|
|
SPIT-LIT PROGRAMME 2004SUNDAY 7 MARCH
Upstairs at THE SPITZ , Commercial Street, E1.
SPIT-LIT presents some very special guests to open this festival of women's writing.
2.30pm CELEBRATING DIVERSITY
KIN – New Fiction by Black & Asian Women Editor KAREN McCARTHY introduces this sharp contemporary collection of short stories from a new generation of writers with contributors AMANTHI HARRIS, DONNA DALEY-CLARKE, GEMMA WEEKES & SHARON JENNINGS. Populated by a fascinating cast of characters the Kin anthology presents stories about mothers, sisters, lovers, best friends and brides-to-be. Exploring the theme of kinship the collection reflects the reality and complexities of life in multicultural Britain and is published by Serpent's Tail.
KAREN McCARTHY is the editor of the critically acclaimed anthology Bittersweet: Contemporary Black Women's Poetry and has presented her work nationwide. AMANTHI HARRIS was born in Colombo and studied at Bristol University. She has worked as a solicitor, editor, bookseller and has written her first novel. SHARON JENNINGS is an African American from Los Angeles. She is a lecturer for Open University and has written articles on race and mental health and is now focussing on writing fiction. DONNA DALEY-CLARKE recently graduated from the Creative Writing MA at the University of East Anglia. She is currently working on her first novel A Lazy Eye . GEMMA WEEKES studied at Bristol University. She is a poet, singer, songwriter and freelance journalist. Presented in association with renaissance one Tickets £6 / £5 concs.
4pm AN AUDIENCE WITH
HILARY WAINWRIGHTHilary Wainwright discusses her latest book RECLAIM THE STATE Experiments in Popular Democracy (Verso). She sets out on a quest to discover how people are creating new, stronger forms of democracy to defend and inspire public provision in their localities. What motivates her is the belief that political innovation starts from the ground up. In rundown estates across the country people are showing how “people power” could be organised if the government would only let it. Hilary Wainwright is the editor of Red Pepper as well as a writer and broadcaster. She is a research fellow of the International Labour Studies Centre at Manchester University, the Centre for Global Governance at the London School of Economics and of the Transnational Institute in Amsterdam.
Hilary Wainwright will be interviewed by Pauline Hadaway from Belfast. Tickets £6 / £5 concs.
5.30pm AN AUDIENCE WITH
MARINA WARNER Marina Warner discusses her latest book Signs & Wonders – Essays on Literature & Culture (Chatto & Windus). This remarkable, resonant collection draws together essays written over 25 years, offering a wide-ranging retrospective of her changing ideas on literature and culture, from explanations of our taste for the miraculous to our need for heroes and villains. Marina Warner has an international reputation as a critic, historian and a novelist. Her recent non fiction works include The Beast to the Blonde and No Go the Bogeyman and fiction The Leto Bundle and Murderers I have Known . Tickets £6 / £5 concs.
7pm AN EVENING WITH
APPLES & SNAKES Dynamic proponents of the spoken word present an evening of diverse performance poetry hosted by JENNEBA JALLOH.
JEAN “BINTA” BREEZE International poet and performer from Jamaica. Her striking stage presence generates all the power and excitement of a full blown theatrical performance. She is humorous, peppery and potent ZENA EDWARDSFusing hip-hop, jazz grooves with the kalimba. STACY MAKISHIOkinawan performance artist from Hawaii and Hackney. AOIFE MANNIXBittersweet Irish poet looking at the chaos of life and love.
Tickets £6/ £5 concs. SPECIAL DOUBLE TICKET FOR TWO EVENTS £10 / £8 concs.
Stacy Makishi and Aoife Mannix will be running a special daylong SPIT-LIT workshop in Poetry and Performance on Wednesday 10 March at the Brady Arts Centre, 192-196 Hanbury Street, E1 from 10.30am to 1pm and 2pm to 4.30pm. Participants will have the opportunity to present their work in the Festival Finale Womanspeak on Sunday 14 March at 7pm at The Spitz. £10 / £6 concs.Places must be booked in advance 020 7247 2584.THE BRADY ARTS CENTRE , 192-196 Hanbury Street, E1
2-6pm BENGALI BOOK FAIR A wide selection of Bengali and English language books including novels, poetry, arts, culture and politics and books on women's issues. There will also be lots of children's books. Admission Free.
2.30pm STORYTELLING FOR CHILDREN
CAROL SHERMAN combines Western and Afro-Caribbean traditions to present an original mixture of stories. She uses her skills as an actress and acrobat to entertain children of all age. Admission Free.
6pm BENGALI WOMEN'S CELEBRATION
presented by SHAMIM AZAD and KHADIJA RHAMAN of BISHWO SHAHITTO KENDRO – The World Literature Centre.
DEBJANEE CHATTERJEE is one of Britain's most well known Asian writers. She is an award winning poet who has written, edited or translated 35 books for children and adults. Currently chair of the National Association of Writers in Education she has just launched a bilingual anthology Daughter of a Riverine Land.
RABINA KHAN is the author of Rainbow Hands , her first novel, published by Authorsonline. This is the story of a young Bangladeshi girl growing up in East London. The novel is aimed at encouraging tolerance and understanding between all communities living in areas of high unemployment, poor housing and health and a sense of community loss.
FATIMA KELLEHER will present a group of new young women writers arising out of the SPIT-LIT Creative Writing Workshops she has been running for the past 10 weeks.
DR HASNEEN CHOUDHURY currently works as a Public Health co-ordinator for the Tower Hamlets Primary Care Trust and has developed many innovative programmes in the field of mental health and cardiovascular disease prevention. She writes short stories in Bengali and is an editor of Bengali and English magazines and books.
BARONESS POLA UDDIN is a former local councillor and leader of Tower Hamlets Council. During her eight years in office she led in policy development, finance, education and social services. Baroness Uddin was the first Muslim woman in British Parliament. She acts as an advisor on community relations and Muslim women and continues to champion her work on race and disability issues.
FIONA ISLAM works in trading commodities in banking and in finance. Her interests are learning new languages and having an active involvement in voluntary work, particularly within the Asian community.
NARGIS ALI is a local nursery nurse and story-teller who tells stories using puppets and toys handed down from her grandmother in Bangladesh.
DR RUKHSANA SAFA is a well-known popular singer in Bangladesh and in the UK singing in Bengali, Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi, Arabic and Japanese. Currently she works in the Department of Opthamology at Oxford University and continues to pursue her singing career.
SHAMIM AZAD is a poet who uses aspects of Asian folk and oral traditions with chanting and body movements, percussion instruments, tabla and songs. She has published eight books of fiction, essays and poetry and also works as a freelance journalist, writing regularly for Bengali newspapers and magazines in Britain, Bangladesh and the USA.
KHADIJA RAHMAN is a fashion designer, lecturer and illustrator who also writes stories and is involved in the World Literature Centre co-ordinating their live performances and local radio shows.
BISHWO SHAHITTO KENDRO(The World Literature Centre) aims to build bridges between the diverse communities of Tower Hamlets through multicultural events and activities. Musicians and dancers from BSK will perform during the evening. This event is part of the SPIT-LIT Community Programme Tickets for admission are free.
SPECIAL DOUBLE TICKET FOR TWO EVENTS £10 / £8
MONDAY 8 MARCH – INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY
TOYNBEE HALL, 28 Commercial Street, E1.
12.30-2pm THE INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY LUNCH
Guest Speaker : BARONESS HELENA KENEDY QCAcute, questioning, humane, passionately concerned for justice – Baroness Helena Kennedy is one of the most powerful voices in legal circles today. Her new book Just Law has just been published (Chatto and Windus). In it she roundly challenges the record of modern governments with regard to fundamental democratic rights, and insists that we return to the fundamental values of Equality, Fairness and respect for human dignity. Baroness Kennedy has acted in many leading trials including the Brighton Bombing Trial, the Guildford Four Appeal and the trials of battered women who kill their partners. She is President of the School of Oriental Studies, London University, Chair of the British Council and the British Genetics Commission and a member of the International Bar Association's Task Force on Terrorism.
Alternative Arts invites you to attend this very special occasion to celebrate International Women's Day 2004. A buffet lunch served with wine and coffee is included in the price of the ticket. All tickets £10
Upstairs at THE SPITZ 109 Commercial Street E1
7pm AN AUDIENCE WITH
SHEREE R THOMAS interviewed by Kadija SesaySHEREE R THOMAS is a special guest of the SPIT-LIT Festival from New York where she lives with her family and teaches at the Frederick Douglas Creative Arts Centre. Sheree is the editor of the first collection of science-fiction, fantasy and speculative fiction by black writers. Tonight she will be talking about the increase in speculative fiction from writers of African descent and how she put together the award winning collection DARK MATTER: A Century of Speculative Fiction of the African Diaspora (Warner 2000) and DARK MATTER: Reading the Bones (Warner 2004).
KADIJA SESAY is the founder/publisher of Sable Litmag and the General Secretary of the African Writers Abroad (PEN) Centre. She is a creative writing tutor and published short story writer and poet. She has edited a number of anthologies and books. Her work has taken her to Africa, Europe and the United States.8.30pm AN EVENING WITH
BLACK WOMEN WRITERS Telling HerStoriesPoetry, performance and prose from black women writers. Presented by AWA-African Writers Abroad, Centre of International PEN, the World Association of writers. Hosted by Andrea Enisuoh.
PROSE JEAN
BUFFONG was
born in Grenada and came to England in 1962.
POETRYDenrele Ogunwa writes about love, lust, life and other sexually transmitted diseases. She is part of the Malikas Kitchen poetry collective - a group that performs and holds regular informal poetry workshops. She has performed at Apples and Snakes, Express Excess, Pure Poetry, Speakeasy and other leading poetry venues. She lives in London with her large CD and book collection and a shoe fetish to rival Imelda Marcos.
Physical Theatre Valerie Mason John aka Queenie has been hailed as one of Britain's foremost Black gay icons. Her collection of plays, poetry and prose, Brown Girl In The Ring has received critical acclaim and she is the author of the first and only two books to document the lives of African and Asian lesbians in Britain. She has just completed her first novel, Borrowed Body and is currently writing a self-help book, exploring anger, hatred and fear. She is a Buddhist meditator.
Sorytelling Cuban Redd is one of London's most popular performance poets and storytellers. She founded the North London poetry club, Dennawadis . She performs around the country in festivals, and workshops in schools. She is one of eight featured Black British performance poets in the book, Moving Voices: Black Performance Poetry published by Hansib.
Andrea Enisuoh is a writer, journalist and literature development worker. She is co-editor of Ridin an Risin short stories by new black writers and her short stories have appeared in anthologies including Playing Sidney Poitier and other stories and IC3 The Penguin Book of New Black Writing in Britain . An arts columnist for New Nation newspaper, she has also contributed to Pride Magazine, the Evening Standard and Radio 4's Front Row .
Tickets £6/ £5 concs. SPECIAL DOUBLE TICKET FOR TWO EVENTS £10 /£8 concs.
A series of workshops are being co-ordinated by AWA for SPIT-LIT at The Women's Library, Old Castle Street, E1. Tues 9 March: Writing Speculative Fiction with Sheree Thomas from 10.30am-1pm and Creating HerStories with Kadija Sesay for 2pm-4.30pm. Wed 10 March: Writing for Magazines with Andrea Enisuoh from 2pm-4.30pm. Thurs 11 March: Writing for Stage & Screen with HeatherTaylor from 10.30am-1pm and Writing Erotica with Leonie Ross from 2pm-4.30pm. Fri 12 March: Getting Published with Kadija Sesay 2-4.30pm
All sessions are £5 / £3 concs. Places must be booked in advance on 020 7247 2584.
TUESDAY 9 MARCH
Upstairs at THE SPITZ 109 Commercial Street, E1.
7pm IN CONVERSATION
DEBORAH MOGGACH and MIRANDA SEYMOUR discuss their new books Deborah Moggach's novel These Foolish Things (Chatto & Windus) is a brilliantly written comedy of manners about the setting up of a retirement home in Bangalore. A lost corner of England is created in a converted guest house where British pensioners can enjoy the hot weather and take mango juice with their gin. Hilarity is matched with the poignancy of getting old and humour with the darker issues of care in the community. Deborah comes from a writing family and lives in North London. She has written numerous TV screenplays including Goggle Eyes and fourteen novels including Tulip Fever which is shortly to be filmed by Stephen Speilberg's Dreamworks. Miranda Seymor's new book THE BUGATTI QUEEN – In Search of a Motor Racing Legend (Simon & Schuster) is a beautifully written account of a fascinating twentieth century life: Hélène Delaryle, also known as Hellé Nice, dancer, lover – and record breaking racing driver. Miranda is the author of many acclaimed and best-selling works of fiction and non-fiction. Her biographies include the lives of Mary Shelley, Ottoline Morrell, Robert Graves and Henry James.
Tickets £6 / £5 concs.
8.30pm DANGEROUS WORLDS
YASMIN ALIBHAI-BROWN chairs a discussion with LINDA GRANT, AHLAM AKRAM, LINDA MELVERN & SUAD AL-ATTAR on the experience of women living in areas of serious conflict .
YASMIN ALIBHAI-BROWN is a regular columnist on The Independent and a patron of SPIT-LIT. She came to this country in 1972 from Uganda and completed her M.Phil in Literature at Oxford in 1975. She is an experienced journalist and a radio and TV broadcaster. Her books include No Place Like Home , Three Colours , Who Do We Think We Are? , After Multiculturalism and Mixed Feelings . She advises various key institutions on race matters and in 1999 received an honorary degree from the Open University for her contributions to social justice.
LINDA GRANT is the child of Russian and Polish Jewish Immigrants. She is a regular columnist on The Guardian and is an award winning writer. Her first novel The Cast Iron Shore won the Donald Higham Award in 1996 and was shortlisted for the Guardian Fiction Prize. Remind Me Who I Am Again was published to great acclaim in 1998 and won the MIND / Allen Lane Book of the Year Award. Her second novel, When I Lived in Modern Times won the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2000.
AHLAM AKRAM was born in the occupied territory of Nablus. She's a business woman and in the past 3 years has become a relentless human rights campaigner, writing in Arabic newspapers about very sensitive issues, based on constructive criticism, with the aim of building bridges of understanding and humanity between the Arab world and the West. Ahlam is now on the executive committee of the Arab Jewish Forum and Joint Action for Israeli Palestinian Peace.
Linda melvern is a well-known and widely published investigative journalist. She is an Honorary Fellow of the University of Wales and was a consultant to the Military One prosecution team at the International Criminal Tribunal on Rwanda. Her new book CONSPIRACY TO MURDER Planning the Rwanda Genocide will be published by Verso in April to coincide with the tenth anniversary of the horrific event generally acknowledged to be both the most appalling of the 20 th Century and one that could have been avoided. This is the first full story of the massacre's planning, with damning details of Western inaction, apathy and conspiracy.
SUAD AL-ATTAR is an artist who was born in Baghdad and studied at California State University and at Baghdad University. She is in the vanguard of the new wave of Middle Eastern artists who are becoming increasingly recognised and acclaimed internationally. She has exhibited throughout the Middle East, North Africa, Europe and America. Arabian literature, Sumarian legends, Mesopotamian poetry and Assyrian reliefs have all informed her work. Her paintings are about the suffering and strength of women.
Tickets £6 / £5 concs. SPECIAL DOUBLE TICKET FOR TWO EVENTS £10 / £8 concs
WEDNESDAY 10 MARCH
Upstairs at THE SPITZ 109 Commercial Street, E1.
7pm LES- LIT
10 YEARS OF LESBIAN WORDS A panel of writers and editors from DIVA MAGAZINE and DIVA BOOKS, including Commissioning Editor Kathleen Kiirik Bryson and Clare Sudbury, author of The Dying of Delight (Diva Books 2004), and Gillian Rogerson, editor of Diva Magazine, discuss ten years of lesbian literature and journalism. From lesbian chic to law reform, the decade since 1994 has seen huge advances in most areas of lesbian life and Diva has been there to chronicle all of it.
CLARE SUDBURY will read from her debut novel The Dying of Delight . This is a funny, occasionally dark and at times surreal story. As the intriguing histories and mysterious motivations of two women gradually unravel, two very different women emerge, and their respective efforts to escape their pasts and control their futures make for a spectacular and gripping tale.
Tickets £6 / £5 concs.
8.30pm SPIT STORIES
An evening of storytelling with four fantastic women.
SALLY POMME CLAYTON presents this special evening. She is an international writer and storyteller and during 2003 she created The Tales of the Seven Princesses for Chichester Festival Theatre, toured a solo show for Hay on Wye Literature Festival, and performed with the Welsh National Opera. Her next book Tales Told in Tents will be published by Frances Lincoln in Oct 2004.
SHONALEIGH CUMBERS is a Drut'syla, an oral storyteller from the Yiddish tradition. She comes from a Dutch-Jewish family and trained at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama before working as an actress and vocalist. Shonaleigh has been a professional storyteller for eight years and has a repertoire of over 3,000 stories. She can draw you into the world of a tale creating images and music of breathtaking vividness.
INNO SORSY is a storyteller, poet and writer. She was born on the border of Ghana and Togo and educated in the UK. She now runs her own company Nasrudin Productions and is in great demand, travelling to far corners of the world, telling and collecting stories, always fascinated by the energy which lies at the interface between cultures in any artistic collaboration.
SUSANNA STEELE was born and brought up in Ireland but has lived and worked in London for 30 years. She has been telling stories for so long that she forgets when she didn't. She tells stories and runs workshops in schools, universities and at festivals in the UK, Ireland and America. She is currently teaching at Greenwich University and is an Education Associate at the Unicorn Theatre.
Tickets £6 / £5 concs. SPECIAL DOUBLE TICKET FOR TWO EVENTS £10 / £8 concs.
THURSDAY 11 MARCH
THE BRADY ARTS CENTRE , 192-196 Hanbury Street, E1
11am TONGUES ON FIRE 2004
TONGUES ON FIRE Asian Women's Film Festival presents
HARI BHARI (Fertility) directed by Shyam Benegal (114 mins) Bengali with English subtitles. Starring Shabana Azmi, Nandita Das and Murad Ali
Centered around the lives of five women from a Muslim rural family in India, the film tackles issues of family planning, skewed divorce laws and the medical risk of early marriage and child birth. The tale of three generations of women unfolds as a critique of male-dominated laws and norms. From the eternal sufferer to a rebellious individual, the independent struggles and anguish of each woman mirror the very basic problems of rural society. The central message, however, is simple and universal: a woman must have the right to her own womb.
The film will be introduced by actress Jayasree Kabi and is also part of the current Asian Women's Film Festival www.tonguesonfire.com
Admission by ticket is free.
2.30pm STORIES FROM UNIFEM
VOICES FROM WOMEN AROUND THE WORLDAt times progress in advancing women's rights comes through taking a step back – and having a closer look. We take the stories of a number of women living in different parts of the world. The problems these women face range from economic poverty to culturally orientated violence and domestic abuse. These stories will be told by professional actors and members of UNIFEM in London.
UNIFEM in London is a branch of UNIFEM UK, the United Nations Development Fund for Women. Its mission is to promote women's human rights, political participation and economic security in developing countries.
Admission by ticket is free.
Upstairs at THE SPITZ 109 Commercial Street, E1.
7pm IN CONVERSATION
JOAN BAKEWELL and FRANCINE STOCK Joan Bakewell discusses her book The Centre of the Bed (Hodder & Stoughton). This is a beautifully crafted autobiography, tracking the life of the first woman to gain a high profile on British television – travelling back to her childhood in World War Two, then through the liberating Cambridge University years, marriage, motherhood, the BBC and journalism. Along the way we bump into hugely memorable people such as Bette Davis, Marcel Duchamp, Peter Hall, Jonathan Miller and of course, Harold Pinter.
Francine Stock read languages at Jesus College Oxford, then worked in print journalism. She first joined the BBC as a producer on Radio 4's The World at One , then she was a reporter and presenter for five years on BBC TV's Newsnight. Her broadcasting career has covered a wide range of programmes and she's currently a regular presenter of BBC Radio 4's Front Row. Francine's novel A Foreign Country was shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award in 1999 and her latest Man-Made Fibre has just been published in paperback by Vintage. She was one of the judges for the 2003 Man Booker Prize.
Tickets £6 / £58.30pm AN EVENING WITH
PUM PUM POETS A group of black sisters talking openly about sex? On stage? Yes – a frank, illusion-shattering presentation of poetry dealing with issues specific to women and their sexuality through spoken words and creative expression. A sexy, controversial package, which women will delight in and men will learn from – no-one can resist.
MARCIA “Culture” GORDON is a poet and writer who uses characters within her narrative to portray life's experiences.
POPPY SEED presents poetic jazz-roots and culture on the cusp of poetry and song.
READHEAD has performed her poems, songs, plays and short stories all over Europe.
AMA-DONNA highly regarded poet and recording artist.
Tickets £6 / £5 concs. SPECIAL DOUBLE TICKET FOR TWO EVENTS £10 / £8 concs.
FRIDAY 12 MARCH
Upstairs at THE SPITZ 109 Commercial Street, E1.
7pm CREATING CHAOS (live mix) with
CLAIRE DOWIE playwright Claire Dowie performs a live version of her first novel Creating Chaos (Methuen) accompanied by FROG tribute band Frogalypse Now . Creating Chaos is the story of a self-sufficient community founded at the end of the sixties by a bunch of university drop-outs and their first born, CHAOS – a mixture of Swampy, John Lennon, Bob Geldof…and Princess Diana. Sex and drugs and rock and roll, anarchists, communards, organic farming, alternative lifestyles and alternative energy, green issues and self sufficiency from the sixties through to the millennium.
Claire Dowie has written ten stage plays, four radio plays and two short films. She is best known for Adult Child / Dead Child on the stage, The Year of the Monkey on radio and Came Out, It Rained, Went Back in Again on TV. She is currently working on a series of five plays for BBC radio and her new stage play H to He (I'm Turning Into A Man) has just been performed at the Drill Hall, London.
Tickets £6 / £5 concs.
8.30pm AN EVENING OF JAZZ & POETRY with SARAH MOULE and FRAN LANDESMAN
Sarah Moule has rapidly established a reputation as one of this country's finest jazz singers. Her highly acclaimed debut CD It's A Nice Thought (Linn Records) features Fran Landesman's witty lyrics. The evening will include songs sung by Sarah and readings by Fran accompanied by Simon Wallace on piano and Mick Hutton on bass.
Fran Landesman was born in New York and moved to London in the 1960s. She has written hundreds of songs with collaborations on both sides of the Atlantic. Songs such as Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most and Ballad Of The Sad Young Men are standards which have been recorded by some of the 20 th century's greatest singers. Fran has performed in a wide range of venues and now says she has many “CRAFT” moments which she will explain during evening.
Tickets £6 / £5 concs. SPECIAL DOUBLE TICKET FOR TWO EVENTS £10 / £8 concs.
SATURDAY 13 MARCH
Upstairs at THE SPITZ 109 Commercial Street, E1.
Celebrating independent publishers
2.30pm AN AUDIENCE WITH
LINDA WILKINSON Linda Wilkinson is a local resident, a published novelist, has produced radio programmes, written several screenplays and recently wrote and edited the history book WATERCRESS BUT NO SANDWICHES 300 Years of the Columbia Road Area which won the Raymond Williams Prize for Community Publishing. This is a story about eight streets in East London (the old Jesus Hospital Estate) told by people whose family recollections go back to 1857 and who still live there. They will also attend this event. Linda is currently Chair of Amnesty International UK and was half of the first female couple to sign the Partnership Register when it was launched in 2001.
Tickets £6 / £5 concs.
4PM IN CONVERSATION
BLACK AMBER BOOKS present 3 of their writers: JOAN BLANEY, LAKSHIMI PERSAUD, RESHMA S RUIA.
Black Amber Books is a collection point for British and European Black and Asian writers, publishing literary fiction, non-fiction and work in translation.
JOAN BLANEY is a Director at the Centre for Policy and Practice with the Scarman Trust. Born in Kingston, Jamaica, she has lived in Britain since childhood. Her most recent book From Kitchen Sink to Boardroom Table was written with Richard Scase Professor of Organizational Behaviour at the University of Kent. With honest, vivid and sometimes dramatic narratives, 22 women from diverse backgrounds tell us how they achieved their personal goals, turning a raw deal into a good one by using all the true business skills that exist amongst ordinary women.
DR LAKSHMI PERSAUD was born in Trinidad. She has a BA and PHD from Queens University, Belfast and has taught extensively in the West Indies. She has written three novels, her latest Raise The Lanterns High is a powerful and poetic story centring around the emotional dilemma of a young girl on the eve of her wedding. This dramatic novel is full of powerful ideas expressed in equally powerful language, with universal themes of the battle between the sexes and the conflict between modernity and long-honoured traditions.
RESHNA S RUIA was born in India, brought up in Italy and educated at the LSE. She came to writing indirectly after a career as an economist with the UN. Her first novel Something Black in the Lentil Soup (a literal translation of the Indian saying “all is not what it seems”) hilariously depicts the changing fortunes of a virginal middle-aged Indian male in search of literary fame and romantic glory.
Tickets £6 / £5 concs.
5.30pm THE AUTHOR, HER AGENT and the PUBLISHER
CLARE MORRALL , shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2003, LAURA LONGRIGG of MBA and EMMA HARGRAVE of Tindall Street Press in discussion.
CLARE MORRALL is the author of Astonishing Splashes of Colour , her first novel to be published. She has 2 adult daughters, lives in Birmingham and is a music teacher. Her novel reflects her interest in the dynamics of family life and in synaesthesia – a condition in which emotions can be seen as colours. Clare's first four novels remain unpublished and this event explores her experience of getting published and being shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.
LAURA LONGRIGG works for MBA, a medium-sized London based agency and looks after about 30 clients of whom two thirds are writing fiction, and the others non-fiction.
EMMA HARGRAVE is Managing Editor of Tindall Street Press, an independent Birmingham-based publisher of contemporary fiction, which in 2003 became the smallest publisher ever to reach the shortlist of the Man Booker Prize.
Tickets £6 / £5 concs.
7pm IN CONVERSATION
ZOE FAIRBAIRNS and MICHELENE WANDOR launch a new set of short story collections by women independently published by FIVE LEAVES PUBLICATIONS based in Nottigham www.fiveleaves.co.uk
ZOE FAIRBAIRNS ' stories How Do You Pronounce Nulliparous? set mainly in London and its more-or-less fashionable suburbs , occupy the spaces between words and activities. The collection also includes an autobiographical piece reviewing the author's membership of a 1970s women's writing group from which came Tales I Tell My Mother , a ground breaking book of feminist fiction. Zoe's novels include the feminist classic Benefits and her short stories are often broadcast on BBC Radio 4.
MICHELENE WANDOR's new collection, False Relations , ranges from Biblical to modern, from Renaissance Italy to present day Israel, and from the power of music to its dangers. Her poetic and dramatic skills infuse her stories with vivid voices and haunting characters. Michelene is a poet, playwright, musician and critic as well as a prolific writer of short stories. She teaches creative writing at London Metropolitan University.
Tickets £6 / £5 concs. SPECIAL DOUBLE TICKET FOR TWO EVENTS £10 / £8 concs.
8.30pm SPIT-LIT COMEDY NIGHT
A riotous evening of women's comedy with some of the best established and upcoming comics in the country celebrating International Women's Week.
HATTIE HAYRIDGEbitingly clever
JO ENRIGHT lively yet poignant
AVA VIDAL face of the future
SALLY-ANNE HAYWARD bubbly comedy
NINIA BENJAMIN one non-blonde
Tickets £8 /£7 concs.
SUNDAY 14 MARCH
Upstairs at THE SPITZ 109 Commercial Street, E1.
2.30pm THE SPIT-LIT DEBATE
presented by the Institute of Ideas
DOES MOTHERHOOD DRIVE YOU MAD?According to ‘experts', growing numbers of women are traumatised by childbirth and are not capable of child-rearing without professional help.
Studies suggest antenatal and postnatal depression are reaching record levels. Some psychiatrists now diagnose ‘Tokophobia' – a terrible fear of childbirth – as a new mental illness. Some feminists have drawn attention to this apparent epidemic of mental illness to emphasise the great difficulties women now face as mothers. Policy-makers and health promotion professionals conclude that it is harder than ever to be a parent. Meanwhile, government initiatives, such as Surestart, warn us that children's early years are a key point in their development. If mothers mess up in the first two years, their children will be damaged.
So, it is argued, we need more and new kinds of external interventions in order to be good parents. Antenatal classes, childbirth mentoring, postnatal listening visits, parenting courses and supportive counselling are all recommended if we are to cope with the transition to motherhood, stay sane, and not psychologically damage our offspring.
But is motherhood really more depressing than ever? Do women gain from the medicalisation of their experience, the redefinition of their problems as mental illness? Do professional counsellors and mentors liberate women from the stress of motherhood, or do they constitute an overbearing nanny state, Big Mother?
Panellists are Rosie Boycott , journalist and commentator on social issues; Lisa Harker , Director of the Daycare Trust, former Deputy Director of the IPPR, and co-author of An Equal Start; Brid Hehir , former midwife and co-author of Alternative Medicine: Should We Swallow It? ; and Ellie Lee , lecturer in Social Policy at the University of Kent, and author of Abortion, Motherhood and Mental Health: medicalizing reproduction in the United States and Great Britain . Claire Fox of the Institue of Ideas will chair.
Tickets £6/£5 concs.
4.30pm AN AUDIENCE WITH
SHEENA MACKAYSheena Mackay is the author of two novellas, eight previous novels and four collections of short stories. She wrote her first book at the age of 17, whilst working for a Chancery Lane antiques shop managed by the playwright Frank Marcus. She has won two Scottish Arts Council Awards, and her novel The Orchard on Fire was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1996. Her latest novel Heligoland (Vintage) is about The Nautilis, a curious building in the shape of a shell, a haven for bohemians, intellectuals and artists, a monument to fading grandeur and dreams.
Tickets £6 / £5 concs.
6pm AN AUDIENCE WITH
JULIE MYERSON Julie Myerson is a journalist and author and lives in London. Her latest book Something Might Happen (Vintage) is not a murder mystery. There are clues, false trails, detectives, all the paraphernalia of the whodunnit, but the author's concern is with the effect of the murder on an ordinary community. As the police go about their routine investigations nothing is certain, the mundane becomes charged with significance, established relationships begin to crumble and places that once were safe, are safe no longer.
Tickets £6 / £5 concs.
7.30pm WOMANSPEAK
The Festival Finale Looks to the FutureLondon's most talented new spoken word artists come together for a night of creativity and celebration arranged in collaboration with Apples & Snakes . Award winning performance artist Stacy Makishi and talented poet Aoife Mannix have been delivering inspiring workshops in performance skills and creative writing as part of the SPIT-LIT Festival during International Women's Week. Womanspeak brings together all the imagination and creativity stimulated by the workshops in an exclusive London showcase celebrating the abundant talent and achievement of the artists who have worked with the team. Be there to enjoy a glimpse of the future. Tickets £6 / £5 concs. SPECIAL DOUBLE TICKET FOR TWO EVENTS £10 / £8 concs.
WRITING WORKSHOPS
SPIT-LIT WRITING WORKSHOPS
A whole range of workshops are on offer to writers and would-be writers during the SPIT-LIT Festival. Numbers attending will be limited so please ring to book your place in advance.
TUESDAY 9 MARCHTHE WOMENS LIBRARY Old Castle Street E1 10.30am – 1pm WRITING SPECULATIVE FICTION with Sheree R Thomas Join Sheree R Thomas as she teaches you how to craft entertaining and well-plotted works of science fiction, fantasy and other speculative genres. This workshop is a place where new and emerging writers of speculative fiction can learn and hone the basics of their craft. The workshop will cover the nuts and bolts of writing speculative fiction with the emphasis on making stories publishable. Sheree R Thomas is the editor of two anthologies: Dark Matter:Reading the Bones (Warner, January 2004) and Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora (Warner 2000) winner of the World Fantasy Award and the Gold Pen Award.
£5/£3 concs. Please book in advance 020 7247 2584
2pm – 4.30pm CREATING HERSTORIES with Kadija SesayMemories are our personal stories that make us laugh, cry and heal. Some of our memories always walk with us – others are buried so deep, we question if they belong to us. But they never leave us because they are part of who we are. By creating HerStories; we retell our stories – and unknowingly, often help others to tell their stories too. Kadija Sesay has edited various anthologies. As well as teaching creative writing generally, she teaches memoir writing to young people and adults on workshops and courses in colleges and community centres; in festivals for fun and on professional courses for leadership and self-development.
£5/£3 concs. Please book in advance on 020 7247 2584
WEDNESDAY 10 MARCHTHE BRADY ARTS CENTRE 192 – 196 Hanbury Street E1 10.30am – 1pm and 2pm – 4.30pm POETRY AND PERFORMANCE with APPLES AND SNAKESYour creative and performance skills will be enhanced by this am and pm workshop and you may also have the opportunity to present your work at the Womanspeak event on Sunday 14 March at 7.30pm at the Spitz. The workshop will be delivered by two established practising artists who have been carefully selected for their expertise as well as their difference in style and approach. Aoife Mannix will run a session to hone creative thought and writing style. Stacy Makishi will run a session on performance skills to harness ideas and confidence. Aoife and Stacy will offer advice and feedback on work, as well as sharing ‘tools of the trade' such as tips on performance skills, crafting and rewriting work.
£10/£6 concs. Please book in advance 020 7247 2584
THE WOMEN'S LIBRARY Old Castle Street E12pm – 4.30pm WRITING FOR MAGAZINES with Andrea EnisuohIf you've always thought you'd like to write for magazines, this course will teach you how to make the leap from dreaming about it to reading your by-line! This workshop will explore how to come up with creative, saleable ideas and how to capture the interest of your chosen magazine. The technical details will also be covered, such as query letters, writing a good lead and payment. Andrea Enisuoh is a freelance journalist and has been contributing to magazines and other publications for several years. She is currently editor of the literary magazine readallaboutit , and managing editor of Calabash a newsletter for writers of African and Asian descent.
£5/£3 concs. Please book in advance 020 7247 2584
THURSDAY 11 MARCHTHE WOMEN'S LIBRARY Old Castle Street E1 10.30am – 1pm WRIITING FOR STAGE AND SCREEN with Heather TaylorDo you go to the theatre or cinema and think ‘I could have written something better'? In this beginners' workshop learn the fundamentals of writing for the stage and screen and find out what the differences between them really are. We will explore writing, strong character-driven scripts and how the actor, director and designer will interpret your words to strengthen your work. Come and discover the script waiting in you and find out how to make it come alive on stage or screen. Heather Taylor hails form Canada where she worked on over 30 film and theatre productions. In London she has performed at a variety of venues and has just launched her first poetry collection She Never Talks to Strangers published by Tall Lighthouse Books.
£5/£3 concs. Please book in advance 020 7247 2584 2pm – 4.30pm WRITING EROTICA with LEONE ROSSWriting an erotic story is like a striptease. Slowly reveal the narrative. Linger. Flesh out detail. Draw on the senses. Let the essence of the story flow into a strong dramatic arc and drive the plot to a climactic finish. Explore techniques for writing erotic fiction. Engage in writing exercises that develop sensory and emotional awareness. This workshop will cover adult themes.Leone Ross is an award-winning writer of Jamaican/British heritage. She has published two novels and her short stories have been anthologised in the USA, UK and Canada. She teaches fiction writing.
£5/£3 concs. Please book in advance 020 7247 2584
FRIDAY 12 MARCHTHE BRADY ARTS CENTRE 192 – 196 Hanbury Street E1 10.30am-1pm GETTING PUBLISHED with Kadija SesayGood writing is only half the battle. Getting your work published involves more than buying a lot of jiffy bags and crossing our fingers. This workshop will cover some of the things you can do to improve your chances in the publishing lottery. Why are some writers more successful than others? Which topics are hot – and which are past their sell-by date? How to make your CV and experience work for you and how to write the right letters. Kadija Sesay is the founder/publisher of Sable Lit Mag and General Secretary of the African Writers Abroad (PEN) Centre. She is a creative writing tutor and published short story writer and has edited a number of anthologies and books. £5/£3 concs. Please book in advance 020 7247 2584
BOOKINGS 020 7247 2584 |
||||