During a time of social, political and environmental apocalypses, could we read enough change the end of the world? Enter the library curated by Ama Josephine Budge and come and shape a new future.

Dates and Times: Mon 03 - Sun 09 June, 9:00 - 18:00 and during evening events.

'If I were collecting books for the apocalypse, what would my library hold? As the dust falls, and the silence settles, could I finally read enough to change the end of the world?'

Curated by writer and pleasure activist Ama Josephine Budge, and realised with the support of arts centre Free Word, and the suggestions of artists, activists and Free Word audiences, the Apocalypse Reading Room is a travelling library installation of novels, non-fiction, poetry collections, academic texts, children’s books, YA Fiction and zines exploring different ways humans might live with their non-human kin: plant, animal, insect, gas and mineral.

Apocalypse Reading Room opens up new discussions around the importance of growth through reading, reflection and conversation in this time of many social, political, and environmental apocalypses.

On Saturday 8 June from 1.30-3.30pm, Ama Josephine Budge gives a performative reading followed by discussion event with Selina Nwulu and Imani Robinson, as part of Bodies in the Way.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Ama Josephine Budge is a Speculative Writer, Artist, Curator and Pleasure Activist whose work navigates intimate explorations of race, art, ecology and feminism, working to activate movements that catalyse human rights, environmental evolutions and troublesomely queered identities. Ama is a PhD candidate in Psychosocial Studies with Dr Gail Lewis at Birkbeck University; her research takes a queer, decolonial approach to challenging climate colonialism in Sub-Saharan Africa with a particular focus on inherently environmentalist pleasure practices in Ghana and Kenya.

Ama has worked with arts institutions across the UK and abroad including the ICA, Free Word, Autograph ABP and the V&A. Ama’s fiction and non-fiction has been published internationally and she is working on her first book, a speculative duology for young adults.