The Black Ballad Weekender 2026

Learn the basics of cornrowing in a safe and judgement-free space.

Here is your first class ticket to the real conversations that ambitious black women are having around levelling up their careers, businesses and bank accounts. Negotiate what you deserve, step into boardrooms like you own the building and build your future with clarity – whether you’re plotting your next move or ready to make a bold leap, this conversation will remind you that your next level isn’t just a dream, it’s a decision that you make today.

Join author and editor and Bookseller Rising Star 2021 Leodora Darlington for a fun and interactive workshop on creating the kind of stories that will keep readers turning the page. Bring your notebooks!

Join Rina Vibez, in partnership with Garnier, for an exclusive workshop dedicated to mastering your natural texture or achieving a sleek look. In this session, Rina will bust common myths around type 4 hair care and styling and share her personal hair journey from her 20s to her 40s! Learn the daily habits, product routines, and techniques needed to keep your hair defined, and healthy.

If you’ve ever wondered about what it’s like to work in an industry where books are the centre of the universe, you’ll leave this panel with all your questions answered. Hear from professionals working across the industry, who have each taken a different path to land their dream bookish job.

Hormones shape women’s lives in ways that are powerful, personal and still too often misunderstood. This panel brings together expertise and lived experience to bust myths and get real honest about the choices we make that affect our hormones, as well as how those hormones affect us. From puberty, to fertility and pregnancy, perimenopause and beyond, this is a conversation you wished you had earlier!

Black Ballad’s Head of Editorial and resident bookworm jumps into conversation with prize-winning, critically acclaimed author Jacqueline Crooks to discuss her highly-anticipated second novel, Sky City.

Are you using your free-will to the fullest extent? For too long as Black women, our sexuality has been politicised and policed, but we have agency, desire and power when it comes to our bodies and our pleasure. Join our panel of experts for a grown and sexy conversation that centres satisfaction, sexual autonomy, empowerment and safety.

In this interactive workshop, you'll learn how chronic stress impacts the nervous system and why traditional self-care often isn't enough to create lasting change. Through guided breathwork, practical nervous system regulation tools, and reflective exercises, you'll discover how to reduce stress, increase resilience, and cultivate a greater sense of calm and clarity in your daily life. No prior breathwork experience is required — just come as you are.

Recent conversations around masculinity have been dominated by The Manosphere and the toxic effect it has on men of all ages. But what can well-rounded, nuanced and diverse representations of masculinity look like outside of the headlines? How is Black masculinity being shaped, represented and defined by our cultural backgrounds, artistic endeavours and modern society? What do we need to understand and what can we hope for? We’ll be tackling all of these questions and more.

If you’ve ever wanted to see your name on the front of a book, then you will want to be in the room for this panel. We’ll get honest about what it’s like writing and publishing a book, with practical guidance, plenty of inspiration and enough time for you to enter the Merky Books’ New Writer’s Prize to give your author career a kick start.