SPIT-LIT FESTIVAL
Celebrating Women's Writing
Presented by Alternative Arts
2-10 March 2007
TOYNBEE STUDIOS, 28 Commercial Street E1
(Algate East tube)
Tickets 020 7247 2584
www.alternativearts.co.uk
PROGRAMME
FRIDAY 2 MARCH
Toynbee Studios, 28 Commercial Street E1
SPIT-LIT presents some very special guests to open this festival celebrating women's writing.
8.30pm GUERRILLA GIRLS ON TOUR present
Feminists are Funny
Guerrilla Girls on Tour is an internationally acclaimed theatre collective founded by three former members of the Guerrilla Girls. The group address the lack of opportunities for women in theatre and explore ways to combine performance and visual art. They use humour to tackle sexism, racism and discrimination and dramatise women's history and current concerns. They are anonymous and each has taken the name of a dead woman artist. When they appear on stage or in public they wear gorilla masks to conceal their true identities in order to focus their work on the issues they address. This anonymity has given them international attention.
Feminists are Funny is an energetic romp through the Guerrilla Girls on Tour herstory; an up-to-date account of their latest actions in politics, the performing arts and the media; a recreation of some of their street theatre protests and a look at some of the funniest female activists and their accomplishments. The performance will end with a lively discussion about the current state of sexism at the same time as proving that feminists are funny.
GGOT is a diverse 26-member troupe. They have toured their particular brand of satirical performance art and activism throughout the USA and to Eastern Europe and South America taking their message to the widest possible audience.
Tonight's performance will be given by “Gracie Allen", “Josephine Baker" and “Aphra Behn".
Set Design/Projections: “Alexandra Exter" & “Cheryl Crawford"
Costume Design: “Edith Head" & “Coco Chanel"
Sound Design/Incidental Music: “Lili Boulanger".
GGOT has been specially invited from New York by Alternative Arts to open SPIT-LIT 2007 and give the first public performance in the newly refurbished Toynbee Studios. This is their only performance in London.
Tickets £10 / £8 concs.
SATURDAY 3 MARCH
Toynbee Studios, 28 Commercial Street E1
2.30pm ACTIVISM
SHEILA COHEN and LYNNE SEGAL discuss their latest books with Marian Kilpatrick.
SHEILA COHEN has been involved in the trade union movement as an academic and activist. From 1990 to 1995 she produced “Trade Union News" and during her time in the USA was closely involved with the “Labor Notes" project. Her new book “RAMPARTS OF RESISTANCE: Why Workers Lost Their Power and How to Get it Back" (Pluto) examines the experience of British and US workers during the last three decades to offer a broad analysis of the need for a new independent politics of trade unionism. Recent years have seen great changes in the trade union movement, from waves of strikes in the 1970's to a battery of employer and state onslaughts, culminating in the anti-union legislation of the 1980's & 1990's.
LYNNE SEGAL. Her new book “MAKING TROUBLE" is the story of a life as a political activist and an assessment of radicalism in society today and will be published by Serpents Tail on International Women's Day 8 March. Encountering anarchists in her native Australia at 17 led Lynne towards her first arrest at 18. Moving t o London and taking up residence in a flat just vacated by Doris Lessing she met the women who had been arrested for sabotaging the Miss World contest in 1970. She spent the rest of the 1970's combining motherhood with communal living and free love, as well as helping to publish the Islington Gutter Press; eventually moving into academia as the fierce radicalism of previous years faded in the 1980's. Looking back on a life well lived Lynne considers what formed her generation, what mark they have left on the world and where they have ended up. Lynne is currently Anniversary Professor of Psychology and Gender Studies at Birkbeck College, University of London.
Tickets £6 / £4 concs.
4pm EASTERN PROMISE
THE THIRD SHORE (Brandon Books) is a vibrant and innovative anthology from East Central Europe, where distinctive new women's voices have emerged and are available in English for the first time. Edited by Agata Schwartz and Louise von Flotow this is a rich compendium of fiction by 25 women from 18 different nations, from Lithuania to the Ukraine, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Albania and Slovenia. The stories deal with love & desire, illness & death, motherhood & war, feminism and patriarchy.
ALEXANDRA BUCHLER of Literature Across Frontiers will be in conversation with two of the authors. NORA IKSTENA belongs to a strong generation of Latvian female prose writers. She has published seven books and currently works as editor at the literary magazine “Kargos" and writes columns for the Latvian daily “Diena". CARMEN FRANCESCA BANCIU has written 3 novels and 4 collections of short stories as well as radio plays. Born in Romania where she was banned from publishing for five years, she has been living in Berlin since 1991. She is the recipient of numerous prizes and fellowships, including the Arnsberg International Short Story Prize.
Tickets £6 / £4 concs
5.30pm BETWEEN TWO CONTINENTS
MARILYN HEWARD MILLS and LESLEY LOKKO discuss their latest books with Delia Jarrett-Macauley
Marilyn and Lesley were at school together in Ghana. Both women have very distinctive voices: while they are very different writers they share the experience of moving between two continents.
MARILYN HEWARD MILLS is the daughter of a Ghanaian father and a Swiss mother; a practising lawyer for twelve years, her first novel “CLOTH GIRL" has just been published by Time Warner to rave reviews and was short listed for the Costa Debut Novel of the Year award. Set in Ghana in the 1940's it is the story of a 14-year-old girl whom a sophisticated black lawyer decides to take as his second wife. The saga is based on the story of the author's own grandparents. Marilyn lives in South London with her husband and two young children and is currently working on her second novel.
LESLEY LOKKO is of mixed Ghanaian-Scots parentage. She grew up in Ghana and trained as an architect working as a full-time academic in the US and the UK. She has published and lectured widely on the subject of race and its relationship to architecture. Her first novel “SUNDOWNERS" (Orion) came out in 2004 to great acclaim. Her second novel “SAFFRON SKIES" (Orion), described as an intelligent blockbuster is now out in paperback, and she is currently completing her third, “BITTER CHOCOLATE". Lesley divides her time between Ghana and the UK.
DELIA JARRETT-MACAULEY is a writer, broadcaster and academic whose compelling debut novel “MOSES CITIZEN AND ME" was winner of the 2005 Orwell Prize for political writing.
Tickets £6 / £4 concs.
7pm THE SECRET MAGAZINE
JENNA BAILEY talks to Marian Kilpatrick about her first book “CAN ANY MOTHER HELP ME? Fifty Years of Friendship Through a Secret Magazine" published by Faber & Faber on 1 March.
In 1935 a young woman calling herself 'Ubique' (Latin for 'everywhere') wrote a letter to the women's magazine Nursery World: “Can any mother help me? I live a very lonely life. I get so down and depressed after the children are in bed. I know it is bad to brood. Can any reader suggest an occupation that will intrigue me and cost nothing?" Women from all over the country wrote back expressing similar frustrations. These women were educated and ambitious but many of their careers had been cut short by marriage. They were full of ideas but had nowhere to express them. So they decided to start a private magazine. The Cooperative Correspondence Club – or CCC as it quickly became known – was to be a bi-monthly publication made up of articles written by members on subjects close to their hearts. None of the women could have anticipated the way that the magazine would come to play such an important part in their lives and create lasting friendships. The CCC came to an end in 1990.
Jenna Bailey came across the old magazines in 2003 at the Mass Observation Archive at the University of Sussex whilst reading for her MA. Realising the value of these documents of ordinary women's lives she set about the lengthy task of tracking down the families of the CCC women and discovered that some of the magazine founder members were still alive. In “Can Any Mother Help Me?" Jenna presents the extraordinary group of wives and mothers whose lives connected through a magazine. Her book is an intimate and moving collection of personal stories and, above all, a portrait of inseperable friendships.
Tickets £6 / £4 concs.
8.30pm LEA DELARIA IN CONCERT
SPIT-LIT presents A BIG NIGHT OUT with stylish jazz diva Lea DeLaria accompanied by the crack London band Dirty Martinis led by the superb pianist and M D Janette Mason.
LEA DELARIA marks the 25th anniversary of her amazing and unusual show business career in 2007. She has distinguished herself in every form of entertainment that she touches. Jazz Musician, Broadway Diva, Actor, Writer and Stand-Up Comic. The “New York Times" describes her as “Every inch a star." Lea, who already enjoyed a career as a Broadway singer and stand-up comedian made her recording debut in 2000 with Warner Bros. “Play It Cool" confirmed her as one of the best jazz singers of our time. Her second album “Double Standards" received rave reviews in the UK and US press. Her latest album “Le DeLaria The Very Best Of" aims to give jazz fans an introduction to one of the world's greatest vocalists alongside some of the tastiest jazz cut this century.
The first openly gay comic to appear on national TV in the US Lea has toured the world with her one-of-a-kind blend of cool jazz and in your face comedy, often creating stirs but always winning accolades. If you are already a fan of Lea – and she is a genuine lesbian legend – then this concert is a must. And if you are new to Lea, well, you to will love her. It's gonna be a great night!
Tickets £10 / £8 concs
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SUNDAY 4 MARCH
Toynbee Studios, 28 Commercial Street E1
2.30pm WOMEN AND WAR
HELEN RAPPAPORT talks to Marian Kilpatrick about her just released book “NO PLACE FOR LADIES: The Untold Story of Women in the Crimean War" (Aurum).
Helen Rappaport is a former actress who studied Russian at Leeds University and turned to writing in the 1990's. She specialises in Russian history and culture, Victorian and women's history and black cultural history. Her book sets out to show that the Crimean War was not just about Florence Nightingale and Mary Seacole, many other totally unsung women played their part. The Crimean War was the first time women were sent to a war zone as official nurses – predating World War I by more than fifty years. There was also a massive home front effort by women in England, fund raising, collecting supplies for the army and supporting their families, working in munitions factories, manufacturing army greatcoats etc. etc. Helen's book reveals new women's eyewitness accounts and dispels the myths surrounding women and the Crimean War. She is also the author the “Encyclopaedia of Women Social Reformers" 2001, and “Queen Victoria: A Biographic Companion" 2003.
Tickets £6 / £4 concs.
4pm LESLIT
NAOMI YOUNG editor of VELVET presents writing from the magazine with contributors VAL LEE and FIONA COOPER.
VELVET is the magazine for the thinking lesbian. Along with articles on current affairs and issues of interest to lesbians, there are regular columns on parenting, media, health and humour. Velvet regularly features short fiction and poetry from writers such as Jackie Kay and Helen Sandler and has attracted such well-known interviewees as Sarah Waters, Sandie Toksvig and Louise Welsh. In 2007 the magazine will launch its first poetry and short fiction competition.
NAOMI YOUNG has an MA in Creative Writing and recently obtained an agent for her first novel “If It Falls" which is set in Guatemala where she lived for two years at the end of the Civil War.
VAL LEE has published three novels “The Comedienne" and 'The Woman in Beige" (Diva Books) and “Diary of a Provincial Lesbian" (Onlywomen Press). She is an artist who used to live in Hackney and ran creative writing workshops at Centerprise. Her work appears in numerous anthologies and she writes a regular column for Velvet.
FIONA COOPER has published nine novels including “As You Desire Me", “Jay Loves Lucy" and “Rotary Spokes". A gay and pacifist activist she now lives near the sea in Northumberland and works as a spiritual medium, regression therapist and psychic artist, as well as writing.
Tickets £6 / £4 concs.
5.30pm BITCH LIT
Welcome to the BITCH LIT posse from Manchester.
MAYA CHOWDHRY, ROSIE LUGOSI, CHAR MARCH
BITCH LIT is a smart and subversive celebration of female anti-heroes. The Bitch Lit anthology, edited by Maya Chowdhry and Mary Sharratt and published by Crocus Books, features stories about women who take the law into their own hands, defy society's expectations, put their own needs first and don't feel guilty – characters that give Lady Macbeth, Imelda Marcos and Narnia's Snow Queen a run for their money. All the stories, in one way or another, are tales of women and power.
Bitch Lit features nineteen contributors, three of whom will be performing their work and talking about the representation of women in contemporary fiction.
MAYA CHOWDHRY is an award-winning writer who believes in writing from under the skin. She was a member of the editorial collective of “Feminist Arts News" and co-edited “Acts of Passion: Sexuality, Gender and Performance."
ROSIE LUGOSI has written three solo collections of poetry and her award-winning short stories, poems and essays have been widely anthologised. “Mapping the Interior", her first novel is currently with an agent.
CHAR MARCH is an award winning poet and playwright. Her credits include three collections of poetry, five BBC Radio 4 plays and seven stage plays. She is currently working on her first novel and her sixth radio play.
Tickets £6 / £4 concs.
7pm APPLES & SNAKES – a performance poetry extravaganza
An exciting showcase of some of London's finest poets. Funny and thought-provoking, sussed and strange, this line-up has something for everyone. Remember – poetry is not the new rock 'n' roll – its much, much, better.
MELTED DEMERARA A weaver of subtle story-poems, a literate, poetical voice fused with an imposing, slam-winning stage presence.
LIZ BENTLEY A ukulele-playing poet, whose last Edinburgh show won her a 5-star review, and whose verse celebrates the underbelly of Peckham.
SARAN GREEN One of the most charismatic newcomers on the London circuit – delighting the crowd with her saucy slices of Caribbean life. One to watch.
AIME HANSEN An Estonian writer and dancer, her poems are character-pieces, by turns funny and introspective. Known to belly-dance mid-poem.
ANNA BARZOTTI is as bubbly a presence as one could hope for in a poetry commere.
Tickets £7 / £5 concs
SPECIAL TICKET OFFER:
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Melted Demerara will be running a Poetry and Performance Workshop at 2.30pm at Toynbee Studios. Participants may have the opportunity to present their work in the Apples and Snakes evening at 7pm. £5 / £3 concs.
Places are limited and must be booked in advance 020 7247 2584.
The Brady Arts Centre, 192-196 Hanbury Street E1
2pm-6pm BANGLADESHI BOOKFAIR and STORY TELLING FOR CHILDREN
A wide selection of Bangla-English books and Storytelling for Children at 2.30pm. Refreshments available.
6pm BANGLADESHI WOMEN'S CELEBRATION OF ACHIEVEMENT
Presented by BISHWO SHAHITTO KENDRO – The World Literature Centre, highlighting the achievements of Bengali women and celebrating the life of Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain feminist writer, educationalist, social reformer and campaigner for women's rights.
KHADIJA RAHMAN secretary of BSK will introduce poetry by emerging young Bengali women writers.
SHAHEEN WESTCOMBE MBE will present a short film about Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (1880-1932) Bengali Muslim woman writer and social reformer of undivided India who campaigned for gender equality and women's freedom from oppression. This will be followed by a short discussion.
SHAHIN ZAMAN performs “Aborodh Bashini" (Behind Seclusion). Shahin is a journalist and broadcaster who works with the BBC World Service.
BISHWO SHAHITTO KENDRO members perform songs written about women.
SHAMIM AZAD poet and storyteller and chair of BSK will close the evening with a vote of thanks.
Bishwo Shahitto Kendro (BSK) is a literary organisation working with the community creating cohesion through multicultural events.
This event is part of the SPIT-LIT Community Programme.
Tickets for admission are FREE
MONDAY 5 MARCH
Toynbee Studios, 28 Commercial Street E1
7pm A MATTER OF HONOUR
JASVINDER SANGHERA talks to Marian Kilpatrick about her first book “SHAME" just published by Hodder & Stroughton.
At the age of 16, one of a large bustling family, wanting desperately to finish school and go on to college, Jasvinder ran away from home. One of seven sisters she knew it was her turn to be 'disappeared' – to fly out to India to meet the unknown man she was to marry. This is the nature of forced marriage. So she ran away from Derby with her boyfriend, ending up penniless and homeless in Newcastle. When she rang her family to say that she was alright her mother hung up on her having said, “In our eyes, you're dead." For such is the power of 'honour' within the Asian community. And indeed to many in her family Jasvinder is still 'dead' to them. Determined to finish her education Jasvinder took her A-levels at the age of 27 and in 1994 went to Derby University. As a single mother of two, with a third on the way, she graduated with an Upper Second – her dissertation was on Sikh women who had been disowned by their families.
Jasvinder is still putting herself at risk helping those who are unable to help themselves. She is the director of Karma Nirvana, a charity for victims of domestic violence, forced marriages and honour killings. Publication of SHAME in January coincided with the Lord's Second Reading debate of the Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Bill 2006-7 for which Jasvinder has been actively campaigning.
Jasvinder Sanghera will be joined in discussion about the issues arising out of her book by Ahlam Akram who has become a relentless human rights campaigner, writing in Arabic newspapers about very sensitive issues and Rekha Waheed a well known columnist for 'Bangla Mirror' who wrote “The A-Z Guide to Arranged Marriages" and actively promotes literary programmes in the Bengali community.
Tickets £6 / £4 concs
8.30pm UNDER COVER
YASMIN ALIBAHAI-BROWN chairs a discussion on The Politics of the Veil with JOSIE APPLETON, RABINA KHAN, SHAMIM AZAD and MERRYL WYN DAVIES.
YASMIN ALIBAHAI-BROWN is a high profile columnist and a patron of SPIT-LIT. An experienced journalist and broadcaster her books include “No Place Like Home", “Three Colours", “Who Do We Think We Are?", “After Multiculturalism" and “Mixed Feelings". In 2001 she was awarded an MBE but returned the honour in 2003 in protest against the war in Iraq.
JOSIE APPLETON is convenor of the Manifesto Club, a new initiative that stands for a freer and more humane society. She is a freelance journalist and writer, and has written for the Times, Sunday Telegraph, TLS and Spectator.
RABINA KHAN is the author of “AYESHA'S RAINBOW" (Fore Word Press) and co-directs Monsoon Press. She is currently Writer in Residence at Central Foundation Girls School in Tower Hamlets and is often a guest on BBC Asian Network. Her second novel “NARI: A Story of a Women" will be published in 2008.
SHAMIM AZAD is a poet and storyteller in education for Apples and Snakes. Her poems appear in several anthologies and she has published nine books in Bangla and English. She currently co-ordinates Bishwo Shahitto Kendro – The Word Literature Centre, based in Tower Hamlets.
MERRYL WYN DAVIES, author, anthropologist and broadcaster, has for over 25 years been a part of the British Muslim community and active in international debates. She has worked for the BBC, Afkar / Inquiry, Third Text and the Muslim Council of Britain. Her books include “Knowing One Another" and she is co-author of “The No Nonsense Guide to Islam" and “American Dream Global Nightmare". She is currently engaged in revising and expanding the 1990 book “Barbaric Others: A Manifesto on Western Racism".
Tickets £7 / £5 concs.
SPECIAL TICKET OFFER:
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TUESDAY 6 MARCH
Toynbee Studios, 28 Commercial Street E1
A NIGHT OF CRIME
7PM JULIA BELL & CATHERINE JOHNSON
Two authors whose work is aimed at young adults discuss their latest books with Gail Cameron and Joanna Ingram from The Women's Library.
DIRTY WORK (Pan Macmillan) is Julia Bell's shocking novel following the lives of two girls from very different backgrounds who become embroiled in the same nightmare. A topical, edgy and compelling story of life in the terrifying world of sex trafficking. Ten years ago, 85% of women in brothels were UK citizens, now 85% are from outside the UK. With the bicentennial of the abolition of slavery being celebrated in 2007, it is ironic that women and girls are now being enslaved in a different way. The increase in sex trafficking is terrifying, and it has become a global problem. Not only are young girls from poor backgrounds being lured into this seedy life of prostitution with the promise of a better life, but girls are even being kidnapped from home. Their horrific treatment leaves them feeling totally dominated and unable to escape. “Dirty Work" is told through the eyes of a young victim and for every copy sold 50p will go to UNICEF.
THE DYING GAME (Oxford Press) is Catherine Johnson's newest novel. It is set in Tower Hamlets and is a fast-paced contemporary thriller with a protagonist trying to balance London life with her Muslim background. Shehana is the only person to hear the final words of Vlora, a murdered prostitute. Now some dangerous people want to know what she said. If Shehana is to remain alive and protect her family, she must track down Vlora's brother, then together they must find Cassie. But if they find Cassie, can they save her? And how will Shehana guard her own family, both from the threat they are under, and from the truth about her secret life??
The research for the book was undertaken with the help of Mulberry School Sixth Formers.
Julia Bell is a novelist and lecturer on the MA Creative Writing course at Birkbeck, University College London. She is also the co-editor of the best selling 'Creative Writing Coursebook' (Macmillan).
Catherine Johnson is a local writer whose work includes ten novels for Young Adults as well as the film 'Bullet Boy'. Her work is also featured in 'Unheard Voices' a collection edited by Malorie Blackman published to commemorate the abolition of the British Slave Trade.
Gail Cameron is Curator of Collections at The Woman's Library, London Metropolitan University and with Professor Liz Kelly she co-curated the current exhibition 'Prostitution: What is Going On?'
Joanna Ingham is the Learning Co-ordinator at The Woman's Library and manages participative projects with community groups and young people, including debating sessions for A-level students, currently on issues surrounding prostitution and trafficking.
Tickets £6 / £4 concs. Under 18's FREE.
8.30pm MARTINA COLE, NATASHA COOPER,
DREDA SAY MITCHELL, CATHI UNSWORTH,
LAURA WILSON
Five remarkable women crime writers discuss their work.
MARTINA COLE first made headlines in 1992 when her debut novel “Dangerous Lady" was brought by Headline for a then record-breaking advance and became an instant best seller. Fourteen years on and thirteen novels later Martina is one of the UK's leading popular fiction writers. Her latest novel “CLOSE" (Headline) was published in 2006.
NATASHA COOPER Born in London and educated at a Berkshire convent, Natasha worked in publishing for 10 years before leaving to write full-time. Her first crime novel “Festering Lilies" was published in 1990, the year she joined the Crime Writers' Association. The millennium saw her taking the chair of the CWA and publishing “Prey to All", her 10th crime novel. Her novels are published by Simon & Schuster and “A GREATER EVIL" is the latest in her Trish Maguire series.
DREDA SAY MITCHELL was born into London's Grenadian community in the 1960's and lives in the East End. She has a degree in African history from the School of African and Oriental Studies and an MA in Educational Studies. Her first novel “RUNNING HOT" (MAIA Press), a crime thriller exploring the issue of redemption in London's urban landscape, won the CWA John Creasy Award for debut crime 2005.
CATHI UNSWORTH worked as a freelance feature writer/reviewer at 'Melody Maker' for several years and was inspired by the late Derek Raymond, who she interviewed and also encouraged her to follow the crime writing path. Her first novel “The Not Knowing" (Serpents Tail) was highly regarded and her latest book “THE SINGER" will be published by Serpents Tail in June.
LAURA WILSON was brought up in London and has degrees in English Literature from Oxford and UCL. She has worked briefly and ingloriously as a teacher, and more successfully as an editor of non-fiction books. Her first five novels were critically acclaimed and her latest crime novel “A THOUSAND LIES" (Orion) was shortlisted for the CWA Duncan Lawrie Dagger 2006.
Tickets £7 / £5 concs
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Dreda Say Mitchell will be running a Crime Writing workshop at the Women's Library on Thursday 8 March 10.30am-1pm. £5 / £3 concs. Places are limited and must be booked in advance 020 7375 2584.
WEDNESDAY 7 MARCH
Toynbee Studios, 28 Commercial Street E1
7pm CELEBRATING ROKEYA
SHAHEEN CHOUDHURY WESTCOMBE MBE celebrates the life of BEGUM ROKEYA SAKHAWAT HOSSAIN (1880-1932) in the year of the 75th anniversary of her death.
Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain was a social reformer, a prolific writer, a committed feminist, a determined campaigner for women's rights and freedom, a leader and a pathfinder for Bengali Muslim women. She broke all barriers, struggled throughout her life for a better society and led the way to empowering and enlightening women. Apart from scholars and researchers, few people in the western world know about Rokeya who should be honoured amongst the many early feminists who fought for women's rights.
Shaheen Westcombe will tell the story of Rokeya's life and achievements, particularly in education where she founded the Sakhawat Memorial School which still stands in Calcutta (Kolkata) today. A short film of Rokeya's life will be shown and there will be readings from her books. Shaheen was one of the first three women to qualify as an architect in Bangladesh. Her interest in women's empowerment and community development led to a change in career. She joined local government in London in 1985 and has worked in various capacities including Head of Community Development and Equalities, Head of Community Partnerships and Acting Assistant Director of Social Services. Her articles and poems have been published in various magazines and newspapers. In 2001 she was awarded an MBE in recognition of her contribution to community relations. She continues to be actively involved with a wide range of voluntary and community organisations.
Tickets £6 / £4 concs.
8.30pm SABLE LitMag presents
DOROTHEA SMARTT, JACKEE HOLDER, ROMMI SMITH, AKKAS-AL ALI, LAKEN RANDHAWA, SENI SENEVIRATNE, TANYA CHAN SAM and NKECHI EBITE MC
SABLE Lit Mag celebrates its LGBTQ special issue with readings of poetry and prose from contributors plus performance and readings in honour of Audre Lorde.
Sable issue 9 features a cover interview with the award winning poet, novelist and playwright, Jackie Kay with original creative writing and images from writers around the world, from the US, Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific Islands.
The evening will start with an on stage interview between SABLE LGBTQ co-editor, Dorothea Smartt engaging life coach and author of Soul Purpose, Jackee Holder, in a conversation about her work and her writing. SABLE featured Jackee in its 60/60 (60 hours/60 second) section in which she gives us 60 hours of her life from one of her several journals alongside a fast paced 60-second interview!
Jackee Holder works as a trainer and coach with individuals and organisations around personal and professional development. A writing and creativity coach, her book Soul Purpose (Piatkus) offers self-affirming mediations, rituals and creative exercises. On the night of each full moon, she facilitates Moon wRites, a creative writing class for women at Streatham Friends Meeting House in south London.
Dorothea Smartt, a working poet and live artist, is the Poetry editor for SABLE LitMag and the co-editor of the LGBTQ issue of SABLE. She is the author of Connecting Medium which includes poems from her performance works Medusa and From You To Me To You [An ICA Live Arts Commission]. She regularly goes into London schools as a visiting or resident poet, and provides workshops in varied settings.
The second part of the evening brings the 'In Celebration' section of SABLE off the page. Contributors celebrate the life and work of Audre Lorde through the reading and performing selections of Audre Lorde's work as well as their own short memoirs in both poetry and prose honouring Audre Lorde's words and work in their own life and work. Participating poets and writers, include, Rommi Smith, Akkas-Al Ali, Laken Randhawa, Seni Seneviratne, and Tanya Chan Sam. www.sablelitmag.org
(Stop Press?check the website for details of the SABLE LBGTQ after party!)
Tickets £7 / £5 concs.
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THURSDAY 8 MARCH
Toynbee Hall, 28 Commercial Street E1
12.30 – 2pm THE INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY LUNCH
Guest Speaker: ANNI MARJORAM, Policy Adviser on Women's Issues to the Mayor of London.
Anni Marjoram has campaigned for the representation of women in political and public life for nearly 20 years. She was Head of Special Needs in a comprehensive school for boys for many years. Recently she has worked for a member of the European Parliament and then ran an MP's office in the House of Commons. Her current work includes raising the profile of women's issues across London at every level of concern and running the annual Capitalwoman conference every March.
Alternative Arts invites you to attend this very special occasion to celebrate International Women's Day 2007. A buffet lunch served with wine and coffee is included in the price of the ticket.
All tickets £12
Toynbee Studios, 28 Commercial Street E1
IN CELEBRATION OF INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY
7pm NEW VOICES NEW WRITERS
TAHMIMA ANAM and ROMA TEARNE present their debut novels.
TAHMIMA ANAM was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh and grew up in Paris, New York City and Bangkok. She is a graduate of Andrew Motion's new creative writing course and recipient of a writing fellowship from the Arts Council of England. Her first book “A Golden Age" (John Murray) is published today. The novel is set during the Bangladeshi war of independence and centres around a widowed mother of two and her struggle to survive.
ROMA TEARNE fled Sri Lanka at the age of ten, travelling to Britain where she has spent most of her life. She is now a successful visual artist living in Oxford. Her first book “MOSQUITO" (Harper Press) was just published on 5 March. A profoundly moving story of unusual love shattered by the destructive forces of civil war, set in Sri Lanka, Venice and London. It is particularly significant as it focuses on the too-rarely reported horror of Sri Lanka's 20-year civil war which escalated only recently. A portion of the proceeds from “Mosquito" will be donated to the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture.
£6 / £4 concs.
8.30pm SARAH JANE MORRIS IN CONCERT
A very special celebratory concert given by the sensual singer/songwriter SARAH JANE MORRIS, who straddles rock, blues, jazz and soul with a goosebump-raising four octave range that rumbles from her size nine shoes to the tips of her flame-red mane.
Famed for association with the Communards in the mid-80's and infamous for a banned version of the classic “Me and Mrs Jones", Sarah Jane Morris has always attracted as much attention for her politics as for her soul-driven, seismic voice. Morris is currently celebrating her 25-year career with the release of a double-CD, After All These Years. This 34-track compilation, which has already gone top 40 in Europe, includes acoustic sessions, dance remixes and live performances that showcase the true spirit and energy of this charismatic, uncompromising woman.
Tickets £10 / £8 concs.
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FRIDAY 9 MARCH
Toynbee Studios, 28 Commercial Street E1
7pm PEEPAL TREE PRESS
KADIJA SESAY presents new work by five women poets of African and Asian descent published by Peepal Tree Press the leading publisher of Caribbean and Black British Literature. A landmark event for Black British poetry.
DOROTHEA SMARTT's forthcoming short collection, Bringing it all Back Home was inspired by Sambo's Grave on Sunderland Point. It draws upon the story of an African who died on his arrival in Lancaster in 1736, and includes a selection of images together with moving poems in different voices.
RAMAN MUNDAIR's new collection of poems,
'A Choreographer's Cartography' is a combination of passion and compassion, sensitivity and sensuality, which infuses themes from the author's South Asian heritage with the Shetland Islands -- a marginalised slice of Britain. With a dramatic and distinctively personal voice, these poems touch on a wide range of subjects, from a love of language and the anguish of war to Queen Victoria and the history of the waltz.
ROMMI SMITH When legendary diva, Gloria Silver reads her obituary in a music paper, she feels that the forgetfulness of the world has just gone too far. When she hears one of her songs being sampled, without permission, on the radio?she decides to take action! Using a variety of poetic forms, Smith creates the voice and world of Gloria Silver in all her feisty sensuality. An evocative and imaginative homage to the African American jazz world of the 1940s and 1950's. A taste of this second collection, Mornings and Midnights, has been produced in a chap book that has received a Poetry Society Pamphlet Recommendation.
SENI SENEVIRATNE's debut collection, Wild Cinnamon and Winter Skin , offers a poetic landscape that echoes themes of migration, family, love and loss and reflects her personal journey as a woman of Sri Lankan and English heritage. Her poems cross oceans and centuries, marked by significant times and events. She takes us from Ceylon in the 15th century, Yorkshire's flax mills of the 19th century, World War Two and colonial Britain in the 20th century, to the Sheffield she grew up in and knows of today in the 21st century.
KHADIJAH IBRAHIIM Khadijah Ibrahiim's selection of Hair Stories is based on her live arts commission and performance of the same title. Ibrahiim takes us on a journey through the complex ornamental locks of the Queen of Sheba, the iconographic Afro of Angela Davis to the decorative plaits, braids and 'markings' of black British youth today. Hair Stories presents a meaningful insight into African hair: as ritual, celebration and protest; as public statement and expression of our inner self; as reflection of power and powerlessness; as expressions of harmony and discord.
Tickets £6 / £4 concs.
8.30pm MALIKA'S KITCHEN