Thursday July 17, 2008: Ghazi Gheblawi & Saradha Soobrayen
We usher summer in with a little bit of desert and a little bit of island. Reading for us will be blogger, poet, translator and short story writer Ghazi Ghablawi (Libya) and emerging poet and editor Saradha Soobrayen (Mauritius). As both featured authors are multilingual, there is at least a small chance of tantalising excerpts in French or Arabic. Ghanaian author, Nii Ayikwei Parkes, will host.
Author Biographies:
Ghazi Gheblawi: Born 1975 in Tripoli, Libya, Ghazi has written prose and short stories in Arabic since 1992, culminating in his first collection of short stories in Arabic, Till when..?, (2001), followed by a second collection of short stories A face knows no sadness, which was published in 2007. Ghazi also writes poetry in English and is expecting to publish his first collection of poems by the end of 2008. He is an award winning blogger/podcaster, and translates literary works from and into both English and Arabic languages. He resides in London where he works as a doctor.
Saradha Soobrayen: A London based literature facilitator and creative arts mentor, Saradha is an award winning poet, reviewer, short fiction writer and is the poetry editor of Chroma: A LGBT Literary Arts Journal. She has led creative writing courses and poetry tutorials for Spread the word, Chroma, Body & Soul, She is involved in Shape’s Link Up project providing professional development and mentoring for deaf and disabled writers and artists. Her poems have been included in the anthologies: The Forward Book of Poetry 2008, I am twenty people!, New Writing 15, Oxford Poets Anthology 2007 and New Poetries IV and in the journals: Wasafiri, Poetry Review, Modern Poetry in Translation. Saradha received an Eric Gregory Award for Poetry from The Society of Authors in 2004 and was a featured poet in the Guardian Review article: The New Beats, May 2008.
Venue & Time
African Writers' Evening is usually held on the third Friday every other month starting from March each year at The Poetry Cafe, 22 Betterton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2. In 2008 it will be held mainly on Thursdays for most fo the year.Time: 7.30pm
Cost: Usually £4, occasionally FREE for special events.
What's New
- Ghazi Gheblawi confirmed for July 17
- Hisham Matar et al on Thursday June 12, 2008
- Robyn Scott on May 22, 2008
- Commonwealth Prize News
Past AWE News
- African Writers' Evening listed in BBC recommended events list
- Previous feature, Diana Evans, wins Orange New Writer Prize
- Previous feature, Hisham Matar, published by Viking (Penguin)
A Short History
African Writers' EveningCalendar
