African Writers Abroad

From #Jan25 to Tahrir: Expectations and Outcomes

kadija — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 14:28:18 +0000

An analysis and opinion piece on the uprisings in Egypt

by Ahmed Zidan editor of MidEast Youth

It’s still too early to conclude the turmoil unfolding in Egypt right now; because the full insights are not yet complete, but I’ll try to point out to some facts in addition to my own analysis of the events so far.

These protests have started with some political, economical, and social demands, like: One, raising the minimum wage to 1,200 EGP and providing subventions to the unemployed. Two, ending the State of Emergency which has caused long-term paralysis to the Egyptian civil and political life for more than three decades, and releasing all the detainees with no definite charges. Three, dissolution of the People’s Assembly of Egypt, the Egyptian Parliament, and changing the constitution to limit the presidential terms to two. The demands have changed gradually along the course of the protests to keep the pressure on the regime, the next stop was the amendment of the whole constitution, and the judicial supervision of the presidential elections. Until they peaked at the ultimate demand of a transition period and the overthrow of Mubarak, this is the demand which keeps most of the demonstrators staying put in Tahrir Square.

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From #Jan25 to Tahrir – Expectations and outcomes (final version)

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N.B. Mideast Youth was hacked after going through a period of being under attack by anti-Kurdish groups. This came as a result of a video we recently launched promoting the Kurdish cause for human rights, as well as writing about the upcoming Kurdish demonstrations, which was apparently the final straw for these hackers. If you know anyone who can help, please get in touch through my email address below or you can also donate to help us make the move to new servers affordable.

Ahmed Zidan
Editor of Mideast Youth
Email: ahmed@mideastyouth.com
Website: http://www.mideastyouth.com
Twitter: @zidanism

Sauti za Busara festival, Zanzibar

awa_updates — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 18:51:59 +0000

The eighth Sauti za Busara (Sounds of Wisdom) music festival in Zanzibar, Tanzania, will take place from Wednesday 9th to Sunday 13th February next year.

The popular festival draws established and up-and-coming musicians from countries across the continent: around thirty of the forty acts performing are from Tanzania or other east African countries while the rest come from countries further afield, such as Zimbabwe, Madagascar, Mali and Senegal.

Most of the acts will perform in Zanzibar’s historic Stone Town, with a few events taking place elsewhere, including a lively carnival-style street parade on the first day and a number of fringe events across Zanzibar.

There will also be a festival market place with stalls selling food and drink, music and handicrafts; networking events and workshops; and a series of artistic collaborations reinterpreting Swahili songs.

Admission is free for locals until 6pm and around one euro thereafter. Prices vary for international visitors.

For more information and the provisional line up, see the festival’s website, http://www.busaramusic.org/festivals/2011/index.php

International Writers Project Fellowship 2011 – 2012

awa_updates — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 16:35:43 +0000

The Brown Graduate Program in Literary Arts and the Thomas J. Watson Institute for International Studies are currently seeking applications and nominations for their 2011 – 2012 International Writers Project Fellowship.

The IWP Fellowship is open to established creative writers (fiction writers, poets, or playwrights) who are persecuted in their home countries or who are actively prevented from pursuing free expression in their literary art. The fellowship covers the costs of relocation to the U.S. and the writer’s living expenses, as well as providing an office on the campus of Brown University for ten months.

The fellow will join a supportive community that includes faculty members and graduate students in Brown’s Program in Literary Arts and the Watson Institute for International Studies. Their fellowship will be accompanied by a series of lectures, readings and other events that highlight the artistic and political culture of the writer’s home country and address the global issues of human rights and free expression.

Writers interested in applying for the fellowship should send a case history, providing a publishing history and explaining their need, a writing sample and a resume to the Graduate Program in Literary Arts, Box 1923, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912. Alternatively they may email materials to iwp@brown.edu. Persons wishing to make the IWP aware of a writer in need, or wishing to nominate a candidate, should also contact the program as noted above. The IWP will be accepting applications until February 15, 2011.

More information about the IWP is available on the Literary Arts Program website, www.brown.edu/cw

Nawal el Saadawi in Brighton

kadija — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 19:53:21 +0000

Born Radical

Date:18 November

Venue:Brighton Dome, Church Street, Brighton

Time:7.30pm

Tel: 01273 709709

Tickets: £12.00 (£10.00 concessions)

http://www.brightondome.org/showdatescombo.aspx

Clare Short talks to Nawal El Saadawi about her novels, non-fiction books and issues that the Egyptian feminist and activist has fought for all her life. A powerful meeting of two giants from literature and politics.

Nawal el Saadawi at The Barbican Library

kadija — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 19:43:38 +0000

17 November Venue:Barbican Library
Silk St, Barbican, London EC2Y 8DS
Time:7.30pmTickets: £8.00 (£6.00 concessions) available from the Barbican Centre Box O ffice on 020 7638 8891 or online at www.barbican.org.uk

SABLE editors and contributors discuss a selection of Nawal el Saadawi’s work with her including Leone Ross, SA BLE’s first fiction editor and Marsha Lowe, SABLE’s columnist.

Course with Nawal El Saadawi

kadija — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 19:16:14 +0000

CREATIVITY, DISSIDENCE AND WOMEN -
A COURSE WITH NAWAL EL-SAADAWI

Date: 19-21 November 2010

Venue: Goldsmiths College, London

A rare opportunity to be taught by Writer and Activist Nawal el Saadawi.
Nawal el Saadawi is a popular speaker and writer in the UK. For the first time ever she will be facilitating a course on her specialised area, creativity and dissidence. Places are limited and will be offered on a first come first served
basis.

This course is suitable for writers and non-writers who are interested in these themes and is based on facilitation and discussion between Nawal el Saadawi and participants. The course is open to men and women.

The course will start on

Friday 5pm – 9pm
Saturday from 10-4pm
Sunday from 10- 4pm
Registration is at 4.00pm on Friday 19 November

This course relies on discussion and participation between Nawal el Saadawi and the students and will cover the following themes:

What is creativity ?
what is dissidence ?
are men more creative than women?
what is the relation between creativity and dissidence?
role of knowledge in creativity
role of religion
what are the obstacles to creativity ?
creativity and social revolution
creativity and political activism

Reading list for students before the course :

Woman at Point Zero and ‘God Resigns at the Summit Meeting’ (included in The Dramatic Work of Nawal El Saadawi) – Saqi Books,London

Course costs from £50 (concessions) to £150 (full payment).

Concessions available for members of AWA, full time students, subscribers to Mslexia and Sable magazines.

Contact africanwritersabroad@yahoo.com for booking form or download here: Nawal Course Registration Form (837)

The course is financially supported by Arts Council England and Mslexia Magazine, in collaboration with Goldsmiths, University of London.

Haiti PEN – President and wife killed in Earthquake

kadija — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 14:53:16 +0000

The sad news has reached us of the deaths of the President of Haiti PEN, Georges Anglade and his wife Mireille Neptune as two of the lives lost in the Earthquake.
At the last PEN Congress held in Linz, Austria in October 2009, Margaret Busby, Nii Parkes and Kadija George met Georges and Mireille. Nii recalls travelling and chatting with them on the coach on arrival at the PEN Congress and they were two of the first people that I met when I arrived; insisting that I visit Haiti and meet the women writers and work with them, lots of laughter, exchanges and enthusiasm was shared. May they rest in peace.

There has been news from other members of Haiti PEN; their call is for help – medicine water and food.

http://www.internationalpen.org.uk/go/news/international-pen-mourns-the-loss-of-georges-anglade

AfricanWritersOnline with African Writers Abroad are organising a fundraising event in March (tbc). Watch this space for updates.

Kettly Mars of Haiti PEN has written “Our situation is serious and we urgently need aid. Medicine, water, food. International aid is starting to come but there will never be enough.”

The weblink to give donations is :www.DEC.org.uk/haiti-appeal

Haiti PEN - President and wife killed in earthquake. Photo: Margaret Busby

AWA Meeting and African Writers Evening

kadija — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:05:11 +0000

Friday 20 November

6pm AWA meeting – Southbank Centre, Queen Elizabeth Hall Foyer , London SE1.(not the Royal Festival Hall but as you face it, the building on the left, where the Purcell Room is)

Nearest underground: Waterloo or Embankment

Agenda – Aims and objectives of the Centre;AWA Achievements;Taking the Centre forward; officer roles; membership; future projects and progammes. How to get involved. We look forward to hearing your ideas and suggestions.

7.30pm AFRICAN WRITERS’ EVENING feat. Nadifa Mohammed & a parade of emerging writers
Friday 20 November 2009, 7.30pm
Weston Pavilion, (top floor – usually used as a ‘corporate’ space). Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX
FREE (Invitation only – please send your name by e-mail to events@x-bout.com)
Info: www.x-bout.com/awe

For our annual finale, African Writers’ Evening returns to its exploratory origins – with four short readings from emerging writers, followed by a featured reading from Nadifa Mohammed, a Somalian writer who is herself still waiting for the release of her first novel by HarperCollins. Hosted by Nii Ayikwei Parkes.

AUTHOR BIO:

NADIFA MOHAMED - Born in Hargeisa, Somalia in 1981 as the country fell into dictatorship, Nadifa Mohamed moved to London with her family in 1986, just before the beginnings of civil war as Siad Barre lost his grip on power. She was educated in London and went to Oxford to study History and Politics. Her début novel, Black Mamba Boy, based on the true story of her father’s life in 1930s, was acquired by HarperCollins UK in 2008.. Nadifa is currently working on her second novel.

END

Memorial Tribute for Cheikh Ahmed Tidiane Gueye

awa — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:31:40 +0000

On 28 November 2009, please join us for a remembrance in music, images and words as Artists, friends, colleagues and family come together to pay their respects and celebrate the life of Cheikh Ahmed Tidiane Gueye, the Pan African Activist, Poet, and Critic.

26 November 1954 – 12th September 2009

Cheikh Ahmed Tidiane Gueye

This memorial event reflecting the progressive ideas and development in revolutionary thought and spirit of a unique son of Africa will take place:

When: 28 November 2009, From 2pm till late
Where: Institute of Education, Student Union Bar, 20 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AL
Adm: Food Available will be available, Contributions and donations would be greatly appreciated

With Performances from:

Led by members of African Dawn and the Gueye family

Directions

Venue
Institute of Education, Student Union Bar, Thornhaugh Street
Entrance is down the ramp opposite SOAS

Tube Stations
Russell Square, Euston Square, Kings Cross, Goodge Street

Buses
59, 68, 91, 168, 474, 188

For more information please contact:
wala.danga@blueyonder.co.uk or gueye_ama@yahoo.com

Debut playwright Lydia Besong told to leave UK

niiayikwei — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:16:58 +0000

Debut Playwright Lydia Besong and Human Rights Campaigner Bernard Batey told to leave UK

Lydia Besong is a writer. Her debut play “How I Became an Asylum Seeker” is being staged by Community Arts Northwest (CAN) at the Zion Theater in Hulme, Manchester on 3^rd December. She is also on the Management Committee of WAST (Woman Asylum Seekers Together).

Bernard Batey, her husband, has been leading for the national award-winning Human Rights organisation RAPAR in a partnership with Revive, Changemakers, Boaz Trust and Citizens for Sanctuary. Together, they have opened Manchester’s first voucher exchange network.

On Thursday night, 29^th October 2009, this married couple got back to their home in Rochdale after a busy day to find a letter from the Border and Immigration Agency telling them that they must go back to Cameroon, the country they fled from late at night on December 17th 2006.

Both Lydia and Bernard were tortured in Cameroon and, as well as being tortured in gaol, Lydia was raped by one of the guards. This happened because Lydia and Bernard were members of SCNC [Southern Cameroon National Council]. SCNC is an organization that is fighting for the freedom and liberation of southern Cameroon [English Speaking Cameroon].

Lydia and Bernard’s MP, Paul Rowen, says: “I believe Bernard and Lydia have a genuine case for political asylum and I don’t say that about every case I see.”

Reverend Graham Lindley, Parish Priest at St Anne’s Church, Belfield, Rochdale, has backed Bernard and Lydia to the hilt. He is calling on the Home Office to grant them leave to remain in this country.

Former Rochdale MP Sir Cyril Smith is also backing Lydia and Bernard’s case and wrote to the Home Secretary on their behalf.

One of the reasons Lydia wrote the play that is now about to have its premiere was to find a way of coping with the horrors of what had happened to her, and also to raise awareness and educate people about Asylum.

Jasmine Ali, Lead Artistic Manager for CAN says: I have been working closely with Lydia over the last few months to help her produce a short play that she has written which highlights important issues faced by women asylum seekers in the UK. Lydia has been an inspiration for the artistic team with her dedication and commitment to the project. Without her contribution WAST (Women Asylum Seekers Together) would not have had the confidence to devise and perform their play to a wider audience.

Recently Lydia has been working with RAPAR and Commonword to collect stories about people in Manchester who are destitute. This publication is being launched in the spring. Commonword’s Artistic Director, writer Pete Kalu, says: “Lydia has been a tremendous resource in helping us to find new pathways to new writers in communities.”

Send messages of support to Lydia and Bernard c/o RAPAR 6 Mount Street Manchester M2 5NS or email admin@rapar.org.uk

And send your message that Lydia and Bernard must stay, quoting – Lydia Ebok Besong &Bernard Oben Batey: HO Ref: B1236372 to

FAX: Home Office on 0208-760-3132

Email: CITTO@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk; UKBApublicenquiries@UKBA.gsi.gov.uk; Privateoffice.external@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk

and cc admin@rapar.org.uk

For further information contact:

RAPAR’s Press Officer Kath on 0161-225-2260 or kath.northernstories@googlemail.com
RAPAR’s office: 0161-834-8221 or admin@rapar.org.uk