> PETE KALU LLB, FRSA, PhD
Creative Writing & Academic CV
TV Scripts
Scriptwriter BBC Children Jamie Johnson Series 7 Episode 3 (airing 2022)
Script consultant BBC Children Jamie Johnson Series 6 (airing 2021)
Short Stories
‘Richard Watt the First, Merchantt’ forthcoming Peepal Tree press 2022
‘Fall of the House of Penrhyn’ ed. Leone Ross, forthcoming, Peepal Tree press 2022
‘Hermione’ ed. Ra Page, forthcoming, Comma Press 2022
‘The Keeper of Books’ in Seaside Special, ed. Jenn Ashworth, bluemoose 2017
‘Sana the Referee’ in A Country to call home, ed. Lucy Popescu unbound 2017
‘Getting Home’ in Closure anthology ed Jacob Ross, Peepal Tree 2015
‘The Making of a Revolutionary’ in Moss Side Stories, Crocus 2012
‘High Roller’, in Playing Sidney Poitier and other stories, SAKS Publications 1999
Novels
One Drop (Young adult novel) Andersen Press 2022
Zombie XI (Young Adult novel) HopeRoad 2016
Being Me (Young Adult novel) HopeRoad 2016
Silent Striker (Young Adult novel) HopeRoad 2015
Little Jack Horner (crime fiction) Suitcase 2009
Yard Dogs (crime fiction) The X Press 2002
Diary of a househusband (comedy) The X Press 1998
Black Star Rising (sci-fi) The X Press June 1998
Professor X (crime fiction) The X Press, October 1995.
Lick Shot (crime fiction) The X Press, December 1993
Poetry
‘The Negro Speaks of Blood Transfusions’ in Filigree Peepal Tree 2018
‘How You Wear Your Hat’ in The Hat You Wear, Comma Press 2012
‘The Poet’s Song’ in Out of Bounds Bloodaxe, 2012
‘Manchester’, published as wall poster, by Urbis Museum, Manchester 2010
‘Old Radicals’, in Red, Peepal Tree 2010
‘No Trace’ monologues for Lychee Lounge, Green Room Manchester October 2003
‘Rekindled’ monologues for Manchester Museum June 2003
Mongrel Moon by Mongrel Press, November 1996
‘The Poet’s Song’ in KISS, Crocus 1994
Film Scripts
No Trace (Virtual Migrants) October 2007
Revenge Is Ras Malai filmed 2003
Winner, Kodak/ Liverpool Black Film Festival Award 2002
Radio plays
Xango’s Challenge broadcast by BBC Radio 3, August 12th 1995
Afrogoth, launched BBC Radio 4’s Young Playwrights Festival 1991
Theatre Plays
The Bay, Contact Theatre 2006
Hills,Trees, Green Stuff, Cumbria 2004
Pants, Contact Theatre, Manchester 2003
Gabrielle People’s History Museum, Manchester 2002
Downfall, Manchester University Theatre, Manchester 1995.
Taxi, Manchester Town Hall 1994.
Children’s Stories
Anansi The Spider and Tiger’s Stew, folk tale retold, Satchel 2006
The Singer and the Snorer, folk tale retold, Satchel 2006
Research Interests:
Postcolonial revisions of British imperial history
Black British crime fiction
Post dramatic theatre
One-person shows of diaspora peoples
YA fiction
UK Caribbean Carnival Expressions
Alienation in UK Black literature
Gender & diversity in storytelling
The black presence in English history from 1510 to 1860
Awards and Funding
PhD Creative Writing Lancaster University, 2020
Top 50 Black British Writers 2019: Speaking Volumes
Full Circle Arts short film commission 2016
Leicester University Radio Play Commission 2014
Elected Fellow, Royal Society for the Arts 2013
Winner, BBC-Contact Theatre Dangerous Comedy Competition 2003
Winner, Bradford International Short Play 2002
Winner, Liverpool Black Film Festival ‘Best Pitch’ Award 2002
New Horizons Scholarship Award 1995
Winner, BBC Young Playwrights Festival Award 1991
Runner-Up, Leeds University Faculty of Law Moot Court Competition 1989
Hepworth & Chadwick Commercial Law Prize 1988
Cultureword Short Story Prize 1987
The Voice / Marcus Garvey Scholarship Prize 1987
Research Experience:
Commissioned writer: Colonial Countryside research project University of Leicester 2018
Commissioned writer: Affective Digital Histories, University of Leicester 2015
Researcher & Convenor: Black Writers’ Conference, Manchester, UK
2013, 2012, 2007, 2004
Consultative Panellist, Researcher and Copywriter: Revealing Histories, Manchester Museums Consortium Project on bicentenary of the parliamentary abolition of the trade in slaves 2007
Advisory Group: AHRC funded, Moving Manchester/Mediating Marginalities project (How the experience of migration has informed the work of writers from 1960 to the present) 2006-2010 http://www.transculturalwriting.com/movingmanchester/team.htm
Panelist: Writing British Asian Cities, Leeds University 2006
Editorships:
Shots in The Dark II: anthology of UK crime flash fiction, Crocus 2021
Shots in The Dark: anthology of UK crime flash fiction, Crocus 2018
Sweet Tongues: poetry anthology, Crocus 2013
The City of Lists: novel by Brigid Rose, Crocus 2009
The Curry Mile: novel by Zahid Hussain, Suitcase 2006
Peace Poems: poetry anthology, Crocus 2003
Listening Post: poetry and fiction CD’s 1 and 2, Mongrel Press 2002, 2000
Low Life: novel by Mike Duff, Crocus 2000
Healing Strategies for Women at War: black women’s poetry anthology, Crocus 1999
Heart Voice Soul: poetry CD, Mongrel Press 1998
Seven Sisters: poetry CD, Mongrel Press 1998
Dim Sum: British Chinese short stories, Crocus 1997
The Devils Lunchbox: poetry by john siddique, Mongrel Press 1996
Sky Mountain: poetry by Tang Lin, Mongrel Press 1996
KISS: poetry anthology, Crocus1994
Presentations, panels, papers and articles:
‘Strangers at the gate’: The short story and borders. Forthcoming in Essays on the short story and borders, Palgrave McMillan 2019
‘Mind The Gap: Celebrating Authentic Inclusion’. London Book Fair 2018
‘Decolonising Children’s Literature’, Manchester University 2018
‘Accuracy, History and Literary Devices in the creation of Slave Narratives: A comparative study’, Goldsmiths College, London, 2018
Speaking Volumes Black British Writers panel in Lisbon, Portugal and Seville, Spain 2017
Article on Seville’s connections with slave trade published (in Spanish) Afribuku 2017
http://www.africafundacion.org/spip.php?article29203
Judge: Saif Ghobash / Banipal Arabic creative writing in translation prize 2018
https://www.societyofauthors.org/tp2018
Innominate science fiction Festival Panelist, Eastercon Birmingham 2017
‘The Audacity of Humanity’, Writing for Liberty, Cape Town University 2017
‘Diversity in Publishing’, London Book Fair 2016
Visiting Speaker, American University of Beirut (Editing and storytelling) 2012
Visiting Speaker, Hong Kong University ‘Black British Literature: A Literary Ghetto?’: Roundtable discussion with Dr Virinder Kalra & Dr Rajeev Balasubramayan 2011
Black British Perspectives RoundTable, Leeds University, 2011
Convenor for UK Black writers’ research visit to Calabash International Literature Festival, Jamaica 2006
Visual Arts & Film Reviews
Ekua Banuyu
http://www.peterkalu.com/uncategorized/ekua-bayunu-rebirth-exhibition-500-word-review-by-pete-kalu/
Christopher Ankeli
Benji Reid
Moonlight
http://www.peterkalu.com/blog/moonlight-notes-on-the-film/
Akinyemi Oludele
http://www.peterkalu.com/category/blog/page/2/
Storytelling
Portico Prize Young Reviewers Evening Manchester 2018
Hay Festival 2017
International storytelling visit to Beirut, Lebanon 2012
International storytelling visit to Hong Kong 2011
International storytelling tour of Pakistan 2007
Teaching Experience
Facilitator, Identity Black Writers Workshop 1990-2013
Over 100 general creative writing workshops conducted as Artistic Director, Commonword 2007 onwards.
Mentorships
Lizzy Hughes, storytelling
Nii Parkes: creative writing general
Zahid Hussain: creative writing fiction
Chanje Kunda creative writing poetry
John Siddique, poetry
Residencies & Visiting Artist Appointments
Visiting Artist, HMP Manchester 2010
Guest writer, Arvon Foundation, Totleigh Barton, 1995
Guest writer, Arvon Foundation, Lumb Bank 1994
Manchester Schools Residency (via Black Arts Alliance) 1993
Time Travellers, Roman History in Action, Hull 1992
Visiting Artist, HMP Manchester 1999
Visiting Artist, HMP Hindley 1999
Press Coverage
Jam Session Magazine: Reflections on Seville and black history, 2018:
http://www.jamsessionmagazine.com/issue/read/27269#articles
Creative Futures: narrative influences on futures thinking, 2017:
Megaphone article on Voice and Publishing, 2016:
MediaDiversified article on black writers conferences, 2015: https://mediadiversified.org/2015/06/21/peter-kalu/
The Guardian: on writing multicultural characters, 2015:
Yush Black Lifestyle Magazine: General interview 2012: http://yush.com/peter-kalu-yours-eclectically.htm
Black British Perspectives RoundTable, Leeds University, 2011: http://vimeo.com/45721486
BBC website: Delivering advice for storytellers 2009: http://www.bbc.co.uk/newtalent/writing/advice_kalu.shtml
Listed in Encyclopaedia of Pulp Fiction Writers, Library of American Literature 2009