Spotlight.
Muminah Koleoso
Photo credit: Ranim Asfahani
INTRODUCTION
Muminah Koleoso FRSA is a Yoruba, Nigerian-British Muslim multi-award-winning, multi-hyphenate creative and advocate for youth voice and women’s rights. She graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a Computer Science & Maths degree, then pivoted to a career spanning the literary arts, media and advocacy, where she uses storytelling to amplify the voices of Black and Muslim women. She founded and hosts Sister Station, a podcast reaching audiences in 48+ countries and has written for Black Ballad, Friday Magazine, and The Scotsman. She completed the 2025 Black British Book Festival’s creative nonfiction fellowship, contributing a short story to their anthology. Muminah has performed poetry across the UK and led creative writing workshops for various organisations. She's also a member of the Young Women's Movement Advisory Collective and serves as the Community Coordinator for My Life My Say - a charity promoting youth democratic participation. She's currently writing a speculative fiction novel and will soon be embarking on a Masters in Creative Writing at the University of Exeter, sponsored by the Aziz Foundation.
INTERVIEW
How did you get into your creative practice? What initially inspired you?
I’ve always been a very curious person, eager to learn new things through the books I read, whether fiction or nonfiction, poetry or graphic novels (as a kid, I’d even read full encyclopaedias for fun!). It was all this reading that inspired my creativity - I started writing poetry around the age of eight, and as I grew older, wrote short stories and entered competitions for young writers as well.
My literary interests waxed and waned over the years due to changes in my free time – especially when I went off to Uni, and I was also discouraged by a combination of: a lack of confidence in my skills, repeated attempts to write a novel, and negative feedback. But after graduating, I revived a regular habit of reading and writing, started attending industry events, and began sharing my poems at Open Mics and on social media. Over time, connecting with other writers and creatives, both online and offline, has really inspired my creative journey.
What themes do you tend to interrogate in your creative practices?
Through the articles I write, podcast episodes I produce, and content I share, I explore a range of topics, including: faith, cultural identity, community, careers, health, business, and politics. Regardless of the themes I cover, my overarching aim is to amplify the voices of Black and Muslim women through storytelling.
Through fiction, I aim to share thought-provoking, genre-blending stories about Black and Muslim characters navigating unfamiliar settings and challenges, while staying true to their values and traditions. I hope that one day soon, there’s more authentic and nuanced literary representation of those from cultural and religious backgrounds similar to mine, to the point where it becomes the norm rather than the exception.
What is your favourite project you’ve ever worked on and why?
This is a tough question, but I think I’ll go for a recent one which was acting in a Scottish Youth Theatre production of the play “West (Cow)lder” written by Aminah Aaliya Beg, about three Muslim high schoolers on a hiking trip to win a Hajj Package. It had been a while since I’d performed in an ensemble. Over the years, between school plays, musical theatre, orchestra, A Capella, and spoken word performances, I’ve gained a wealth of performing experience, but this was my first official “acting gig”.
When I came across the casting call “…British-Nigerian Muslim…” – I thought to myself, this role sounds just like me - I have to apply. So I did, and the rest is history! It was one of the most fun, creative experiences I’ve had; I loved working with the team to bring characters to life from script to stage whose stories reflected my own lived experience as a young Muslim woman of colour in the UK. I also couldn’t have asked for better co-stars – shoutout to Melody and Hannah, they were incredible to work with!
What advice would you have for creatives of colour looking to get into your creative practices?
It’s a buzzword we’re all tired of hearing - but networking really does work. Whether online via social media, intros through mutual connections, or attending industry events and conferences, there’s so much value in building connections within your field and across industries. More so than “who you know”, but “who knows you” can open doors to opportunities and make it easier to progress in your career at an accelerated pace.
To add to this, I’d recommend joining relevant community organisations (e.g., for Black writers, there’s the Scottish BPOC Writers Network, the UK Black Writers Guild, Black Girls Write Too, etc.). By being part of community organisations and even certain WhatsApp groups, you can access support and exclusive opportunities that are hard to find elsewhere.
Finally, I’d say it’s important to “stay in the loop” by keeping up to date with industry trends, news, and opportunities, whether through social media, subscribing to newsletters, or listening to relevant podcasts.
What are you currently working on?
Short answer is – a lot. A poetry collection in progress, as well as recording and editing upcoming episodes of my podcast, articles to pitch, and social media posts in drafts waiting to be published. And not to mention writing a novel (or novels, plural, since I’m working on multiple writing projects simultaneously). Before anyone asks what they’re about, I can tell you there’s some romance and sci-fi mixed in, but that’s all I’ll say for now…
DISCOVER MORE:
https://linktr.ee/minahsmusings