That's What She Said - International Women's Day Special

Acclaimed spoken word showcase That’s What She Said comes to the Royal Albert Hall for the first time ever, with a one-off late-night salon featuring the most incendiary, intoxicating women writers and performers around.

Expect fierce, feminist truth, fiction, politics and poetry from internationally renowned performance powerhouses, including: author and playwright Sabrina Mahfouz; broadcaster, activist and poet Bidisha; poet, educator and BBC Slam Champion Sophia Walker; writer, performer and activist Lisa Luxx;writer, performer and facilitator Deanna Rodger.

SABRINA MAHFOUZ (@SabrinaMahfouz)

Sabrina Mahfouz was raised in London and Cairo. Her work includes the plays Chef, With a Little Bit of Luck, Clean, Battleface and the love i feel is red; the poetry collection How You Might Know Me; the literary anthology The Things I Would Tell You: British Muslim Women Write and the BBC shows Breaking the Code, Railway Nation: A Journey In Verse and We Are Here. She received a Fringe First Award for Chef and won a Sky Arts Academy Poetry Award.

BIDISHA (@Bidisha_online)

Bidisha is a British journalist, film-maker and broadcaster for the BBC, Channel 4 and Sky. She specialises in human rights, social justice, gender and the arts and offers political analysis and cultural diplomacy tying these interests together. She also does outreach work in UK prisons, refugee charities and detention centres. She is a trustee of the Booker Prize Foundation, looking after the UK's most prestigious prizes for literature in English and in translation. Her most recent book, her fifth, is Asylum and Exile: Hidden Voices of London, based on her outreach work. Her poetry has been published by Wasafiri magazine, Seagull Books, Saqi Books, English PEN and Young MWA magazine. In 2017 she was part of the year-long City of Stories writers' residency for London-based writers. At the end of 2017 she released An Impossible Poison, her first short film as a director. She is currently working on further film and writing projects.

SOPHIA WALKER (@PoetWalker)

Internationally renowned poet, playwright and educator, author of Opposite the Tourbus (Burning Eye Books) and BBC Slam Champion. 2015 UK representative for the World Slam Championships, 2015 London Slam Champion, winner of the 2012 Poetry Olympics, and the Edinburgh International Book Festival Improv Slam. Host and organiser of the annual BBC Slam Championship, Sophia has performed everywhere from Holyrood, the Scottish Parliament, to Royal Holloway Prison.

LISA LUXX (@lisaluxx_)

British Syrian writer, performer and activist. Published by Tate Britain, New River Press, The International Times, Tribe de Mama (US), The Numinous (US), i-D, The Sunday Times and more. Celebrated in the press for her “revolutionary writing” from BBC Arts through to Well + Good NYC. Shortlisted for Peace Poetry Prize and Saboteur Awards Best Spoken Word Performer. Poetry and essay collection The 4th Brain published in 2017 by Prowl House Books.

DEANNA RODGER (@DeannaRodger)

International writer, performer and facilitator. Co-curator of two leading spoken word events: Chill Pill and Come Rhyme With Me. Past commissions include: Under The Skin (St Paul’s Cathedral), Now We Are Here (Young Vic), Women Who Spit (BBC IPlayer) and Buckingham Palace (NYT).

That’s What She Said is a monthly live spoken word spectacular featuring the most exciting iconic and emerging women writers and performers. Shortlisted for Best Regular Spoken Word Night in the UK (Saboteur Awards 2017) and recognised as the “biggest spoken word night in London for women” (Evening Standard), That’s What She Said is coordinated by For Books’ Sake (www.forbookssake.net), a non-profit dedicated to championing writing by women.