University of Wolverhampton International Festival

Tomorrow I'll be spinning a storytelling thread which will take the audience from the coalfields of the West Midlands to the red dunes of Namibia.

And I'll read from Kalahari Passage:

“Survival was not counted in years, but in seasons of feast or famine: a child’s fate was linked to the prevailing climatic conditions at the time of its birth. Koba felt she must have been that most unlucky of children – one born in a harrowing drought. She had no one to confirm this: her close family were long dead and she’d spent her childhood thousands of miles from her Kalahari Desert home....”

Free public lecture, followed by open-mic story-telling session. 'Tell Us a Tale', to celebrate the cultural diversity of this English Midlands university.  


Contact me for details or visit the link alongside.

Shortlisted for the New Generation Thinkers 2012 scheme, 
a BBC R3/AHRC initiative.

Over 470 academics applied to have their research projects considered for this radio programme-making workshop. 52 of us have been shortlisted. The producer writes that 'the  workshops are designed not only to allow us to select the 10 finalists for New Generation Thinkers but also to encourage thinking about programme ideas for a non-specialist audience...'

Wish me luck with my 2'30 minute pitch. It takes place on Thursday, March 15, at BBC studios, Salford Quays. Broadcasting about my project is part of my plan to build an appetite for the enhanced e-tale, when the app goes to market. It might also add a dash of  kudos to the project when I apply for funding.
Interior of BBC building in MediaCity
The Liquorice Allsorts interior of one the BBC's new buildings at MediaCity, Salford Quays.
Reading, Pleck library, Walsall, WS2 9RE
22May. 2.30 -3.30 pm
with  fellow-author, Bobby Nayyar .
Further details here.

Launch of Kalahari Passage,  in paperback. (TSP: 2012)

Midlands Arts Centre, Birmingham 
in association with The Writers' Reading Group @ mac
31 May, 19:00 - 21:00
Illustrated talk & reading by author at this FREE event. 

Black History Month talk
Students' Union, 
University of  Wolverhampton
16 October, 1 - 2pm

Picture
San performers at the Kuru Dance Festival in Botswana, Aug. 2012.