Never afraid to address the elephant in the room – the very spirit with which this collection was put together – Bangura’s work has a special focus on black womanhood, gender and racial politics, as well as family, fatherlessness, identity, Black British girlhood, unemployment, gentrification, disenfranchisement, love, loss, and more.

In the lead up to the publication of my first book, a collection of poetry, I will be releasing  a series of short films offering more insight into the book and the creation process. Each episode will be released on Youtube fortnightly.

Elephant diaries is a series filmed by Troy James Aidoo.

A Black History Month tour of the poetry that makes up ‘Elephant’, Siana’s debut collection bursting with passion and energy.

Siana writer for Black Ballad, the digital subscription platform dedicated to elevating the voices of Black British women through content, community and commerce.

Dawn Butler Talks Honesty, Purpose & Surviving Cancer

The Importance Of Managing Family Expectations To Live A Healthy Life

How We Can Win: Activist Kimberly Jones On True Economic Equality

Black Women Victims Of Stalking Are Not Taken Seriously

Will The Show Go On For Theatre In The West Midlands?

Guest Editor’s Letter: The Difference Between Solitude and Loneliness

This Woman’s Work: Sharmaine Lovegrove, Publishing Pioneer

I’m Not Your Black History Month Poet

Beyond Blood Diamonds and Ebola: A Brief History of Sierra Leone

Climate Change is Not a White Issue: We Need Black Women’s Voices

The Black Women Surviving Gentrification in London

Rejecting the Strong Black Woman Trope While Grieving

The Dating Game is the Only Arena Where Racial Prejudice Gets a Pass

What #TwerkGate Taught Me: Musings On An Ongoing Frustration

Why Lemonade and bell hooks Prove We Need More Than One Form Of Black Feminism

White People, The Responsibility Of Ending Racist Systems Falls On Your Shoulders

A selection of Siana’s articles and essays on Medium.

We Shall Fight Until We Win is a graphic novel, co-published with BHP Comics, celebrating a century of political pioneering women in the UK.

Loud Black Girls is an important and timely anthology of black British writing essays from the diverse voices of twenty established and emerging black British writers.

An interview in Parallel Magazine’s Unashamedly Feminist Issue.

Consented was a platform for those who aren’t accurately represented by the mainstream media. Its past issues covered a range of important issues – including mental health, belonging, and gender – using personal narratives, essays, comics, poetry and art. As well as producing a quarterly print magazine, Consented ran live events, workshops, panel discussions, and a show called Consented TV. Siana’s work featured in Issues 1 – 3, focusing on Mental Health, Belonging, and Gender, respectively.

Europe’s leading political ecology magazine, Green European Journal offers fresh perspectives that stand for an open, sustainable, just and feminist Europe.

Sweet Dreams and Beautiful Nightmares: Why Security is a Black and Brown Issue

Siana Bangura remembers George Floyd on the first anniversary of his murder, as CAAT continues to condemn the UK’s role in arming repression around the world – including the USA – and exploring violence and brutality.

Swim, Aunty, Swim! is a profound, poetic story of friendship, loss, sisterhood, motherhood, ageing, starting again, and the sublime power of water.

DAT REN WE BIT BITA-LIF SOTE I BITA, NA-IN BIT SHUGA KEN SOTE I SWIT – Krio Proverb
Translation: The same rain that beats bitter-leaf until its bitter, beats sugar cane until it’s sweet.

Fatu is in search of a new life and a fresh start. Leaving London behind, she makes her way to Coventry. There she forms a friendship with fellow members of her new church, Aunty Blessing and Aunty Ama – a fiery, entertaining and sharp-witted duo of West African women in their prime, navigating changes and transitions in their own lives.

At Ama’s whim, the three of them embark on a watery challenge. 

What begins as light-hearted fun and a distraction from the mundane routine of life and church, becomes a ritual of healing and rebirth, after a season of grieving. 

Set across Lagos, Accra, Freetown, London, Birmingham, and Coventry, Swim, Aunty, Swim! is written by Siana Bangura and directed by Madeleine Kludje. Tickets available now.

‘Layila!’, Siana’s debut play, is the story of Aminata, a 15-year-old Sierra Leonean-British kid living in South London with her family. Following the sudden death of her grandmother, the family’s world is shaken. One night, grandma comes back from the afterlife with a final request for Aminata and so begins a coming-of-age adventure, exploring the delights of Freetown and uncovering personal – and political – histories.

First performed on stage at the Birmingham Rep Theatre in June 2019 and November 2019, the audio edition of this play has been written and directed by Siana Bangura.

Chaordic is a play/ movement piece by Siana Bangura, exploring chaos, order, interconnectedness, disruption and the mundane.

Two strangers find themselves stranded at an unspecified train station due to severe delays on the line. After several hours, they begin finding ways to pass the time.Chaordic is a subtle commentary on mental illness, the everyday nature of tragedy, and how we as individuals and a society respond either with callousness, flippancy, kindness and on occasion empathy. The play also raises questions about the ways in which we are always in relation to each other – and how, with that realisation, we find connections and commonality in the most surprising situations.

Siana founded Courageous Films in 2020 – an independent social justice film production house, following in the tradition of radical filmmaking collectives that have come before.

1500 & Counting is a documentary film investigating deaths in custody and police brutality in the UK.

‘Denim’ is a poetic short film by writer, poet and performer Siana Bangura, exploring gentrification and social cleansing in South East London.

This short poetry film makes a stark comparison between the COVID-19 outbreak and racism, highlighting how the pandemic forced a reckoning and wave of self-reflection that would not have been possible before it.

A short film shot by Chloe Deakin.

‘People Not War’ is a podcast brought to you by Campaign Against Arms Trade and hosted by Siana Bangura. Each episode catches up with campaigners, activists, community organisers, and all-round inspirational people working to end the international arms trade and other intersecting issues.

Behind the Curtains – co-produced by Siana Bangura and theatre critic Christina Nicole, in partnership with English Touring Theatre – spotlights the off-stage roles that are the backbone of theatre. What pearls of wisdom do the writers, directors, sound designers, producers, production managers, movement directors and voice and dialect coaches weathering the storms of uncertainty have for their peers in the industry and those still looking to enter it? Tune in for answers to all of these questions and more!

Sharing the same name as Siana’s popular blog from the early 2000s, ‘Don’t Go There, Siana’ is an upcoming audio exercise in archiving. Join Siana as she checks in with with movers, shakers, tastemakers, and changemakers, people whose work, voices and perspectives are worth archiving for generations to come.

Coming soon to all podcasting platforms.

Revealed tells the stories of 16 year-old Luther, his father Malcolm and his grandfather Sidney who take refuge at the family’s Caribbean restaurant. After a recent incident in police custody which stunned the nation, with protests and riots erupting all around them.

As the three men navigate the chaos on their doorstep, their different feelings come to the surface – on racism, masculinity, sexuality, parenting and love. Secrets emerge from deep within their family, and they start to see one another – and themselves – in a new light.

Revealed is the first production from the new Menologues platform, founded by The Red Earth Collective to highlight diverse stories of Black British men through the arts. It’s goal is to show that seeking mental health support is not a sign of weakness, but a strength.

The play is inspired by the disturbing fact that suicide rates are at their highest rate for 35 years, with men three times more likely to commit suicide than women. The play is produced by Siana Bangura.

Following a critically acclaimed UK  tour and London run,  Richard Twyman’s production of  Othello was brought to the stage by English Touring Theatre  (ETT) in a co-production with  Oxford Playhouse  and  Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory in 2018.Siana Bangura supported the production and accompanying initiative, The Othello Project, as an in-house Digital Content Producer.

Fierce by Kathryn Griffiths was a one woman show, described as an “unwholesome farce about sex, art and the lovelorn lay-abouts of London-town”, performed by writer, Kathryn Griffiths and directed by Celine Lowenthal. The play ran at the Camden People’s Theatre in North London in October 2014.

Siana Bangura was the play’s Assistant Producer, working alongside Héloïse Werner.

Curated by Siana Bangura and inspired by her poem, ‘I, The Angry Black Woman’, this exhibition showcases the work of three Black female artists living, working, and creating in Britain: Ruth Aquino, Paris Walker, and Ejatu Shaw. Through their photography, paintings, and digital art, the artists explore black womanhood and its multifacetedness within the context of assumed anger and enforced homogenising of black women’s experiences.

This 2017 exhibition, ‘If We are Going to Heal, Let it Be Glorious’, inspired by Beyonce’s Grammys 2017 performance, was a lovesong to a new era of Black British women no longer being afraid to creatively and boldly respond to the political and social climate affecting our daily lives. Curated by Bolanle Tajudeen, founder and Creative Director of Black Blossoms, this, the platform’s first exhibition, was held in University of the Arts London (UAL) Showroom to critical acclaim. The exhibition then toured in Liverpool, Sheffield, Leeds, Birmingham and London again. Siana’s short poetic film, ‘Denim’, was featured as part of the exhibition.

A short film produced by Siana Bangura, edited by Chloe Deakin and narrated by Amina Atiq forms part of an exhibition that features 12 portraits by acclaimed photographer, Cindy Sasha, commissioned by CAAT, celebrating CAAT’s many campaigners and supporters and our landmark ongoing legal case challenging arms sales to Saudi which have had a devastating effect in Yemen.

Commissioned as part of the 2023 edition of the Sierra Leone Arts & Culture Festival (SLACfest), and hot off the heels of a full day of events at Brixton House, this exhibition and artists conversation formed the core of the Sunday programme and put a spotlight on the accompanying festival exhibition, curated by Haja Fanta, and the featured artists.

Together, Sierra Leonean visual artists based in London and Freetown explored questions of identity, belonging, home, the Sierra Leonean diaspora, Sierra Leonean history and culture, and the role art plays in both archiving our stories – past and present – as well as re-imagining them for the future. How do we take on the mantle as artists and ‘re-introduce’ our country here and now, and ‘re-emerge’ towards a new, more positive season of Sierra Leone’s story? The conversations were rich in reflections on this and more. 

This event was part of Poplar Union’s Black History Month series, in partnership with Tower Hamlets Council.

The conversations was facilitated by Siana Bangura and the 2023 edition of the festival was co-curated by Siana Bangura & Abu Yillah.

Powered by Phoenix Education’s Changemakers Lab, a project run by Siana on behalf of the Trust, Not a Trend is a youth-led campaign, born out of frustration in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd in 2020. The campaign champions inclusive, collaborative and sustainable anti-racist initiatives in schools across the UK, working to integrate education about the Black Experience into everyday school life beyond Black History Month, and to keep antiracism a priority outside of trending hashtags.

​Siana is a campaigning mentor to the initiative and supports the Not a Trend team with ongoing strategy work.

The Phoenix Education Trust is a leading voice in democratic education, working with both mainstream schools and progressive alternative settings to challenge and expand norms of what school and education can and can be. Siana leads the Changemakers Lab and focuses on setting the vision, strategy, and effectiveness of the Lab whilst supporting young people to co-create, launch, and sustain powerful campaigns.

The Unplugged Series was a programme commissioned by City of Culture Trust as part of Coventry’s City of Culture year. The programme focused on the delivery of digital masterclasses for local young people, focusing on Language and the written form, as well as spoken word, Playwriting & Theatre; visual art – including film, photography & digital media; and Performing Arts, including music and dance. 

Siana Bangura was one of three creative practitioners delivering the programme, with a focus on themes of: the role of Social Media post lockdown; the importance of Role Models within creative industries; and looking to the future and life after lockdown.

This mentorship programme is a partnership between Friends of the Earth and the Richard Sandbrook Trust. Part of the work at Friends of the Earth is to champion and empower the voices of the next generation. The Richard Sandbrook mentoring programme (Climate. Youth. Society) has two key aims: To help create climate justice leaders of the future and to amplify the voices of young people who are marginalised in the climate justice movement. 

Participants of the programme come from diverse backgrounds, with lived experience that include being: of working class; racially minortised; and/or disabled. 

Siana has been a mentor on the programme since 2021, mentoring young campaigners to develop muscles in intersectionality, collective care, and international solidarity.

Siana is one of a host of exciting, contemporary writers taking part in South London Stories.

Working with our Young Theatre Makers, they will create a character and story rooted in South London.

A discussion with poets Roy McFarlane, Siana Bangura and young Coventry writers exploring Aldridge’s impact on the city. Chaired by Chrissie Okorie, We Are Maokwo.

No Fly on the WALL was a pioneering Black British Feminist platform, founded by writer, producer, poet and performer Siana Bangura in July 2013. The platform began as an online zine and grew into an offline Academy.

The ‘Re-imagining Black Britain’ Conference is a one-off collaboration between Black British platforms and organisations No Fly on the WALL, Sassy Tees, We are Superwoman and Cultured Lens. The conference aims to bring together a wide range of attendees, speakers, facilitators, and performers for a day of inspiration, celebration, collaboration, and re-imagining.

The Sierra Leone Arts & Culture festival (SLACFest) offers a jam-packed programme that celebrates the rich culture, history, food, and sounds of Sierra Leone.

The Black Cantabs Research Society is a counter-history project, designed to uncover and preserve the legacies of Black alumni of the University of Cambridge. The project’s mission is to critically intervene in the constructed narrative of Cambridge, and to place Black students in the institution’s past, present, and future. Founded in 2015, the project has compiled an archive of over 50 prominent Black alumni, to ensure their stories are known and celebrated.

Co-founders:

Godfrey Sang (History, Wolfson College, 2014)

Dr. Njoki Wamai (Politics, Queens’ College, 2012)

Nnenda Chinda (Classics, Downing College, 2013)

Siana Bangura (History, Peterhouse, 2010)

Dr. Eva Namusoke (History, Gonville and Caius, 2012)

Founding Committee and Researchers:

President and research coordinator, Njoki Wamai

Secretary and communications coordinator, Siana Bangura

Junior Treasurer and events coordinator, Nnenda Chinda

Historian, Eva Namusoke

The Common House was a collectively-run space for community initiatives, activist groups and radical cultural projects.

Founded in 2013 by a group of radical organisations, the Common House was not just a venue to be used or consumed, but also a collective attempt to sustain space, relationships and resources for radical ideas and practices in London. Rooted in East London, Common House became part of a network of social centres in the city and beyond. Siana was a key organiser in the project between 2013 – 2018 and again in 2021.

The Groundwork Youth Summit brought together ambassadors, practitioners, trusts, partners and friends spent a day of focused discussion addressing the big and topical question: ‘What are the key issues affecting young people in 2017?’

TEDx brings the spirit of TED’s mission of ideas worth spreading to local communities around the globe. Co-curated by Siana Bangura and Zeddie Lawal, An Age of Change was a day of discussions, conversations and ideas dedicated to young people in Birmingham.

‘Pull Up for our Rhythm and our Blues’: Black Lives Matter

Elephants, Parapets, and Re-Imagining the Status Quo 

How Those Who Come Before Us Pave The Way 

A collection of Siana’s interviews and short films