Poets Liberation Front: Final Salon

lisa minerva luxx with Bobby Vylan and Fatema Zainab Rajwani; cultivating certainty

The Poet’s Liberation Front is a literary salon examining and repositioning the political function of the poet for current times.

What does it mean to cultivate certainty in uncertain times? When policing, prisons, and ‘legacy media’ work overtime to destabilise our commitment to the liberation struggle, how do we render ourselves unshakeable? In the final instalment of Poets Liberation Front, we will consider the poetics of conviction; how even when the state used our words against us, we refused to compromise our language because we know words give way to action.

Poets Liberation Front is a cultural resistance salon that connects poets and organisers so that we may establish the necessary use of speech and literature for this political epoch. For this edition, I will be joined by punk artist Bobby Vylan (1/2 of Bob Vylan) as well as former political prisoner and poet Fatema Zainab Rajwani. We will lead a community discussion on how chants, poetry, prison diaries and songs have fostered the foundations of a movement that refuses to waver.

luxx is donating 100% of profits from ticket sales to the mutual aid networks operating in Palestinian camps in South Lebanon. to provide food, medicine, diapers and baby food under the current full-scale Zionist attacks. Tickets are on a sliding scale of affordability but please pay honest. For those who can’t attend but would still like to donate - there is an option for that.

This event is created and hosted by lisa minerva luxx in partnership with Shubbak Festival and generously supported by Arts Council England.

The salon is a space to actively engage in current resistance literature emerging from our political landscape. Tickets are on a sliding scale solidarity rate, please pay honestly.

About the poets

lisa minerva luxx is a British Syrian writer and organiser. Their debut poetry collection, Fetch Your Mother’s Heart, was released by Out-Spoken Press in 2021. They have published articles and essays on resistance methodologies in Al Jazeera, Electronic Intifada and PEN Transmissions. They are a platinum award-winning lyricist and have written three verse plays including the radical decolonial climate justice opera ‘what the dog said to the harvest’. They were organiser and spokesperson of direct action network Palestine Action until it was prohibited as a terrorist organisation in July 2025. They are a coordinator of the Filton24 Defence Committee.

Bobby Vylan is frontman of punk rap duo Bob Vylan whose music tackles systemic injustice in Britain. Their 2024 album “Humble as the Sun” received acclaim from critics. He made headlines in 2025 after leading ‘Death, Death to the IDF’ chants at Glastonbury festival, which sent the establishment (including MPs, the BBC and the Zionist embassy) into a public meltdown but simultaneously reinforced the assertiveness of the pro-Palestine movement in the streets.

Fatema Zainab Rajwani is a poet and former political prisoner arrested for an alleged action against an Israeli weapons manufacturer as part of the Filton 24. She has used her writing as an attempt to mediate between the existence we are witnessing and the world we have the capacity of building together. Her writing is largely impacted by the experience of being forcibly disappeared and held under unlawful counter terror powers in the UK. She is currently undergoing a retrial after being acquitted on the most serious charges on her case.

Accessibility

The venue is wheelchair accessible.

The ticketing platform doesn't allow us to allocate free tickets; however, we are committed to ensuring that no one is turned away. If you can't afford the tickets, please reach out to us info@shubbak.co.uk and we will add your name at the door.