Travis, Young and Bakare-Yusuf on Bare Lit line-up

Authors Robyn Travis and Kerry Young, and Cassava Republic publisher Bibi Bakare-Yusuf, are among the speakers at this year's Bare Lit Festival.

Founded in 2016 to celebrate the work of writers in diaspora, Bare Lit 2017 will bring internationally established and emerging writers from across the UK together to share works of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, playwriting and journalism.

Taking place over two days, from 22nd to 23rd April at Toynbee Studios in East London, the programme features a range of events including discussions on fantastical fiction and magical realism, erotic literature, histories of culture in diaspora, science writing, and The Art of Editing, amongst many others.

Speakers include at the festival will include Robyn Travis, author of Mama Can't Raise No Man (OWN IT!), Leone Ross, author of Come Let Us Sing Anyway (Peepal Tree Press), Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay, author of Panty (Tilted Axis Press) and Bibi Bakare-Yusuf, publisher of African indie Cassava Republic, which last year opened a London office.

Also speaking will be Sabrina Mahfouz, author of The Things I Would Tell You (Saqi); Lopè Ariyo, author of Hibiscus (HarperCollins); Ali Bader, editor of Iraq +100 (Comma Press); and Wei Ming Kam, co-founder of BAME in Publishing, a network for people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds working in UK publishing.

The keynote speech, which is sponsored by Bare Lit partner The Royal Literary Fund, will be given by Kerry Young, author of the three works of fiction including Show Me A Mountain, Pao and Gloria (all Bloomsbury), and Honorary Creative Writing Fellow at the University of Leicester.

Coinciding with Bare Lit 2017, the festival is bringing out an anthology published by Brain Mill Press. The Bare Lit '16 Anthology includes original, previously-unpublished short stories and poetry from participants of the inaugural festival in 2016. The anthology was edited by writers and editors Courttia Newland and Kavita Bhanot; and Bare Lit co-founder/director and Skin Deep editor Mend Mariwany.