In this episode we listen back to Gyles and Aphra Brandreth’s interview with HRH The Duke of Kent, former President of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and Royal biographer Hugo Vickers. Sharing a bonus poem read by Gyles, this is a special episode re-released for Remembrance Sunday.

In this fortnight’s episode Gyles and Aphra Brandreth meet teenage poet and activist Victoria Kanu. Better known as Vicky the Poet, she is a household name in Sierra Leone and a national icon who has used her talent to transform and impact lives. She is now a major voice for women and girls within the country and beyond. Vicky started writing poetry from the age of 5, but it was a poem that she wrote following the mudslides in 2017 that destroyed hundreds of buildings in the capital, killing over a thousand people and leaving thousands homeless, which caught the attention of the world. Since then, with the support of her father and mentor Alim Kanu she has written and performed numerous poems highlighting the conditions for young people particularly young girls living in Sierra Leone.

Poems this episode include: The mother by Elizabeth L A Kamara; and A heart Reaching, The Story of an African Child from the book Unfinished Business, The story of Kadiatu, Down Memory Lane in Sierra Leone, and Nightmares of the Internet, all by Victoria Kanu.

In this fortnight’s episode, Gyles and Aphra Brandreth take a virtual trip to Samoa where the upcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting will be held later this month. They’re joined by Audrey Brown-Pereira a Pasifika poet of Cook Islands Maori and Samoan descent, she now lives with her family in Samoa and works for an environmental organisation that serves the Pacific region. Audrey, known for her innovative approach to poetry and her playful use of text on the page, offers unique insights into how poetry can open doors to worlds previously unknown. Poems this episode include: 'They Taking Pictures of Us in the Water' and 'May she rest in Peace' both by Audrey Brown-Pereira from her book 'A-wake-(e)nd' (2023), and 'a fantastical affair: transistor radio transmission receive' from her book 'Passages in between I(s)lands' (2014).