Black Ink Presents: Poetry Night Series

Second Saturday every month

Black Ink Presents: Poetry Night Series

Curated by poetry champion and community activist Huda Fadlelmawla, Black Ink Presents: Poetry Night Series is a dynamic program of live open mic poetry events culminating in an end of year Grand Slam celebration.

Black Ink is dedicated to centring Black diaspora artists, cultivating a safe and brave space for BIPOC creatives grounded in open dialogue and meaningful connection. Each Poetry Night is a chance to celebrate the power of spoken word poetry as a force for artistic expression, with feature performances from established Black Ink poets, and the opportunity to participate in guided writing exercises and an open mic session.

Black Ink presents: Water speaks

Saturday 11 July, 6:00 – 8:00pm, doors from 5:45pm

The second Black Ink Presents event will respond to the exhibition Beneath the Surface, and showcase feature artists SOLCHLD and Huda the Goddess.

Optional Dress Theme: Blue as the ocean

Question: When does someone become an "artist"?

Prompt: "The ocean reminds me…"

Share with us your favourite Australian body of water

Session Times

6:00 PM

Artists

Huda Fadlemawla

Huda Fadlemawla is an internationally recognised spoken word poet, educator and activist, renowned for her powerful improvised poetry. A proud Black Sudanese Muslim woman, she uses her artistry to challenge narratives, ignite conversation and foster deep connections between audiences and writers. With over a decade in the arts, she won the Australian Poetry Slam in 2021 and became the first spoken word poet invited to the World Slam Poetry Championship in Belgium. Her impact spans global stages, having performed at the Singapore Writers Festival, Ubud Writers Festival, London Queens of Poetry and Readers Festival, as well as major Australian literary events including the Bondi Writers Festival and Adelaide Writers Festival.

Sachém

Sachém (Noonuccal and African American heritage) is a recording artist and cultural documentarian whose work moves with precision across lyricism, spoken word, and hip-hop. His practice is grounded in narrative—mapping personal history, lineage, and lived experience into bodies of work that are both intimate and expansive. Recognised for his distinct voice and commitment to cultural continuity, Sachém has been appointed 2026 Artist in Residence for the Melbourne International Jazz Festival, alongside residencies with the Museum of Brisbane and the State Library of Queensland. These appointments reflect a growing body of work that sits at the intersection of music, memory, and archive and living relevance. His output resists trend, instead favouring depth, authorship, and intention—each release contributing to a broader canon concerned with generational knowledge, identity, and story through sound.

Black Ink

Black Ink is an open mic platform based in Magandjin (Brisbane), dedicated to centring Black diaspora artists and cultivating a safe and brave space for BIPOC creatives. Over the past year it has grown into a vibrant community hub where artists can gather, share and evolve, grounded in open dialogue and meaningful connection. Each event is curated around a unique theme and includes a Question of the Night designed to spark conversation, reflection and community bonding, with the platform's core focus on showcasing talent and creating space for new voices to find their way to the mic.