Lots of Big Ideas

LOBI writer, Jade, is published by Penguin

2007-12-09T15:27:00.000+00:00

LOBI writer and Refugee Council volunteer, Jade Amoli-Jackson, is among the sixteen authors chosen by Penguin and the Arts Council to have their story included in an anthology, From There to Here.

The judges, who included novelist Kate Mosse, chose from among 100 entries about the immigrant experience which ranged from the funny and light to the more literary.

You can read more about the anthology in this newspaper article here.

Congratulations Jade! We're very proud of you!

Dream Traveller

2007-04-28T20:21:00.000+00:00

Dream Traveller is a new and mysterious piece of writing by Mark Hill.

Talking about how he came to write this piece, Mark says:

'I read a book by the psychologist, Daniel Nettle, [who believes] that creativity and madness are two sides of the same coin. In the world of paranoia every object or colour can rapidly show itself as an abstract. (I think the same thing happens in the imaginative and creative process.) So this lady [the Dream Traveller] could appear in my dreams or paranoia or creative processes or all of them. She is a source of inspiration, calmness, relief, rescue... indeed, symbolised like a God, but who is she? Where did she come from? She could be someone whom I have loved, an escape from harsh and difficult reality (unfortunately I spent a long time in a difficult condition) or an escape from severe pain (physically and emotionally)...just like a God. But my God is on earth, not in the sky.'

Read Dream Traveller by Mark Hill on our wiki to find out more.

Crimson moon

2007-03-03T23:32:00.000+00:00

I've just been looking out of the little window in the roof above my desk, here in North Yorkshire. The sky is full of stars... and there is a beautiful moon, like a perfectly round pearl, turning from pink to red.

And I'm thinking that here on the night side of the earth there must be millions of people who have stopped whatever they are doing just to look up at this eclipsed moon.

Sure enough, a quick Google search shows live web cams from moon watchers in Iran, Norway, Belgium, Spain, Argentina and Georgia, USA.

In Iran it's called mah; in China it is yuet; and in Tutsi it is mwezi.

At risk of sounding naive, it just strikes me in this moment, as I breathe out under the open window, that there are simply no reasons for us to feel different from one another. Just like our ancestors before us, we're all moon worshippers.

Two beautiful stories by Aziz

2007-02-21T15:37:00.000+00:00

I love Aziz's writing. He creates wonderful blends of the folktales and story-telling traditions of his native Sudan with a wry sense of humour and a passion for justice. Read two new short stories by Aziz here...

New poems by Mark Hill

2007-01-22T13:41:00.000+00:00

Who would believe that, only a couple of years ago, Mark Hill felt unable to write poems and short stories in English?

The talented Iranian poet and novelist told us that his only hope was to find a translator of his many writings in Farsi (Persian). And yet here he is, only a short time later, writing beautiful poems like this one directly into English.

As a poet, I can't imagine writing poems in, say, Italian, the only language in which I can reasonably claim that I have any kind of proficiency. And translation itself seems a mysterious art. (What gets 'translated'? What gets left out? How do things change?)

I can understand the exiled writer's fears about writing in a language which always feels, somehow, one step removed. And yet, this also makes me think about how all language is slippery, impossible to pin down. We feel something inside ourselves and, as we try to put it into words, it has already changed, moved on. Perhaps this continual reaching after language is what making poems is really all about? Perhaps we write poems because we know that our words are somehow never quite enough? In this way, every poem is a small act of courage.

What I notice in the writing on our wiki is that something very interesting and new happens when people get up enough courage to begin to write in a new language.

Take a look at three of Mark's new poems here.

(posted by Sophie)

Tim Malmo blogs his big ideas...

2006-10-31T21:03:00.000+00:00

Tonight, I am pleased and proud to introduce Tim Malmo as LOBI's blogger for the next few days or so...

You can read about Tim and read
some of his writing here.

Over to you, Tim...

The veil

2006-10-13T10:45:00.000+00:00

Amid the current debate about the veil, you might be interested in reading about the experiences and opinion of one Iranian woman, Nasrin Parvaz.

Nasrin writes of her battle with her mother as a young girl living in pre-1978 Iran, in order to win the right to refuse the veil.

A passionate campaigner for human rights and freedom of speech, Nasrin came to the UK in 1993 after a long period of imprisonment and torture by the regime. You can read more of her short stories on her own web site here.

Feeling guilty

2006-10-09T19:48:00.000+00:00

I feel so guilty that I haven't blogged for three weeks.

When I began the Lots Of Big Ideas project I really never imagined that I'd still be blogging eighteen months down the line. My biggest idea was that, by now, I'd have handed this blog over to the people to whom it rightfully belongs - that's the inspiring group of people whose writing you can now read on our emerging LOBI wiki. After all, they are the ones with the stories to tell, not me. It's their voices that people like you want to hear.

What I didn't forsee, though, (or rather what I naively imagined was merely a very small obstacle to be overcome) was just how difficult it is for people to blog or add their writing to a wiki when they don't have regular access to a computer and/or the internet. Although most of us now take it for granted that we can log on at home or work and quickly check our emails or type up a report, people with no permanent home and no right to work just don't have that luxury. And forget about a cup of coffee in an internet cafe... That's just not going to happen.

When I started to suggest to the people I met thay they might write about their everyday lives on the web, I forgot that, really, the last thing on your mind when you don't even have the bus fare to get yourself to your next doctor's appointment or to see your lawyer (that is, if you're lucky enough to have been allocated one and they haven't lost your papers), or when you're standing in endless queues for vouchers or more form-filling, the very last thing on your priority list is to get yourself down to the local library to wait in another queue to get five free minutes on a computer... and, when you do, if you actually muster the energy to do that, which is quite impressive in itself, you'll have just enough time to send a quick email to your mate or Immigration or the person who promised last week that she was going to help you with some housing advice.

And the saddest thing of all is that these are talented, educated people with so much to say, so much to contribute, and I have a few basic ideas about helping them find an audience, and there are lovely people like you out there - and lovely people at The Guardian, for instance - who have been so supportive of what we're trying to do and really, really want to listen. So, in the end, it's all about money. I wish I could give every budding refugee writer I come across a laptop - even just a part-time share in a laptop - and an internet access card, or a voucher for their local wireless zone or internet cafe. If there's anyone out there who might be able to help with that, I would love to hear from you.

New book by refugee writers in South Wales

2006-09-12T10:20:00.000+00:00

In a new anthology of stories and poems just published by Hafan Books, dozens of writers who have come to South Wales to escape hardship and persecution tell of their experiences. The title of the book, The Festival of the Wolf, is also the title of a wonderful poem by one of these writers, Soleïman Adel Guémar.

Read the poem on our wiki here in the original French and in English and Welsh translations.

Everyone involved in this project would also like to invite translations of the poem in other languages. To add your translation - and your voice - to The Festival of the Wolf, simply double-click on the poem page (to open up the editor), scroll down and cut and paste. Don't forget to click 'Save' when you've finished. Thank you to Tom Cheesman and all the Festival writers for this big idea.

New short story by Mark Hill

2006-09-11T17:25:00.000+00:00

Before fleeing his native Iran, Write to Life writer, Mark Hill, had already published a novel in Persian. Now he's writing short stories and poems in English and his latest story, The Tree, is new on our Writing wiki. It's a beautifully controlled piece of story-telling. Read it here.

LOBI featured in new 'Mediablog' from ICAR

2006-09-07T14:59:00.000+00:00

LOBI is featured on a new Mediablog written by Sarah Eldridge at ICAR, the Information Centre about Asylum Seekers and Refugees in the UK.

Sarah's job involves working with journalists to ensure they make maximum use of ICAR's research and data, alerting them to new research and developments. She monitors media coverage of asylum and refugee issues and liaises with politicians, academics and others about the impact of their work.

It's fantastic for LOBI to be featured on this blog which is a very interesting news-driven site providing a useful round-up of current events and issues. Sarah wants to hear what LOBI writers and readers have to say about the issues she's covering and she welcomes your comments. Go and take a look. Thanks for your support, Sarah!

LOBI writers featured in Guardian Unlimited

2006-08-29T13:41:00.000+00:00

If you're visiting us for the first time as a result of the fab feature in The Guardian today, welcome! Please click on 'Writing' in the menu above to read stories by LOBI writers. And please, please do leave your comments. Our writers need your encouragement and support.

You can hear Faraidon and Mark talk about and read from their work on The Guardian Newsdesk podcast here. It's 17 mins 35 secs into the podcast, for anyone who wants to go straight to the LOBI bit.

Writers at the Edinburgh Festival

2006-08-23T11:53:00.000+00:00

LOBI writers from the Write to Life group at the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture are the inspiring authors behind most of the writing currently published on our wiki.

Last week they were among those reading at The Amnesty International Imprisoned Writers series at the Edinburgh Festival.

The talented Hassan Bahri blogs about his experience on the Amnesty Festival blog here.

Writers reading their stories at the Edinburgh Festival

2006-08-14T13:50:00.000+00:00

Writers from the Write to Life group at the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture will be travelling to the Edinburgh Festival to read their work in two special events this weekend.

Firstly, on Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 August, writers will give readings at the Peppers Theatre in Charlotte Square at 5.30pm. The readings are free and tickets are available from the Edinburgh Book Festival's site (although, irritatingly, the online box office wasn't working when I checked just now) or by calling Amnesty International Scotland on 08448 009 088.

On Sunday 20 August at Theatre Workshop in Hamilton Place, some of the writers will also be performing their work in a rehearsed reading with music. Call the Book Festival box office on 0845 373 5888.

Look out for Mark, Faraidon and Nadine, all of whom have work featured on the LOBI writing wiki.

A Palestinian prisoner's story

2006-08-01T13:07:00.000+00:00

This is an innovatively written story by Noureddin, who was born in Jabalia refugee camp in Ghaza.

It's a brave and powerful piece of wriitng that shows the fragmenting and self-alienating experience of being locked up all day for your political beliefs. When I read this story, I wondered about the extreme circumstances in which dignity and political belief might become as important for a person as life itself. An interesting question for the times in which we find ourselves?

A contemporary fable

2006-07-14T20:25:00.000+00:00

I really love this story by Aziz , a writer who fled Sudan in 2001. It reminds me of Aesop's fables - only it's so much better.

I wonder if the slugs in my garden have such incredible stories to tell...

Waiting

2006-07-11T11:17:00.000+00:00

Over the last few years, I have met more and more asylum-seekers who are suffering an interminable waiting period for the Home Office to decide their fate: whether they will be allowed 'leave to remain' or face being sent back to countries from which they have fled as a result of torture and persecution. The endless waiting for a decision - which, in my experience, can be more than three years in many cases - is a kind of torture in itself. It is not unusual for carefully-prepared case histories to disappear - lost by lawyers or government officials - so that the whole process has to begin again.

In the meantime, the people I have met are desperate to get on with their lives, to get a job, to make a contribution to the new society in which they find themselves. They are not 'spongers' who want to sit around in their rooms all day on tax-payers' money. And, if you have ever seen the kind of miserable housing allocated to asylum-seekers, you will appreciate the truth of this more than most.

This story called 'Weekend' by Stephanie, an asylum-seeker from Cameroon, captures perfectly the nightmare of waiting, the interminable cycle of fear, that is seeking asylum. If we ever needed more motivation to call upon our government to review the asylum process - to make it faster, more efficient, more humane - then this story surely provides that.

Two more poems on asylum

2006-07-10T08:06:00.000+00:00

Today I want to introduce you to two poems by Amina.

Amina fled Mogadishu in Somalia after the war had stolen her entire family from her. So far, her application for asylum in the UK has been refused, but she is working with a lawyer to appeal the decision. She writes as a way of trying to cope with the pain of what has happened to her and is a member of the Write to life group at the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture.

I love these two small poems - what they say and what they don't say; what can be read in 'the gap'. Amina will be among the writers whose work will be read at a special event at the Edinburgh International Book Festival in August. More info on this to follow.

New writing

2006-07-06T15:45:00.000+00:00

Apologies for the silence. We've all been busy writing (and I've finally submitted the thesis) so there's lots of new material ready to be posted on the LOBI wiki. Take a look. I particularly love this poem by Mark Hill.

Calling all translators, editors, publishers and Farsi-speakers

2006-05-05T09:29:00.000+00:00

LOBI needs to get in touch with translators, editors and publishers who are interested in working with our writers .

Many of the writers with work featured on the LOBI wiki have so much more to say, but we don't have the resources or contacts to get more of their words and stories translated into English.

Equally, we need to hear from Farsi speakers who might be willing to help digitise some of their existing work and get it online.

If anyone out there can help us to get these important stories - stories about what it's like to experience persecution, exile and asylum - to the people who most need to hear them please, please contact me at: sophienicholls@hotmail.com.

We would be so grateful!

We Media 2006 adopts Lots of Big Ideas

2006-05-04T14:16:00.000+00:00

I like the principles behind the We Media forum to encourage a more collaborative and democratic media, and I applaud Reuters for getting involved with the excellent organisation(?), movement(?), collection of contributors and ideas that is Global Voices.

OK, here's an opportunity for a couple of media giants to jump on an enormous re-branding and PR bandwagon but, equally, it's an opportunity for them to actually put something back, contribute something, make a real difference to the range of voices that get heard and listened to in this increasingly noisy world. So let's encourage them - and watch them - every step of the way.

Mind you, I do think it was a bit cheeky of them to pinch the term 'Big Ideas' for their conference programme:

"Big Idea 1: Media and the Connected Society

Big Idea 4: The Democratisation of Media

Big Idea 5: A Global Call to Action"

But then I guess it just means that they've been reading Lots of Big Ideas, so that can only be good...

Kenyan poet's blog

2006-04-23T11:07:00.000+00:00

Congratulations to Mshairi on her recent win of a Kenya Unlimited Kaybee 2006 award for best poetry blog.

Mshairi (word for 'poet' in Kiswahili) lives in the UK and says that she is: 'dreaming of a time when the cultural, legal and political obstacles that prevent African women attaining economic independence and equality are eradicated.'

Story of refugee from South Africa

2006-04-23T10:46:00.000+00:00

Allan Leas fled Apartheid South Africa in the late '70s. Now he's started telling his story online. The first chapter of Allan's story makes compelling reading and gives a very honest and intelligent insight into what it's like to be a refugee. It's interesting that lots of things about the asylum system haven't really changed since then. In fact, as Allan himself observes, they're probably even worse now.

Check Allan out here.

Allan now works for The European Council on Refugees and Exiles. I'll definitely be reading as he continues to post his story.

Back when we knew everything...

2006-04-19T08:19:00.000+00:00

I failed miserably with the one-word poem idea. It was so hard to come up with that one word, the right word for the way I was feeling in that moment. But it did make me think and got me rolling some old favourites and some new discoveries around on my tongue.

I also had the slight excuse that it was the half-term holidays and Tom's three gorgeous girls came to stay with us. Last Monday, we went to the library to listen to Shonaleigh, a Drut'syla or storyteller from the Yiddish tradition.

For Shonaleigh, story-telling is: 'a way of making the unbearable bearable, it's a way of dealing with life' and something which the Jewish culture has always valued and kept alive.

She told us a wonder tale about the time before each one of us is born, when we each know everything there is to know in the world: why the wind blows and how the earth was made and how to understand the languages of all creatures... And then, just before we are born, an angel presses his finger to our lips: Ssssshhh! He tells us that we must never whisper a word of this knowledge to anyone. And, once we are born into the world, we begin to forget everything that we knew. But we have two lines between our nose and our mouth, where the angel left the imprint of his finger.

But storytellers, being natural chatterboxes, are not so easily hushed. The angel has to press his finger very hard over the lips of a storyteller and that is why you can always spot them - because they have much deeper lines above their mouth than other people.