On a rather lively Saturday morning in July as the heatwave arrived on our shores, Alinah Azadeh took a walk up towards Seaford Head with writer and educator Dulani Kulasinghe, to hear her poetry on the climate emergency through a personal lens – and to learn about how Dulani’s own cultural heritage has influenced her writing on home, belonging and the legacies of empire within the Sussex landscape.

Dulani Kulasinghe is an American of Sri Lankan heritage living in Brighton. Her writing explores contested histories and belonging. Her education work supports Brighton & Hove's anti-racist school strategy through training and curriculum interventions around Britain's colonial past. She is a recipient of a Developing Your Creative Practice grant from Arts Council England and a Shifting the Gaze bursary from Writing Our Legacy/South Downs National Park to explore new stories in the Sussex landscape. Dulani was commissioned to write a site-responsive poem about the Chattri Memorial as part of Witness Stand, a Brighton Festival 2022 production. She is part of the inaugural cohort of New Writing South Fellows, a member of Writing Our Legacy and a core writer on the We See You Now project.

Dulani’s narrative poem Letters Home, on the Caribbean soldiers stationed at Seaford Head during WW1, will form part of the We See You Now audio anthology across the landscape, as will Alinah’s poem, If You Can Imagine, a creative response to recent huge chalk cliff falls through the Seaford Archeology project.

Books recommended:

The World’s War by David Olusoga

Jazz by Toni Morrison

Further links:

We See You Now projectas part of Alinah’s Seven Sisters Writer residency

More on the Carribean Soldiers stationed at Seaford during WW1 here.

Dulani’s work on the Chattri Memorial for Brighton Festival’s 2022 Witness Stand here.

If You Can Imagine – performed on film by Alinah Azadeh as part of Seaford Archeology Clifffall project

Campaign for National Parks – Park Protector Awards

Anjana Khatwa @jurassicgirl – Heritage Beneath Our Feet – Transmanche GeoPark project

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"The Colour of Chalk" is supported by funding from Arts Council England as well as the South Downs National Park Authority.

Production is thanks to Sonic Boom Audio and Alinah Azadeh.

Episode Three: Both Sides of the Valley with Razia Aziz

The Colour of ChalkBy We See You NowMar 03, 2022