In this fortnight’s episode Gyles and Aphra Brandreth are exploring Fiji with Poet, writer, and musician Daren Kamali aka DKPoet. Now based in Aotearoa New Zealand, Daren was born and raised in Fiji and migrated to Aotearoa at the age of 17. He started his creative career busking street poetry on the city streets of Auckland and since then has produced two music albums and published several books of poetry.

Poems this episode include: Vunimaqo and Mangoes Grew Us both from his collection Vunimaqo and me by Daren Kamali; and The giant unleashed, a spoken word poem also by Daren Kamali.

In this episode we listen back to Gyles and Aphra Brandreth’s interview with HRH The Duke of Kent, former President of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and Royal biographer Hugo Vickers. Sharing a bonus poem read by Gyles, this is a special episode re-released for Remembrance Sunday.

In this fortnight’s episode Gyles and Aphra Brandreth meet teenage poet and activist Victoria Kanu. Better known as Vicky the Poet, she is a household name in Sierra Leone and a national icon who has used her talent to transform and impact lives. She is now a major voice for women and girls within the country and beyond. Vicky started writing poetry from the age of 5, but it was a poem that she wrote following the mudslides in 2017 that destroyed hundreds of buildings in the capital, killing over a thousand people and leaving thousands homeless, which caught the attention of the world. Since then, with the support of her father and mentor Alim Kanu she has written and performed numerous poems highlighting the conditions for young people particularly young girls living in Sierra Leone.

Poems this episode include: The mother by Elizabeth L A Kamara; and A heart Reaching, The Story of an African Child from the book Unfinished Business, The story of Kadiatu, Down Memory Lane in Sierra Leone, and Nightmares of the Internet, all by Victoria Kanu.