In this fortnight’s episode Gyles and Aphra Brandreth’s journey around the Commonwealth takes them to Togo, a West African country with a 32 mile coastline along the Gulf of Guinea. Togo is one of the newest members of the Commonwealth having joined in 2022. Speaking with award winning poet and playwright Dr Patron Henekou they discover more about Togo, it’s history, culture and poetry. Poems this episode include: When Sorrow-Song Descends on You by Henino Vinoko Akpalu; Dalva, Dalva from here by Patron Henekou; and The Last Photo with my Father by Anas Atakora.

In this episode Gyles and Aphra Brandreth meet Tanzanian poet Neema Komba. Neema shares her poetry journey, from a terrible event that took place as a teenage girl in a hospital, to the point that she discovered poetry as a way to express herself, to becoming the co-founder of La Poetista, a platform for poets and other performing artists to showcase their art and create a positive impact in the community through the arts. Sharing poems in both Swahili and English, poems this episode include: To my potential husband; Unaogopa Sauti Yangu (Are you afraid of my voice); and an Untitled Poem, all by Neema Komba; and Are you leaving Al Kindi? by Mohamed Yunus Rafiq.

In this fortnight’s episode, join Gyles and Aphra Brandreth as they discover more about Kenya and its poetry. We hear from Njeri Wangari, a Kenyan poet and author, who is living in Nairobi, and has performed her poetry globally.

She is one of the key contributors to a recently published poetry anthology called Across Borders – An anthology of new poems from the Commonwealth. Poems this episode include: The 10th Daughter; My Country Kenya; and My People, all by Njeri Wangari; and A Freedom Song by Marjorie Oludhe-Macgoye.