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Kicking off festival weekend is an open mic with a feature set from National Slam Champion Mohamed Hassan. Head down to the cosy Cafe 39 to hear some incredible poetry from our feature and Nationals competitors. Sign up to the open mic if you’d like to get on stage yourself!Feature: Mohamed Hassan is an award-winning writer, journalist and poet from Auckland and Cairo.He is the creator of Miles From Nowhere, a scripted TV comedy about love, music and mass surveillance from SKY Originals and Red Arrow Studios International. The show had its world premier at the Red Sea Film Festival and aired in 2024 to critical acclaim.
Hassan’s debut poetry collection National Anthem was shortlisted for the 2021 New Zealand Book Awards, and his bestselling essay collection How To Be A Bad Muslim was published by Penguin Random House in 2022 and shortlisted for a NZSA Heritage Award. In 2015 he won the NZ National Poetry Slam and placed 2nd at the UK National Poetry Slam in 2021.
As a journalist, Mohamed was awarded the Gold Trophy at the New York Festivals Radio Awards for his podcast series Public Enemy on the impacts of social and security policies on Muslim communities in New Zealand, Australia and the United States. In 2021 he co-founded Homegrown Pictures Ltd, a production company working to tell unheard stories on screen. Its first project was Miles From Nowhere. He currently hosts the podcast The Big Picture, exploring today’s world through the lens of culture, history and society.
Friday 29 November, 8-10pm
Cafe 39, 39 Ponsonby Road
Free
Uncensored space but hate speech free.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Cafe 39, 39 Ponsonby Rd, Grey Lynn, Auckland 1011, New Zealand,Auckland, New Zealand
