SWF is pleased to co-sponsor an event facilitated by HeartEdge on 3rd June 2021, the 3rd in a 4-part series. The event is online: register here.
Four poets – Amir Darwish, Jennifer Langer, Alison Phipps, Tawona Sitholé – and Lia Shimada (chair) will explore how poetry emerges from, and gives voice to, diverse experiences of exile, flight, abuse, hope, refuge and belonging. They will be joined by representatives from the Helen Bamber Foundation – a pioneering human rights charity supporting refugees and asylum seekers who are the survivors of extreme human cruelty.
You can hear these poets read some of their work here.
Mapping Faith: Theologies of Migration and Community (published by Jessica Kingsley, 2020) brings together over 35 writers, poets, artists and practitioners, from primarily Jewish, Muslim and Christian backgrounds. Royalties from book sales will be donated to the Helen Bamber Foundation.
Dr Lia Shimada is a geographer and theologian based at the University of Roehampton, where she serves as Senior Research Officer for the Susanna Wesley Foundation and Associate Chaplain of Whitelands College. She is the editor of Mapping Faith: Theologies of Migration and Community (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2020).
Amir Darwish is a poet and writer of Kurdish origin, whose work has been widely translated. Born in Aleppo, he came to Britain as an asylum seeker in 2003. Amir holds advanced degrees in History, International Relations, and Creative and Life Writing. He is currently working on his doctorate.
Alison Phipps holds the UNESCO Chair in Refugee Integration through Languages and the Arts at the University of Glasgow, where she is also Professor of Languages and Intercultural Studies, and Co-Convenor of the Glasgow Refugee, Asylum and Migration Network.
Tawona Sitholé is Artist in Residence of the UNESCO Chair for Refugee Integration through Languages and the Arts at the University of Glasgow. He co-founded Seeds for Thought, an arts organization based in Glasgow.
Jennifer Langer is a poet and the founding director of Exiled Writers Ink. She has edited four anthologies of exiled literature and is a Research Associate at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
