WHITE BEAR THEATRE presents VOYAGES FESTIVAL
Money for Footnotes by JC Niala
Inspired by the myth of Penelope and Odysseus, Money for Footnotes is a witty and poignant monologue about migration, ambition, and the quiet resilience of a woman who learns that finishing what she started may mean letting go.
Creatives involved: JC Niala (Writer & Performer)/ Clare Stopford (Director)
Edinburgh International Book Festival
Nature Journaling: A Workshop with J C Niala SOLD OUT
10.30am–12pm
A practical workshop beginning with the senses and exploring ways to record our relationships with the natural world. It is designed for curiosity rather than expertise: less about producing a beautiful notebook than learning to notice what habitual ideas of ‘nature’ cause us to overlook.
Cal Flyn & J C Niala: The World Beyond Ourselves
3.15–4.15pm
I join Cal Flyn and chair David Farrier to discuss wilderness, urban nature and the difficult balance between human community and the lives around us. The useful tension here is whether ‘wildness’ and human presence really are opposites or whether that division has always been an imaginative convenience.
Imagining Tomorrow’s Countryside with Melissa Harrison and Future Rural
Melissa will be in conversation with Nicola Chester and JC Niala from the Future Rural anthology, published by Little Toller, which gathers together a powerful chorus of diverse voices—writers, farmers, activists, ecologists, and thinkers – and asks them to interrogate the past and present in order to imagine what lies ahead for Britain’s rural landscapes and communities.
It promises to be an inspiring discussion, covering everything from the creativity of the countryside to the growing threats of climate change and habitat loss, this new collection confronts the complex realities facing our countryside.
More details coming soon.
Consider the Wondrous
I join Amanda Tuke in conversation with Stephen Moss about wildlife in towns and cities. The subject is deliberately more exacting than a general celebration of urban nature: the real question is how admiration for adaptable animals translates into planning, access, responsibility and genuine coexistence.
Black British Book Festival
I will be speaking at the Black British Book Festival, a large gathering of writers, readers, publishers and performers at the Barbican. My session title and time will be added when the full programme is announced.
More details coming soon.
Off the Shelf Festival of Words
I will be appearing at Sheffield’s Off the Shelf Festival of Words.
My individual event date, venue and booking link will be added when the full session listing is published.
More details coming soon.
Ilkley Literature Festival
I will be appearing at Ilkley Literature Festival, which has brought writers and readers together in West Yorkshire for more than fifty years. My individual event timing, venue and booking link will be added when the 2026 programme is announced on 13 August.
More details coming soon.
Creative Methods in African Research: Storytelling, Performance and Public Scholarship
An interactive workshop exploring creative and interdisciplinary approaches to African research, including storytelling, performance, multilingualism and public engagement as research methods. Participants will engage with how narrative, oral histories and creative practice can shape fieldwork, analysis and the communication of research beyond academia.
Time TBC.
More details coming soon.
Growing Wild: gardens, wild things, and cultivating connection | Wild Women's Writers Salon
On 24th June 7-8:30pm I'll be speaking with Sarah Rigby, Vik Bennett, Marian Boswell and Kate Bradbury at the Wild Women's Writers Salon online (link to follow) on the theme of Growing Wild: gardens, wild things, and cultivating connection.
Online conversation with Alycia Pirmohamed about The New Eden
If you can’t make the book launch… I’ll be having an online conversation with Alycia Pirmohamed about The New Eden — one you can enjoy from the comfort of your own home. It’s on Tuesday 31st March from 7-8pm and it’s free due to the kind hosting of the University of Cambridge.
Launch event for The New Eden: Wildlife in the City and Discovering Our Shared Home
Launch event for The New Eden: Wildlife in the City and Discovering Our Shared Home, held in the evening at the Old Fire Station 40 George Street in Oxford. If you’d like to come, please send me your email so I can add you to the publisher’s invitation list.
Prototype at Summertown Arts Centre, Oxford
A short play of mine will be featured at Prototype at Summertown Arts Centre, Oxford. Prototype is a regular evening of new plays in Oxford.
Book launch for The Waiting List
Book launch for The Waiting List at The Nest (33-35 Little Clarendon Street) in Oxford. The book documents a 2023 project I carried out with Sam Skinner, Julia Utreras, and Greenpeace exploring access to land for growing in cities. There’s also a short 4-minute film about the project, which you can watch here.
‘Whose Land? Whose Stories? Rethinking Heritage in the Age of Agroecology’
I’ll be at the Oxford Real Farming Conference. From 9-10:20am on the 9th, I’ll be hosting a workshop called ‘Whose Land? Whose Stories? Rethinking Heritage in the Age of Agroecology’ with some truly fabulous collaborators.
The Importance of Being Oscar Wilde’s Valet
In the appendix of Michèle Mendelssohn’s Making Oscar Wilde there’s a tantalising teaser. When Oscar Wilde toured the US, he likely had one or more African American valets. One of them may have been called Stephen.
That small detail sparked something. Playwright Bobby Theodore and I began to imagine the life of this man—whom we call Stephen Stephens—if he had returned to the UK with Oscar Wilde.
We started collaborating in February 2024 after receiving seed funding from The Cultural Programme at the University of Oxford. Since Bobby is based in Canada, much of our work has been done remotely.
At first, our play focused on the relationship between Wilde and Stephens. But soon, we became more interested in Stephens himself: who he was, and what his life might have been before he ever met Wilde. For his background, I drew inspiration from African American people who had been enslaved and later through incredible efforts returned to West Africa—stories that too often go unheard.
Although the play is set in present-day Oxford and guided by two students—Itara and Ernest—it unfolds through magical realism, allowing us to travel between time and place.
In October 2024, we shared a sold-out work-in-progress reading at Blackwell’s in Oxford. Now, a year later, we are delighted to invite you to a rehearsed reading at the Old Fire Station on 29 October 2025.
We’d love to see you there!
The photo of Bobby and I was taken by the wonderful Sarah Halliday.
The poster for our rehearsed reading is by: Josphat Kiriga & Mumbi Muturi
BBC Radio 4 – A Grain of Wheat
A Perfectly Normal Production of Ngũgi’ wa Thiong’o’s classic adapted by Michael Eaton set in the 5 days before Kenya attained independence. JC is the narrator.
Oxford Indie Book Fair
https://www.oxfordindiebookfair.co.uk/whats-on/
JC is one of the featured poets at the poetry slam.
Beyond Silent Witnesses: Delving into the Heart of African History and How it Shapes the Present Through Objects
UWC Atlantic College
Invitation Only