By Isabella Johnson

Transfeminist poet and activist-scholar Nat Raha will be joined by Manchester poet Roma Havers for an evocative poetry reading at Manchester Poetry Library on Monday. The event is part of the global 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence campaign, promises a stirring exploration of trauma, resilience and justice through the power of poetry.

Raha will present work from her latest collection, apparitions (nines), focusing on the central theme of justice and its transformative possibilities. “‘Justice’ isn’t a legal thing for me,” she explains. “It’s a practice we cultivate between us.”

Her poetry delves into the embodiment of survival and resistance, with her poem retributions taking centre stage. “It’s about the weight of trauma, but there’s a section where it’s trying to think about – how do you dance out these states of being caught up in the weight of trauma? I really want to impart this energetic sort of resistance.”

The reading takes place during the critical final days of the 16 Days of Activism festival, which culminates on December 10, World Human Rights Day. Raha invites attendees to explore how resilience is embodied – not only as a physical experience but as an ongoing act of enduring and transcending trauma. Her work emphasises the nuanced interplay between justice, healing and survival, offering a poignant lens through which to consider these complexities.

Raha’s career has been shaped by the intersection of art and activism. A lecturer in critical studies, Raha been writing in 2009, describing the 2010 Conservative election win as a particularly significant political awakening for her generation. “Poetry is really central in understanding what was going on,” she says. “It’s always been a space through which I’ve understood the political; I don’t think those things have ever really been separate for me.”

When applying this sentiment to the recent elections of Donald Trump, and the continued western denial of genocide in Palestine, Raha remarks: “That world’s not going to save us – it’s designed to protect specific interests. Actually, we can create other forms of worlds where support, solidarity, care, recognition, accountability and transformative justice are practiced, and that’s where we have control – to give ourselves the agency of change.”

She adds: “I don’t think we can have this nourishing, generative, constructive world without poetry. And it doesn’t always have to be optimistic and utopian and hopeful – poetry is also this space where all the violence can sit and exist within, and we can see it, and feel through it, and be with it in those ways.” 

Having her poems anthologised in both 100 Queer Poems and We Want It All: An Anthology of Radical Trans Poetics, Raha underlines the importance of collectively creating space to disrupt the traditionally conservative ‘aesthetics’, or narratives, of Britain.

Speaking about the 16 Days of Activism series, which sees discussions about the “national emergency of violence against women” being discussed head on in the university space, Raha says: “The problem I keep seeing in the world is that people don’t want to acknowledge the forms of harm and violence that are taking place and when we, as survivors, start speaking about them, our truths are literally unbearable.

“There’s really an incredible power in speaking our truth.”

This commitment to amplifying the voices of survivors and their realities, embodied in Raha’s reading on December 9, reflects the core mission of the 16 Days campaign: truth and awareness is perhaps the greatest asset in inspiring real change.

When considering what she wants attendees to take away from her event, Raha refers to her frequent stylistic choice of writing with the first person, plural pronoun of ‘we’. She says: “It’s a ‘we’ that I hope I’m encouraging the reader/listener to join with, or stand with, in a form of collectivity, solidarity or belonging. That’s to say: I see you. Let’s do this together. Let’s run together. Let’s make food together. Let’s be together. All of these things are where there’s hope and support, and that’s what I hope the writing can capture and express.”

Join Nat Raha and Roma Havers on Monday 9th December at 2pm for a reading and discussion at the Manchester Poetry Library. Book your tickets here.

The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence Festival runs from 25th November to 10th December, 2024. For more information and tickets, visit mmu.ac.uk/news-and-events.