, there appears to be a silence surrounding black female infertility. Historically, myths surrounding black women, and the …

Caribbean elders are being reclassified as having no status

Caribbean British elders who have been resident in the UK for the majority of their lives are among a rising group of people becoming aware of the political terms of ‘legal ghost’ and ‘no status’ because these terms are increasingly and unexpectedly being applied to them. Many people only know that things have changed for …

Carmen Bryan – Deportation order for £2 shoplifting offence (1962)

British citizenship had been a long tradition within the British Commonwealth, however, following the end of WWII and the continual steady migration of British Caribbean citizens to the UK, there was an increase in British legislation to alter the rights of Commonwealth and colonial people. Before the 1960s it was generally accepted that every British …

Celebrating Liverpool’s Windrush generation

June 26, 2019 “Liverpool will premiere a major new play this week as part of a series of celebrations and reflections about the city’s Windrush Generation. Home from Home has been penned by city-based playwright Marjorie Morgan and looks at the turbulent recent events of the ‘hostile environment’. The play tells the story of a Liverpool …

CHOGM in London and questions about the Windrush Generation asked in the House

As the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) starts in the UK today (16 April 2018) it is an ideal time to ask what will happen to the children of the Commonwealth who came here as British citizens over 70 years ago? The infomercial promoting the CHOGM states “This is our Commonwealth” and “What’s agreed …

Coming soon … Creative Writing Course starts January 2020

8 weekly Creative Writing Workshops – morning or evening sessions available – providing participants with the keys to tackle a range of writing forms including flash fiction, journaling, critical writing, poetry, short stories and an introduction to playwriting. Participants can choose either morning or evening session for eight weeks starting on 27 January 2020 and …

Cruelty by design towards British Caribbean elders

  Information about the cases of the Caribbean British elders being systematically targeted and often deported from their British homes has been widely circulated in the past few weeks. Many members of British society, included the affected British elders, were unaware that they were a part of a group of people who were not officially …

Grant Winner: Marjorie Morgan, Oral History In North Of England

January 11, 2020 Grant Winner: Marjorie Morgan, Oral History In North Of England By Benjamin Yeoh I’ve awarded a grant to Marjorie Morgan based on her work documenting unheard voices. Recent work has included the Wind Rush generation and this grant will enable further documentation of communities around Liverpool. A blog about the project below, …

Home From Home

From Liverpool City Council’s website – liverpoolexpress.co.uk. June 26, 2019 “Liverpool will premiere a major new play this week as part of a series of celebrations and reflections about the city’s Windrush Generation. Home from Home has been penned by city-based playwright Marjorie Morgan and looks at the turbulent recent events of the ‘hostile environment’. The …

Jamaican Independence Day 2018 – Why does it matter to Black British people with Caribbean links?

Happy Jamaican Independence Day! 6th August 2018 is the 56th anniversary of the Independence of Jamaica from the control of the British Empire, yet the two countries are still closely aligned after over half a century of Independence because of people like me. I am English, a child of the 1960s, born in the West …

Objectification and sexualisation of the Black female body – from Sara Baartman to Beyoncé

by Marjorie H Morgan © 2018 Since the 15th century – in the Americas and the colonised world – the Black female body has been seen as a product to be used to produce more products in the same image; this has some parallels with the Black African tradition where the Black female body was …

Pride reminder …

Some people are estranged from their families. A letter to … my siblings now that I’m out (Published in The Guardian 23 June 2012) It must have been hard to accept me once I told you I was gay. I say this knowing our shared history as a fundamentalist Christian family of Caribbean heritage. It …

Review – Satan and Mrs Smith: Boss New Plays

Satan and Mrs Smith, written and directed by Jamie McLoughlin, had its opening show at 81 Renshaw Street on Wednesday 11 July 2018. As the audience enters the small theatre they are greeted by the sight of Mrs Smith (Pamela Ashton) on her sick bed. The sparse scene was set and it required the actors to …

Sisters, Doing it for Themselves

Everybody loves an underdog story, and everybody loves a sports story. “A League of Their Own” (1992) is a combination of both genres. The underdog is this case is the average American woman left behind as the ravages of World War II has stripped the country of its fit and healthy young men. While American …

Snapchat Gender Swap Filter and Transphobia

Trigger warning: This article contains mentions of gender dysphoria. Over the weekend IDAHOBIT (the International Day against homophobia, biphobia and transphobia, 17 May) was celebrated. At the same time, Snapchat has seen a resurgence in popularity since the platform introduced a new filter where users can do a visual binary swap of genders. You may …

Strong Island – The Contours of Fear: A Documentary Elegy

The sound of repetitive, relentless punching against a fixed piece of board starts this documentary, and a world upside down and back to front ends it. Every frame of the 107 minutes in between reinforces the idea that the director, Yance Ford, is sharing his personal elegy of grief with the camera. This is a …

The Commonwealth, Colonialism and the Legacy of Homophobia

When is an appropriate time to review the subject? Any time. But even more so given the UK’s hosting of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings (CHOGM) in London and surrounding locations, that closed on the 20th April. The Commonwealth consists of 53 member states and 80 organisations that exist in locations around the globe and work together to …

The Importance of UK Black Pride

Marjorie Morgan explores the importance of spaces dedicated to LGBT people of colour in a society where white heterosexuality is deemed the norm. Black UK Pride, an organisation that started in 2006, was created to raise the awareness around the experiences of UK’s Black LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) community and promote equality and inclusion. …

The Long History of the Hostile Environment

For decades, the UK government has restricted citizenship to exclude and criminalise people from Commonwealth countries. By Marjorie H Morgan The Windrush Scandal has shed light on the ‘hostile environment’ as it has recently been implemented against legal British citizens who were reclassified as migrants, illegally detained, and sometimes deported from their home and country; this …

The Watchers: The Compelling Gaze in “The Virgin Suicides”

“The Virgin Suicides” film is a feast of watchers: it confirms that we are all watched and we all watch. Like George Orwell’s “Nineteen Eighty-Four,” this film reminds the viewer that we are all under constant surveillance. Sofia Coppola directs her own screenplay adaptation of the novel by Jeffrey Eugenides from behind the director’s lens, …

The Windrush Scandal proves the government can’t be trusted to renegotiate our border policies

The treatment of the Windrush Generation revealed the racism and bureaucratic incompetence at the heart of the government’s migration system. Marjorie H Morgan writes that they can’t be trusted with post-Brexit border policies. Amber Rudd took a bullet for Theresa May in the immediate aftermath the Windrush scandal, stepping down is because she ‘inadvertently mislead Parliament’. But really, …

The Women of Wakanda

“Black Panther” (2018) is a typical Marvel action movie that’s not typical in its casting. A large amount of the action is performed by the women, main characters who don’t exist solely to assist the goals of a male character. They each have their own agendas and missions. The groundbreaking film “Black Panther” features Chadwick …

We need more vegan medication

Veganism is one of the fastest growing lifestyle movements in Britain. In two years there has been a rapid 6% increase in the number of vegans in the UK, rising from 542,000 in 2016 (Great Britain only) to 3.5 million in 2018. Many people are choosing  the vegan lifestyle because of health implications related to the consumption of meat …