WORDS: Spoken, Sung and Written

Kehinde’s writing is effortlessly authentic, witty and moving in equal measure...[her] stories both demand and deserve to be staged - London Pub Theatres

POETRY: 

Justina Kehinde's poetry draws strongly on oral performance, and is often a direct exploration of social concerns including mental health, diasporic identity, womanhood, hybridity, political and social injustice and history. In 2021 she was commissioned by the UNFPA for an original poem to raise awareness around harmful traditional practices for Zero Tolerance and International Women’s Day. Her recent short film ‘In the Absence of Justice’, fuses spoken word poetry with eye-opening interviews to explore injustice within medical, legal and religious institutions. In 2019 she performed at the invitation of the Prime Minister of Iceland for the international conference on #MeToo where Prof. Angela Davis described her work as ‘powerful’. Winner of the Benjamin Zephaniah Poetry prize for a poem on female genital mutilation (2012), in 2014 she was a national finalist of the Hammer & Tongue slam poetry competition. Her TEDx keynote 'Write your Own Story', explores Britain's unacknowledged colonial history, while her poem 'On Beauty' was recorded and published as part of the 2015 collection The Fifty Project. She has been commissioned by the Women's Equality Party, the International Justice Mission, Powerful Media and the Icelandic Government and she's also written a few wedding and birthday poems too. She would love to write a piece for you so don't hesitate to get in touch.

WRITING: 

In 2020 Justina was commissioned by the Southwark Playhouse for an original radio play for their Elder’s Company. In 2018 Justina Kehinde wrote and directed her debut play UMUADA which headlined at the King's Head theatre following a co-written scratch which debuted at the Bunker in November 2017. Exploring mental health, migration and motherhood, it received an overwhelmingly positive response and  she is currently in the process of extending it into a full length production. Between 2012-2017 she contributed to and was the deputy editor of independent women's magazine,  MAGNIFY exploring the intersections of faith, feminism and fashion. She is an alumna of the 2020 London Voices, BBC Writer’s Room scheme

SINGING:

Justina Kehinde is an award-winning jazz singer, who has sung with the English Chamber Orchestra and at venues and organisations such as 808, The Royal Albert Hall, Bogobiri House (Lagos) and the BBC. She is available for private functions and events so please contact through the site