Poets Liberation Front: May Salon

lisa luxx with Hazem Jamjoum, Jamal Mehmood and Riwa Saab on the architectures of transnationalism.

Hazem Jamjoum, Jamal Mehmood and Riwa Saab will be leading this month’s discussion with literature that explores the architectures of transnationalism.

Literature has the means of illuminating transnational structures of resistance. June Jordan wrote of the struggles in Palestine and Lebanon from an America in the throes of the Civil Rights uprising. Meanwhile, Ngugi wa Thiong’o translates his Gikuyu-language books into other marginalised languages of the globe before permitting them into English. In both ways, fragmented revolutions are fortified as international kinships.

This month’s guest poets all contribute to literature in ways that establish meeting places; small shelters that defy borders, nations and singularity.

The salon is a space to actively engage in current resistance literature emerging from our political landscape.

About the poets

lisa minerva luxx is a British-Syrian writer and political activist. Their poetry, essays and fiction have been published internationally including by Poetry Review, Magma, New England Review, BBC Radio 4 and their short film Lesbian. was produced by Channel 4.

In 2021 their debut collection, Fetch Your Mother’s Heart, was released by Out-Spoken Press to critical acclaim. Currently studying a PhD in diaspora resistance poetics, luxx has also guest lectured at Columbia University, American University of Beirut and Queens Mary London.

Since 2021, luxx has written three verse plays including what the dog said to the harvest which premiered at Southbank Centre. They are also a platinum award-winning lyricist with Maison Arts, LA.

luxx is a long-time grassroots organiser across England, Beirut and Syria. They believe in transnational community and direct action as a means of liberation. They are a dedicated part of direct action movement, Palestine Action.

Hazem Jamjoum is a Palestinian historian and translator. He is an editor with Safarjal Press, a newly established publishing house in London that focuses on radical texts in translation. His most recent translation is of a poetry collection Leading Songbirds from the Slaughter, written by Palestinian poet Gawad Elakkad in Gaza during the genocide. The collection will be published as a bilingual edition by Safarjal Press in the summer of 2025, edited by lisa minerva luxx.

Hazem's translation of Ghassan Kanafani’s The Revolution of 1936–1939 in Palestine was published by 1804 Books in 2023 and his translation of Maya Abu al-Hayyat’s novel No One Knows their Blood Type was published by the CSU Poetry Centre in 2024.

Jamal Mehmood is a writer and filmmaker based in London. His work has been featured at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Magma, BBC4, Poetry London, and Popula. He has been shortlisted for the Outspoken Prize for Poetry in Film and won the national Poetry Rivals. His latest book ‘The Leaf of the Neem Tree’ (Hajar Press) was released in 2021.

Riwa Saab is a multi-disciplinary maker, performer, and cultural producer. Her work spans poetry, theatre, music and sound design. She is excited by what transpires in live spaces, and how art puts people and our relationships at the centre of the political narratives we inhabit. Some recent themes she’s explored include the unpacking of generational and familial baggage, and the politics of pop princesses from Asmahan to Shakira. She is an alumnus of the Barbican Young Poets collective. As a producer and facilitator, she has curated events such as When the Land Speaks, a guided excursion through Hackney Marshes exploring what it means to develop a relationship to the lifeforce of the land we reside on as uprooted peoples.

Venue accessibility

The venue is wheelchair accessible for manual wheelchair users and those with mobility requirements via a lift. However, please note that the lift cannot accommodate electric wheelchairs. We recognise the limitations of access at this venue. The decision to host the event here was made thoughtfully to anchor in a space centring Palestine. We are committed to providing access for anyone who like to attend online. Please contact us to arrange.