Last night was a revelatory one which debunked the myths and misconceptions attached to women offenders for me. Poet and prison writer-in-residence Leah Thorn, Farah Damji from Women Moving Forward and Laurel Townhead from Women In Prison, shared some hard facts, as well as beautiful, though painful, poems and stories written by women in prison. Did you know for example that women make up only 5% of the prison population in the UK but represent 55% of those who self harm? We were also treated to some moving stories captured by Suzanne Cohen in her film Beautiful Sentence. Powerful, moving stuff...
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Southwark LGBT Network hosted an informal gathering on 15 April at W&T. Representatives of various LGBT-related groups and organisations attended and shared about their work, discussing opportunities to showcase LGBT achievements as well as support services available. Musician and comedian Rosie Wilby ended the night with the number I Want You. Thank you all for dropping by and for a lovely evening! For information on support services and LGBT-related activities, look up the following orgs in your area - Southwark LGBT Network, LGBT History Month, Bede House, SLAM, 4 in 10, ActiveArts, CoolTan Arts, Gendered Intelligence, Osmo and Southwark MIND. What a lovely, heartwarming, inspiring, and moving evening! To launch the Southwark Speaks multimedia exhibition by photographer and filmmaker Daniel Quinones, W&T hosted a launch event featuring award-winning and Booker-nominated author Paul Bailey, Southwark elders, Barbican young poets and Jacob Sam La-Rose. Tomas Ciucelis provided music during breaks and before the event began. A VERY BIG THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO PARTICIPATED AND OUR GUESTS FOR MAKING THE EVENT A VERY SPECIAL ONE! This event and exhibition celebrates the life stories of several Southwark elders - Cora Henry, Vincenzo Picardie, Kurban Haji, Joe Genda Bassie, Carol Vincent, Maureen Tyson, Barbara Robson and Ivy Douglas - and was timed to coincide with the Southwark Silver Festival 2011. This project was generously funded by Arts Council England and Bermondsey Square Community Fund. It was developed over the past few months by W&T in conjunction with Daniel Quinones of Woolfcub Productions. It features an intergenerational component, where seven Barbican young poets - Aisling Fahey, Greer Dewdney, Nadia Khomani, Ronald Olaibi, Safi Strand, Sonority Turner and Tyrone Lewis - had the opportunity to meet and speak to the elders as well as watch a screening of the film Southwark Speaks, which was developed specially for this project. Led by Jacob Sam La-Rose, they honed their responses to the elders' stories in several workshops conducted at W&T. More than 60 guests joined us at this evening event. Like me, many were moved by the film, the elders' stories, and by the young poets' reading of their beautiful poetry. Author Paul Bailey was witty, warm and entertaining - he received thunderous applause! He read humorous passages from his latest work, Chapman's Odyssey, which featured Fred Astaire, Babar and Celeste (oui, the French elephants!). Intrigued? You have to pick up a copy! The Southwark Speaks exhibition, including screenings of the film, is available to view at W&T until April 30, so don't miss it! Entry is free, so drop in and be inspired :)
London Dreamtime is the moniker for local storyteller Vanessa Woolf, who along with her husband Nigel of Bermondsey, organised a spectacular evening event that delighted, enchanted and enthralled the crowd last week. There were music performances by Nigel of Bermondsey, John Constable, and Stuart Forester, among others, storytelling by Vanessa and Jackie Downs, plus a screening of two silhouette films by Richard Mansfield. (There was a particularly scary one towards the end of the program which had my hands tightly curled into fistballs!) Vanessa wrapped up the night showing slides on a Victorian magic lantern (kinda like a precursor to the LED projector) - such beautiful slides they were too, hand painted and all. Thank you for salvaging a piece of Victorian England and sharing it with us, Vanessa!
W&T were delighted to host Tollington Press' event on 7 April 2011, a book launch featuring Comedienne by VG Lee - 10th Anniversary Edition, and The Full Heritage Experience by Maureen, Rosie and Helen Sandler. Tollington Press is an independent publisher which publishes new writing by women with unique stories to tell. From poetry to memoir and from drama to short stories, Tollington brings you voices you might not hear elsewhere. To learn more about Tollington Press, please visit their website. |
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