Every October, Somali writers, poets, musicians and artists converge in London for the Somali Week Festival, an event celebrating one of Africa's richest literary and cultural traditions.
For British Somalis, the festival offers an opportunity to reconnect with their language and heritage. For wider audiences, it provides a window into a culture often reduced to headlines about conflict and displacement.
Its journey also reflects the changing place of Somali communities in modern Britain.
In Bethnal Green, Oxford House became a meeting place for Somali migrants. The London Museum records a Somali festival held there as far back as 1989.
A new chapter began in 2009 when Ayan Mahamoud MBE founded Kayd Somali Arts and Culture. Through the organisation, Somali Week evolved into an international festival bringing established literary voices together with emerging writers and younger audiences.
Somalis are often described as a nation of poets. For generations, poetry has preserved history, debated politics, expressed dissent and passed knowledge between generations.
Somali Week has celebrated this tradition by presenting poets such as Mohamed Ibrahim Warsame, popularly known as Hadraawi, and Mohamed Hashi Dhamac, known as Gaarriye, to British audiences.
The festival has since expanded beyond poetry to embrace translation, theatre, film, music, fashion and visual arts.
