The second instalment of W&T's true storytelling event - Life Stories Cafe - was themed 'Time.' Poet Dorothea Smartt emceed. The evening kicked off with storyteller, photographer and blogger Julie Kertesz illustrating through images and words how the past, when viewed through the lens of experience and the present, can seem distorted - sometimes moving slowly, sometimes in a flash. She recounted the lessons of her childhood learned from her father, how these influenced her later on in life, and recollected vignettes of her life in Paris. Julie's humorous recounting had the room in stitches :)
This was followed by a moving reading by poet-performer Andra Simons, who shared the events and people that had shaped his life. Filmmaker and proprietor of Shortwave independent cinema, Rob Wray, spoke of his experience doing time and of the events that led to him being a wanted man. Photographer Reen Pilkington allowed her beautiful images to do the 'talking' , narrating the 20 images she showed with short powerful prose; illustrating the ravages of time on the body as she deals with illness. Poet Jane Liddell-King spoke about a Holocaust survivor named Alice who asks 'why should I die?' when the world still has much to offer despite her many struggles and challenges.
For those interested in sharing at the next session in June - it's simple: 20 slides of images, 10 minutes on the chosen theme. But as the title of the event suggests - Life Stories Cafe - it must be true and it must have at its core a life story. So if you'd like to be among the selected candidates, please get in touch with Shivaun.

What a lovely and amazing event to celebrate International Women's Day with UK author Naomi Alderman, US author Sarah Blake, and Turkish author Elif Shafak! Guardian journalist Homa Khaleeli facilitated a panel discussion on 'Women & Self-Censorship'. Some comments from the speakers certainly left me with lots of food for thought, especially what Naomi Alderman said about how books written by women are usually bought by women while books written by men tend to have a wider audience - both men and women. An audience member also asked what the speakers thought about the fact that her book club tended to read classics written mostly by men, as opposed to those written by women - whether modern or classics. Naomi suggested that this could be representative of the misplaced belief that work by women are perceived as women speaking whereas work by men may be perceived as 'people' speaking. Hmmm... hopefully the day will come when the idea that contemporary fiction by women writers are mere 'chick lit' will be debunked. If books represent a dialogue between the writer and the reader, let's keep the dialogue going, regardless of whether the writer is a man or a woman. - Fran

So International Women's Day has come and gone, but at W&T, we'll be celebrating the occasion next week with an event with UK author Naomi Alderman, US author Sarah Blake and Turkish author on the topic of women and self censorship - 'Breaking The Silence' - a timely topic considering that while much progress has been made, and quite a few glass ceilings have been broken, equality between the sexes is neither a given nor has it been achieved. Reflecting on what this day means, it occured to me that I hadn't given it much thought before the Eighties. I guess you could say it was my moment of awakening. I remember my awareness being heightened when Cory Aquino's People Power revolution swept away the Marcos regime. Around the same time, Benazir Bhutto had just come to power. And of course, over here in the UK, the Iron Lady held court. I remember looking at these women and thinking that if there were more women in high office, surely war would be less prevalent; after all weren't women supposed to be more nurturing, in touch with nature and all that. (And then the Falklands happened but that's another topic for discussion another day.) Regardless, these women were instrumental in my being conscious of the opportunities and challenges available to women everywhere. For that moment of awakening, I have Cory, Benazir and Maggie to thank.

It was a truly amazing evening with Israel director-author Shira Geffen, Palestinian author Rabai al-Madhoun, artist Martyn Stanton Harris, Jewish comedian Ivor Dembina and writer-editor Shaun Levin, who acted as moderator for a panel discussion. The event began with a slide show of powerful images by photographer David Lurie. Martyn then took the stage to share the impetus for his artwork (images of the exhibition below).

Director-author Shira Geffen next shared the motivations behind her most recent work, which led her on a secret trip to Gaza where she met the mother of a jihadist martyr. She related how moved she was when this mother embraced her warmly, in that one moment - stripped of ideologies and ethnicities - she was "just a daughter" and the woman who welcomed her into her home, "just a mother." The audience were treated to a short film by Shira called What About Me? on the absurdity of checkpoints.

Author Rabai al-Madhoun next read some excerpts from his most recent work The Lady of Tel Aviv (the English translation will be published next year). He spoke of being in exile for 38 years, and of being displaced from his homeland.

Comedian Ivor Dembina had the room in stitches when he performed extracts from his solo show 'This Is Not A Subject For Comedy.' Poking fun at his Jewish upbringing (especially those from Hendon!), Ivor's biting and sometimes irreverent humour touched on everything from Israeli politics to what Israel has come to symbolise to the Jewish diaspora.

Writer-editor Shaun Levin wrapped up the event with a panel discussion on what it means as an artist and writer to address conflict issues. This was followed by a lively and incisive Q&A session and book-signing with Shira, whose screenplay Jellyfish, has just been released.