BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Counterpoints - ECPv6.15.18//NONSGML v1.0//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH X-WR-CALNAME:Counterpoints X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Counterpoints REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H X-Robots-Tag:noindex X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/London BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:BST DTSTART:20150329T010000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0000 TZNAME:GMT DTSTART:20151025T010000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:BST DTSTART:20160327T010000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0000 TZNAME:GMT DTSTART:20161030T010000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:BST DTSTART:20170326T010000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0000 TZNAME:GMT DTSTART:20171029T010000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:BST DTSTART:20180325T010000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0000 TZNAME:GMT DTSTART:20181028T010000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:BST DTSTART:20190331T010000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0000 TZNAME:GMT DTSTART:20191027T010000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:BST DTSTART:20200329T010000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0000 TZNAME:GMT DTSTART:20201025T010000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:BST DTSTART:20210328T010000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0000 TZNAME:GMT DTSTART:20211031T010000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:BST DTSTART:20220327T010000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0000 TZNAME:GMT DTSTART:20221030T010000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:BST DTSTART:20230326T010000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0000 TZNAME:GMT DTSTART:20231029T010000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:BST DTSTART:20240331T010000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0000 TZNAME:GMT DTSTART:20241027T010000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:BST DTSTART:20250330T010000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0000 TZNAME:GMT DTSTART:20251026T010000 END:STANDARD BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:BST DTSTART:20260329T010000 END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0000 TZNAME:GMT DTSTART:20261025T010000 END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:UTC BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZOFFSETTO:+0000 TZNAME:UTC DTSTART:20210101T000000 END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20251026T110000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20251026T120000 DTSTAMP:20260421T215748 CREATED:20250701T153305Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250902T083740Z UID:10000530-1761476400-1761480000@counterpoints.org.uk SUMMARY:Sabrin Hasbun @ Norwich Book Festival DESCRIPTION:Sabrin Hasbun\, winner of the inaugural Footnote X Counterpoints Writing Prize\, will be speaking at the Norwich Book Festival about her book  Crossing: A Love Story Between Italy and Palestine\,\nThe event that is also part of the Platforma Festival (October 2025) produced by Counterpoints Arts. \nFull details and booking \nA beautiful and compelling family memoir\, Crossing retraces the love story between Sabrin Hasbun’s Palestinian father and Italian mother\, and the life of her half-Italian\, half-Palestinian family from the 1960s to 2020. After the loss of her mother\, Sabrin tries to renegotiate her mixed identity and understand her mother’s choices which led her from an oppressive childhood in a village in Tuscany to finding love and community activism in Palestine. \nThe book was highly praised by the judges of the Footnote X Counterpoints Writing Prize \n‘Vivid\, compassionate\, captivating\, Sabrin’s writing is both deeply rooted in place and culture\, and transcending borders in its universality and humanity.’\n– Elif Shafak \nThis is a story about overcoming grief and what it means to lose not only loved ones\, but also a place in the world and a sense of belonging.\n‘Sabrin’s writing is captivating\, drawing us warmly into a world that is both different and familiar\, that we want to know about. A special and original voice\, one for our times.’\n– Philippe Sands \n‘A moving and tender story about love and identity\, and a meditation on the people who make us who we are.’\n– Dina Nayeri \n \nAbout the author\nSabrin Hasbun was born in Palestine\, spent her childhood in Palestine and Italy\, and now lives in the UK. She holds a PHD in Creative Writing from Bath Spa University and lectures in Creative Writing at Cardiff Met University. \nThe £15\,000 Footnote X Counteproints Writing Prize includes an advance of £5\,000 and a publication agreement with Footnote Press. The prize\, which recognises narrative non-fiction centred around themes of displacement\, identity or resistance\, was developed in association with the Southbank Centre\, and is supported by the John Ellerman Foundation\, Doughty Street Chambers\, Spread the Word and The Bookseller. \nAbout Norwich Book Festival\nNorwich Book Festival (NBF) is a new festival that took place in Norwich\, City of Stories\, for the first time in October 2024. NBF will return 24-31 October 2025\, with eight days of brilliant events. \nThis city-wide festival brings together readers\, writers\, bookshops\, literary organisations\, and other key Norwich institutions to celebrate stories of all kinds. \nNorwich Book Festival is designed to be for every kind of reader\, and brings nationally renowned authors to England’s first UNESCO City of Literature for fantastic events\, readings\, signings\, interactive experiences and much more. The Festival highlights Norwich’s literary heritage\, and contributes to the city’s thriving culture of reading and writing. \nIn 2024\, Norwich Book Festival welcomed 22\,000 visitors across four days\, to six venues in Norwich city centre. For 2025 we will be building upon the successes of 2024\, and expanding the Festival to take place over eight days. \nNorwich Book Festival is presented by The Forum\, alongside key partners National Centre for Writing\, Norfolk County Council – Library and Information Service and University of East Anglia. The Forum is a landmark cultural organisation in the centre of Norwich\, which presents Norwich Science Festival\, Norwich Games Festival\, and coordinates Norfolk Heritage Open Days. The Forum is also home to one of the country’s busiest libraries – Norfolk & Norwich Millennium Library. \nNorwich Book Festival is supported by First Bus East\, and The Hays Travel Foundation. URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/sabrin-hasbun-norwich-book-festival/ LOCATION:The Forum\, Millennium Plain\, Norwich\, NR2 1TF\, United Kingdom CATEGORIES:Literature & Spoken Word,Platforma ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/website-confetti-sabrin-hasbun.jpeg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20251017T100000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20251017T130000 DTSTAMP:20260421T215748 CREATED:20250831T101550Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250831T101550Z UID:10000562-1760695200-1760706000@counterpoints.org.uk SUMMARY:Home from Home Poetry Workshop DESCRIPTION:Join local writer Sue Wallace-Shaddad for a poetry workshop reflecting on the challenges of belonging and consider what makes us who we are\, and how our identities are influenced by others.\nPresented by Suffolk Archives as part of the Platforma Festival (October 2025) produced by Counterpoints Arts. \nFree booking \nAge 16+ \nBeing part of a community and feeling you belong are foundational aspects of human life; they provide stability and a sense of identity. Too often\, reality is rather different. A person may become separated from their community because of personal circumstance\, conflict or war and have to learn how to belong in a different place. People may have links to more than one community through their heritage and feel they have to negotiate who they are\, where they belong. \nIn this workshop you will read and discuss poems and respond to writing prompts drawing on your own experience and that of others. \nPlease bring a photograph or small object to help stimulate your writing. URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/home-from-home-poetry-workshop/ LOCATION:The Hold\, Ipswich\, IP4 1LN\, United Kingdom CATEGORIES:Literature & Spoken Word,Platforma ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/the-hold.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20251016T130000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20251016T140000 DTSTAMP:20260421T215748 CREATED:20250830T195240Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250830T195240Z UID:10000556-1760619600-1760623200@counterpoints.org.uk SUMMARY:Food from Home: An Exploration of Food Memories and Identity DESCRIPTION:From Peterborough Presents: A creative\, participatory workshop exploring connections between food\, memory\, and migration with artist Madhu Manipatruni.\nCo-commissioned and presented as part of the Platforma Festival (October 2025)\, produced by Counterpoints Arts. \nJoin artist Madhu Manipatruni for a creative\, participatory workshop exploring connections between food\, memory\, and migration. Through storytelling we’ll reflect on how food evokes identity\, belonging\, and home. Participants are invited to bring a recipe with personal or cultural significance to share. Together we will create a simple pop-up book that captures memories of food\, recipes and journeys. \nWheelchair accessible room (Howe Room). \nAge 18+ \nFree tea\, coffee and biscuits available \nDelivered by Peterborough Presents and Migrefhealth \nYou can that the opportunity to visit the free Bridging Landscapes II exhibition as part of Platforma Festival \nFull details and free booking \nAbout Platforma in Peterborough \nPlatforma 2025 in Peterborough is produced by 62 Gladstone Street\, a community-rooted arts space in the heart of Peterborough with a particular focus on supporting South Asian and MENA artists. Through exhibitions\, residencies\, and public programmes\, it provides a vital platform for underrepresented voices and fosters meaningful dialogue between artists and the wider community. \nPartners: Counterpoints Arts\, Landmark Theatres\, Peterborough Cultural Alliance\, Metal Peterborough\, Peterborough Presents\, Peterborough Museum\, HELP Charity & the Aziz Foundation \nDedication: “Our programme is dedicated to the innocent men\, women\, and children who have lost their lives\, those who have been displaced by war\, and all those seeking a safe place to call home.” \n62 Gladstone Street’s Platforma programme is supported by Arts Council England as and presented as part of the wider Platforma Festival across the East of England\, produced by Counterpoints Arts. URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/food-from-home-an-exploration-of-food-memories-and-identity/ LOCATION:Peterborough Museum and Art Gallery\, 51 Priestgate\, Peterborough\, PE1 1LF\, United Kingdom CATEGORIES:Literature & Spoken Word,Platforma ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/peterborough-presents.jpeg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20251011T180000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20251011T193000 DTSTAMP:20260421T215748 CREATED:20250812T161610Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250831T092925Z UID:10000544-1760205600-1760211000@counterpoints.org.uk SUMMARY:Hearts\, Bodies & Words: Migration Stories with Sulaiman Addonia  DESCRIPTION:A fascinating in-conversation event about writing the refugee experience with Eritrean-Ethiopian-British novelist Sulaiman Addonia\, whose acclaimed novels offer an insider’s view of life\, love\, and language through the lens of displacement.\nIn partnership with the National Centre for Writing. Presented as part of the Platforma Festival (October 2025) produced by Counterpoints Arts. \nPay what you wish. Suitable for ages 18+ \nFull details and booking \nDrawing on his darkly poetic novels The Seers and Silence Is My Mother Tongue\, Addonia will reflect on the role of intimacy and agency in narratives of migration\, the healing power of art\, and how writing has shaped his personal journey\, from arriving as an unaccompanied minor seeking asylum to becoming a celebrated author and activist. \nSulaiman Addonia’s third novel\, The Seers\, follows the first weeks of a homeless Eritrean refugee in London. Set around a foster home in Kilburn\, in the squares of Bloomsbury where its protagonist sleeps\, and against the backdrop of the labyrinthine bureaucracy of the UK asylum system\, the novel considers intergenerational histories and colonial trauma alongside the psychological and sexual lives of refugees\, insisting that the erotic and intimate side of life is as much a part of someone’s story as land and nations are. \nAbout the author \nSulaiman Addonia is an Eritrean-Ethiopian-British novelist. He spent his early life in a refugee camp in Sudan\, and his early teens in Jeddah\, Saudi Arabia. He arrived in London as an underage unaccompanied refugee without a word of English and went on to earn an MA in Development Studies from SOAS and a BSc in Economics from UCL. \nHis first novel\, The Consequences of Love (Chatto & Windus\, 2008)\, was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize and was translated into more than 20 languages. His second novel\, Silence is My Mother Tongue (Indigo Press\, 2019; Graywolf\, 2020)\, was a Finalist for the Lambda Literary Awards 2021\, the Firecracker (CLMP) Awards\, the inaugural African Literary Award from The Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) in San Francisco\, and longlisted for the 2019 Orwell Prize for Fiction. The Seers (Prototype\, 2024) was longlisted for the Republic of Consciousness Prize 2025 and the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize 2025. \nHis essays appear in LitHub\, Granta\, Freeman’s\, The New York Times\, De Standaard and Passa Porta. He is a contributor to Tales of Two Planets (Penguin\, 2020) and Addis Ababa Noir (Akashic Books\, 2020). A lifelong advocate of the value of creative writing for refugees\, Addonia is also the founder of the Creative Writing Academy for Refugees and Asylum Seekers and the Asmara-Adiss Literary Festival in Exile (AALFIE). \n‘The Seers is an incandescent howl of anti-colonial rage and insatiable desire; a powerful and taboo-breaking love letter to a London made of stories\, and a scathing indictment of the UK asylum system’s ability to break hearts and bodies to pieces again and again.’ — Preti Taneja\, author of Aftermath \n‘The Seers is a knockout. A complex novel of generational history\, trauma\, eroticism…Not only is this a novel that needs to be read now\, its ambition\, humanity\, anger and an unforgettable narrator mark it out as a classic.’ — Niven Govinden\, author of Diary of a Film \nPhoto: Fred Debrock \nAbout the National Centre for Writing \nNational Centre for Writing is a National Portfolio Organisation for Arts Council England and the literature development agency for the East of England based in Norwich\, England’s first UNESCO City of Literature. NCW promotes\, commissions\, and supports new writing\, writers\, and underrepresented voices; inspires communities through the power of writing\, reading and literary translation; nurtures literary talent and has a year-round creative writing learning programme of courses\, workshops\, and resources. Find out more \n  \n \n \n  URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/hearts-bodies-words-migration-stories-with-sulaiman-addonia/ LOCATION:National Centre for Writing\, Dragon Hall\, 115-123 King Street\, Norwich\, NR1 1QE\, United Kingdom CATEGORIES:Literature & Spoken Word,Platforma ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Sulaiman-Addonia_credit-Fred-Debrock-e1754562374760.jpeg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20251010T100000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20251010T130000 DTSTAMP:20260421T215748 CREATED:20250831T102254Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250831T102254Z UID:10000563-1760090400-1760101200@counterpoints.org.uk SUMMARY:Creative Writing Workshop with Amanda Hodgkinson DESCRIPTION:Join award winning writer Dr Amanda Hodgkinson for a creative writing workshop taking inspiration from stories of arrival\, community\, and belonging. As well as from the stories of migration within her novel 22 Britannia Road. \nPresented by Suffolk Archives as part of the Platforma Festival (October 2025) produced by Counterpoints Arts. \nFree booking \nAge 16+ URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/creative-writing-workshop-with-amanda-hodgkinson/ LOCATION:The Hold\, Ipswich\, IP4 1LN\, United Kingdom CATEGORIES:Literature & Spoken Word,Platforma ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Amanda-Hodgkinson-creative-writing.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20251006T180000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20251006T193000 DTSTAMP:20260421T215748 CREATED:20250818T085429Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250818T085546Z UID:10000549-1759773600-1759779000@counterpoints.org.uk SUMMARY:Words of Welcome: In conversation with Marjorie Lotfi and George Szirtes DESCRIPTION:Join award-winning poets Marjorie Lotfi and George Szirtes in conversation with Peggy Hughes of the National Centre for Writing for an evening of readings and reflection on the idea of sanctuary in poetry. \nThis special event marks the culmination of Words of Welcome\, a multilingual poetry exchange delivered by Norfolk Library and Information Service with Creative Arts East and National Centre for Writing. \nLotfi and Szirtes will read some of their work and share their own personal insights to celebrate the launch of a new collection of poems on the theme of ‘welcome’\, written by visitors to Norfolk’s libraries. \nFree booking \nPresented as part of the Platforma Festival (October 2025) produced by Counterpoints Arts. \n  URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/words-of-welcome-in-conversation-with-marjorie-lotfi-and-george-szirtes/ LOCATION:Great Yarmouth Library\, The Place\, 37-39 Market Place\, Great Yarmouth\, NR30 1LX\, United Kingdom CATEGORIES:Literature & Spoken Word,Platforma ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Eventotron-Menu-Image-600-x-600px-1.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20250629T150000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20250629T160000 DTSTAMP:20260421T215748 CREATED:20250520T071030Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250520T071030Z UID:10000506-1751209200-1751212800@counterpoints.org.uk SUMMARY:Babylon Albion DESCRIPTION:A new voice on nature and belonging\, writer and artist Dalia Al-Dujaili delves into the layered ties between land\, myth and identity. \n\n‘Whoever said nature is still has never watched the seasons migrate.’ \nA lyrical and vivid new work\, Babylon Albion offers a poetic reflection on belonging – not only to a place or a people\, but to the stories that bind them together. \nDrawing from Arab and Islamic mythology alongside English folklore and the Christian pastoral tradition\, Al-Dujaili moves between the real and the mythical – from date palms to oak trees\, from Lamassu to unicorns – inviting us to rethink how we connect with place and with the living world around us. \nIt is\, in many ways\, a love letter – to Britain\, to Iraq and to the earth we all share. It gestures towards a different kind of nativeness: one shaped by layers\, by openness\, and by the restless hum of history\, myth\, and movement. \n\n\nDalia Al-Dujaili is an Iraqi-British writer\, editor and producer based in London. She is the online editor of The British Journal of Photography. Her writing has appeared in the Guardian\, Dazed\, GQ and more. She is the founder of The Road to Nowhere Magazine and in 2023 she was the Producer of Refugee Week. She holds an MA Hons in English Literature from the University of Edinburgh. \nSaqi Books is a leading independent publishing house of trade and academic books on the Middle East and North Africa. Founded in London in 1983\, but with its roots in Lebanon\, Saqi’s publishing programme has led to a rigorous reassessment of Arab cultural heritage. Saqi has been at the forefront of establishing Middle Eastern culture in the UK and beyond for more than four decades. \nSaqi’s publishing – encompassing art\, photography and cookery books\, language\, literature and philosophy\, history and current affairs and much more – is recognised all over the world. They offer an independent platform for writers and artists from all places and cultures. Their authors have attained international prominence not only for the quality of their prose\, but for their authoritative and innovative contributions to public debate. \nSaqi was awarded the British Book Industry Award for Diversity in Literature\, the IPG Diversity Award and the Arab British Culture and Society award. \nTickets: £10 +£3.50 booking fee. Concessions 25%. \nBOOK HERE. \nIn partnership with Southbank Centre and Saqi Books. Part of Refugee Week 2025. URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/babylon-albion/ LOCATION:Purcell Room\, Queen Elizabeth Hall\, Southbank Centre\, London SE1 8XX CATEGORIES:Literature & Spoken Word,London Refugee Week,Refugee Week ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Babylon-Albion-at-Southbank-1.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20250605T190000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20250605T200000 DTSTAMP:20260421T215748 CREATED:20250519T235516Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250519T235516Z UID:10000504-1749150000-1749153600@counterpoints.org.uk SUMMARY:Preserving Culture in Conflict DESCRIPTION:As wars are waged across the globe and peoples and nations face existential threat\, how do communities hold on to their culture\, their art\, language\, stories and histories? How do they preserve all that holds them together in the face of devastation and in exile. \nIn the lead up to Refugee Week\, writers from some of the worst affected regions of the recent past and present day come together to discuss their own hopes\, ideas and endeavours to hold onto the foundations of their cultural heritage and identities. In conversation with Sudanese author and activist Yassmin Abdel-Magied are: Eritrean Ethiopian novelist Sulaiman Addonia\, whose most recent novel\, The Seers\, explores the refugee experience and the healing power of art; Ukrainian writer\, historian and Director of the Ukrainian Institute London Dr Olesya Khromeychuk; and Palestinian writer Ahmed Alnaouq\, whose project and book We Are Not Numbers collects the writing and everyday stories of Palestinians in Gaza. \nSulaiman Addonia FRSL is an Eritrean-Ethiopian-British novelist who came to London as an underage unaccompanied refugee. His other novels include The Consequences of Love and Silence is My Mother Tongue\, which have been shortlisted for awards including the Commonwealth Writers Prize and the African Literary Award from MoAD in San Francisco. His essays appear in Lit Hub\, Granta\, Freeman’s\, The New York Times\, De Standaard and Passa Porta. He lives in Brussels where he founded the Creative Writing Academy for Refugees & Asylum Seekers and the Asmara-Addis Literary Festival in Exile (AALFIE).  \nAhmed Alnaouq grew up in Gaza where he earned a bachelor’s degree in English Literature from al-Azher University. Ahmed was the inspiration for\, and original project manager of\, We Are Not Numbers. He later won the UK’s prestigious Chevening scholarship and earned a master’s degree in international journalism from Leeds University. He also serves as advocacy and outreach officer for the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor. Ahmed’s writings have been published by the Gulf News\, New Arab\, and other websites. He is currently based in London. \nDr Olesya Khromeychuk is a historian and writer. She is the author of The Death of a Soldier Told by His Sister (2022). Khromeychuk has written for The New York Times\, The New York Review of Books\, The Guardian\, Der Spiegel\, Prospect and The New Statesman\, and has delivered a TED talk on ‘What the World Can Learn From Ukraine’s Fight for Democracy’. She has taught the history of East-Central Europe at several British universities and is currently the Director of the Ukrainian Institute London. \nYassmin Abdel-Magied is a Sudanese diaspora writer\, broadcaster and award-winning social advocate. Her books include two middle grade novels\, You Must Be Layla and Listen\, Layla\, which she is now adapting for screen\, and Talking About a Revolution\, an urgent critique of contemporary culture and Stand Up and Speak Out Against Racism\, a practical guide for children. Her critically acclaimed essays have been published widely\, including in the bestselling It’s Not About The Burqa and The New Daughters of Africa. She is a Trustee of The London Library. \nTickets: \n\n\n\n\nStandard Tickets – £12.50Excluding fees\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nStandard Tickets for under 30s/unwaged – £8 Excluding fees\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLondon Library Member Tickets – £10 Excluding fees\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nLondon Library Member Tickets for under 30s/unwaged – £6 Excluding fees\n\n\n\n\n\nBOOK HERE \nBooks by all the speakers will be available to buy at the event and online from Hatchards. \nNB This event will take place in person at The London Library. Doors (and the bar) will open at 6.30pm for a 7pm start.  \nPlease see the Library’s  Event Access Guidelines before you arrive. \nLondon Library events are subject to Terms & Conditions URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/preserving-culture-in-conflict/ LOCATION:London Library\, 14 St James’s Square\, London SW1Y 4LG CATEGORIES:Literature & Spoken Word,London Refugee Week,Refugee Week ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/London-Library-16-x-10.5-cm.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20250531T190000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20250531T220000 DTSTAMP:20260421T215748 CREATED:20250513T095140Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250513T095814Z UID:10000500-1748718000-1748728800@counterpoints.org.uk SUMMARY:So Many Ways To Move DESCRIPTION:A powerful performance by poetry and electronic music duo chamæleon\, who explore the relationship between art and activism based on their digital platform An Artist’s Manual Against Apartheid. Co-commissioned and supported by Counterpoints\, this event takes place during Shubbak Festival 2025. \nWeaving together sound\, text and imagery\, this multi-media performance offers a journey inward—toward both the self and the collective—framed by the urgent realities of today. The performance reflects on resistance in its many forms\, confronting complicity in a call to recognise and harness our collective strength against oppressive systems. \nchamæleon is a poetry and electronic music duo formed by Palestinian poet Farah Chamma and Brazilian music producer LIEV\, exploring the intersections between spoken word and musical textures. chamæleon dives into the unknown\, the search for belonging\, and the discovery of one’s identity. \nThrough this performance\, Farah & Liev navigate the intersections of the personal and the political. In it they re-assert the power of art—not only to reflect the times but to move with them. They see art as a force of transformation\, a channel for resistance and renewal. \nTickets: \nPrice: £7 (£8.41 with service fee) \nBOOK HERE \nRunning time: 3 hours URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/so-many-ways-to-move/ LOCATION:Kunstraum\, 21 Roscoe Street\, London\, EC1Y 8PT CATEGORIES:Literature & Spoken Word,Music,Performance & Dance ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Protest-e1747130056396.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20250512T193000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20250512T210000 DTSTAMP:20260421T215748 CREATED:20250423T115531Z LAST-MODIFIED:20250507T161642Z UID:10000489-1747078200-1747083600@counterpoints.org.uk SUMMARY:Sabrin Hasbun - London Book Launch DESCRIPTION:Join us at Palestine House in London for the launch of Sabrin Hasbun’s new book\, Crossing: A love story between Italy and Palestine\, winner of the inaugural Footnote X Counterpoints Writing Prize. \nSabrin will be in conversation with Hazem Jamjoum\, a Palestinian educator\, translator and editor. \nReserve your free place \nA beautiful and compelling family memoir\, Crossing retraces the love story between Sabrin Hasbun’s Palestinian father and Italian mother\, and the life of her half-Italian\, half-Palestinian family from the 1960s to 2020. After the loss of her mother\, Sabrin tries to renegotiate her mixed identity and understand her mother’s choices which led her from an oppressive childhood in a village in Tuscany to finding love and community activism in Palestine. \n‘Vivid\, compassionate\, captivating\, Sabrin’s writing is both deeply rooted in place and culture\, and transcending borders in its universality and humanity.’\n– Elif Shafak \nThis is a story about overcoming grief and what it means to lose not only loved ones\, but also a place in the world and a sense of belonging.\n‘Sabrin’s writing is captivating\, drawing us warmly into a world that is both different and familiar\, that we want to know about. A special and original voice\, one for our times.’\n– Philippe Sands \n‘A moving and tender story about love and identity\, and a meditation on the people who make us who we are.’\n– Dina Nayeri \nAbout the author:\nSabrin Hasbun was born in Palestine\, spent her childhood in Palestine and Italy\, and now lives in the UK. She holds a PHD in Creative Writing from Bath Spa University and lectures in Creative Writing at Cardiff Met University. \nThe £15\,000 Footnote X Counteproints Writing Prize includes an advance of £5\,000 and a publication agreement with Footnote Press. The prize\, which recognises narrative non-fiction centred around themes of displacement\, identity or resistance\, was developed in association with the Southbank Centre\, and is supported by the John Ellerman Foundation\, Doughty Street Chambers\, Spread the Word and The Bookseller. \nFor further info please contact Hope Ndaba on hope.ndaba@bonnierbooks.co.uk URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/sabrin-hasbun-london-book-launch/ LOCATION:Palestine House\, London\, United Kingdom CATEGORIES:Literature & Spoken Word ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/crossing-copy.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20240621T190000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20240621T220000 DTSTAMP:20260421T215748 CREATED:20240604T063320Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240709T144534Z UID:10000429-1718996400-1719007200@counterpoints.org.uk SUMMARY:Bosla Arts' Open-Mic Night: Solidarity Sessions DESCRIPTION:Come and join Bosla Arts for an evening of music\, poetry\, and more based on the theme of solidarity to celebrate London Refugee Week. Open to all! They want to hear a song\, poem\, spoken word\, stand up comedy\, or anything else the audience feels like sharing. And if the audience just wants to listen that’s fine too! \nBosla Arts is an arts platform focused on sharing and supporting art-activists worldwide\, while drawing on their work to raise awareness to the public. They do this through an art residency\, events\, art magazine\, and art podcast – bringing together artists\, activists\, and social change makers from all over the world. \nBook your tickets HERE. \nImage credit: Paul Gilbey \n  URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/bosla-arts-open-mic-night-solidarity-sessions/ LOCATION:Yorkton Workshops\, 1-3 Yorkton St\, London\, London\, E2 8NH\, United Kingdom CATEGORIES:Literature & Spoken Word,London Refugee Week,Music,Performance & Dance ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/LRW-OVERLAY-WEBSITE-2-1.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20240418T100000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20240504T160000 DTSTAMP:20260421T215748 CREATED:20240313T200433Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240709T144535Z UID:10000403-1713434400-1714838400@counterpoints.org.uk SUMMARY:Voice Notes at New Art Exchange DESCRIPTION:Voice Notes is an international art project exploring the role of the telephone in experiences of exile. Featuring recorded phone calls left by young refugees and asylum seekers from around the world\, the exhibition investigates displaced voices\, creative networks\, transnational communication\, and different modes of talking and listening across cultures. \nThis exhibition has been co-created with young people who have fled war\, violence\, conflict and persecution and yet who continue to offer stories of solidarity and hope. At the heart of the installation are multidirectional ultrasonic speakers that are positioned to create a network of intersecting telephone messages. As visitors move around the gallery\, they tap into stories of home and belonging\, landscape and loss\, and communication and connection. In turn\, visitors are invited to shape new ways of thinking about sanctuary by contributing their own voice notes as part of our evolving telephonic soundscape. \nPresented by New Arts Exchange\, Voice Notes is led by poet Dr Sarah Jackson\, Associate Professor in Modern and Contemporary Writing at Nottingham Trent University\, in collaboration with acclaimed sound artist and founder of the Space21 international festival Hardi Kurda\, and refugee arts organisation Compass Collective\, whose recent work includes the award-winning professional development arts programme Next Steps. The project is supported by international partners\, including New Art Exchange\, Counterpoints Arts\, Refugee Roots\, Nottingham UNESCO City of Literature\, Slemani UNESCO Cities of Literature and STEP. It is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/voice-notes-at-new-art-exchange/ LOCATION:New Art Exchange\, 39-41 Gregory Boulevard\, Nottingham\, 6BE UK\, United Kingdom CATEGORIES:Literature & Spoken Word ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Voice-Notes-e1710360384958.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20240313T134500 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20240313T144500 DTSTAMP:20260421T215748 CREATED:20240116T142636Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240709T144535Z UID:10000392-1710337500-1710341100@counterpoints.org.uk SUMMARY:Publishing into the Hostile Environment DESCRIPTION:This event is organised in collaboration with English Pen\, as part of the London Book Fair. \nAnti-immigration rhetoric is pervasive across all sectors of British society. This panel will discuss this ‘hostile environment’ and how its policies impact writers and creatives from refugee and migrant backgrounds\, how publishers can best support their writers and staff\, and how the books they commission and publish can better represent and platform the diversity of stories and voices. \nThe panel features writers Dina Nayeri and Awet Fissehaye\, and Vidisha Biswas from Footnote Press. The conversation is chaired by our co-chair\, Naima Khan. \nRead more here. URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/publishing-into-the-hostile-environment/ LOCATION:London Book Fair\, Olympia London\, London\, W14 8UX\, United Kingdom CATEGORIES:Learning,Literature & Spoken Word ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/IMG_5337.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20240211T190000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20240211T203000 DTSTAMP:20260421T215748 CREATED:20240108T121214Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240709T144536Z UID:10000389-1707678000-1707683400@counterpoints.org.uk SUMMARY:Footnote x Counterpoints Writing Prize Readings DESCRIPTION:Sabrin Hasbun\, Dariia Lysiuk\, Roxana Shirazi\, Steve Tasane and Simon Weisz have been shortlisted for the inaugural Footnote x Counterpoints Writing Prize\, for writers from refugee or migrant backgrounds. \nThe five shortlisted authors will read and discuss their work at a live event hosted by the Southbank Centre on 11th February as part of the literature spring season 2024. The event will be chaired by poet and performer Arji Manuelpillai. \nThe writers will reflect on themes of displacement\, identity and resistance both in their selected works and more broadly \nHasbun is in the running with Wait For Her and Lysiuk is shortlisted for Notes of a Guilty Survivor. Shirazi’s Dead Iranian Girl and Tasane’s Spitting Bricks are also on the shortlist\, alongside Weisz’s Resolution. \nThe £15\,000 prize was set up to showcase and celebrate exceptional non-fiction writers from refugee and migrant backgrounds\, and to shine a new light on some of the most pertinent topics shaping our lives and society. \nThe winner and two runners-up will be announced in March\, selected by a judging panel comprising celebrated writers Elif Shafak\, Philippe Sands and Dina Nayeri. \nBook tickets now URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/footnote-x-counterpoints-writing-prize-readings/ LOCATION:Southbank Centre\, Belvedere Road\, London\, SE1 8XX CATEGORIES:Literature & Spoken Word ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/webp:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/counterpoints-writing-prize-readings.webp END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20240204T160000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20240204T180000 DTSTAMP:20260421T215748 CREATED:20240124T163011Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240709T144536Z UID:10000395-1707062400-1707069600@counterpoints.org.uk SUMMARY:432 NO-MAD'S x Counterpoints DESCRIPTION:Join us at Aspex Portsmouth for an afternoon of poetry performances followed by a panel discussion supporting refugees and asylum seekers focused under the theme of ‘progression’. \nPerformers include: Jackson Davies\, Addy\, DarkStarGraver and Seema. \nThis event is a partnership project between Counterpoints Arts and art collective 432 NO-MAD’S. \nBooking link URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/432-no-mads-x-counterpoints/ LOCATION:Aspex Gallery\, The Vulcan Building Gunwharf Quays\, Portsmouth\, PO1 3BF\, United Kingdom CATEGORIES:Learning,Literature & Spoken Word ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/https___cdn.evbuc_.com_images_673836869_36684856936_1_original.jpeg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20230625T200000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20230625T213000 DTSTAMP:20260421T215748 CREATED:20230517T081603Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240709T144959Z UID:10000030-1687723200-1687728600@counterpoints.org.uk SUMMARY:Notes on Compassion: Words\, Music and Us DESCRIPTION:Image: Sukina Noor \nMarking the 25th year of Refugee Week\, an evening of music and spoken word hosted by comedian Fatiha El-Ghorri responds to this year’s theme\, Compassion. \nWe are bringing together poets and musicians to share their responses on Compassion\, helping us create a safe and shared space of community in which to unpick what compassion means in today’s political\, social\, economic and cultural context\, and how important it is to extend it beyond our own networks. \nDo we live in times where acting with compassion may feel like a radical act? How can we grow compassion by doing small\, everyday acts that have potential to affect and support people outside our immediate circles of friends and family. \nSee poetry performances from Vanessa Kissule\, AWATE\, Momtaza Mehri \, FaceSoul\, Rachel Long and Sukina Noor commissioned by Counterpoints Arts and Southbank Centre\, an original choral performance from Woven Gold\, and musicians still to be announced. \nUnderneath Fatiha El-Ghorri‘s colourful hijab is a mind full of cutting observations and engaging witticism of the life and times of a British Muslim woman. By sharing stories of her own experiences – which are funny\, thought-provoking and honest – El-Ghorri smashes the Muslim stereotypes and challenges people to reconsider what they know about Islam\, Muslims and Muslim women especially. \nVanessa Kisuule is a writer and performer based in Bristol. She has won over ten slam titles including The Roundhouse Slam 2014\, Hammer and Tongue National Slam 2014 and the Nuoryican Poetry Slam. She has been featured on BBC iPlayer\, Radio 1\, and Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour\, Blue Peter\, Don’t Flop and TEDx in Vienna. She has appeared at an array of literary and music festivals and was Glastonbury Festival’s Resident Poet in 2019. She has been invited to perform all over the world from Belgium to Brazil to Bangladesh. \nRachel Long is a poet and the founder of Octavia – Poetry Collective for Womxn of Colour\, which is housed at Southbank Centre\, London. She was shortlisted for Young Poet for Laureate for London in 2014 and awarded a Jerwood/Arvon Foundation mentorship in 2015. Rachel has run poetry workshops for The Poetry School\, The Serpentine Galleries and at University of Oxford. She is Assistant Tutor to Jacob Sam La-Rose on the Barbican Young Poets programme 2015-present. \nAWATE is a critically acclaimed rapper\, writer\, producer and performer focused on stories at the intersection of race\, class and surrealism – with a dose of humour. Awate’s 2018 debut album\, Happiness was supported by BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra\, Spotify\, Noisey\, MOBO x Help Musicians UK and called a\, “British rap masterpiece” by Trench Magazine. \nMomtaza Mehri is a poet and independent researcher working across criticism\, translation\, anti-disciplinary research practices\, education\, and radio. She is a former Young People’s Poet Laureate for London and Frontier-Antioch Fellow at Antioch University (Los Angeles). Her writing has appeared in the likes of POETRY\, Granta\, Vogue\, The Guardian\, Bidoun\, and The White Review. A former Columnist-in-Residence at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s Open Space\, she has also completed residencies at St. Paul’s Cathedral and the British Library. \nSukina Noor is a poet\, spoken-word artist\, playwright\, workshop facilitator and educator\, artistic curator\, writer and public speaker. She has toured extensively across UK\, Europe\, America and Africa performing\, delivering poetry workshops\, partaking in panel discussions and delivering lectures. \nFaisal Salah\, known by his stage name ‘Facesoul’ is a London-based artist born in East Africa. He moved with his family to the UK at the age of 2 and has been singing for as long as he has can remember. At 19 he began travelling the world\, performing for different communities and sharing his story through his voice. Faisal’s upbringing with traditional Islamic roots have been paramount to forming his truth and identity and his sense of spirituality is imbued in his practice. When he started performing at 15\, he would combine his love of singing\, poetry and storytelling as a tool to escape from the constraints of inner city living\, and aspire for something better.   \nKaia Laurielle is a singer/songwriter from south-east London whose music is a blend of electronic\, alternative soul and R&B. As a champion for Black love\, her lyrics tell the stories of those forgotten or overshadowed. \nWoven Gold is a choir of refugees and asylum seekers from around the world\, performing original songs and music written together\, or traditional music from their own countries. They are led by professional musicians who give their time.  The richness\, energy and power of Woven Gold comes from the combination of a close sense of family and shared experience\, and the range of musical cultures – from Burma\, Congo\, India\, Iran\, Kurdistan\, Nigeria\, Pakistan and Uganda\, making Woven Gold a community choir like no other. \n  \nTickets – £10 \n  \n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n Kaia\n \n \n \n \n \n Sukina\n \n \n \n \n \n AWATE\n \n \n \n \n \n Rachel\n \n \n \n \n \n Vanessa\n \n \n \n \n \n Fatiha\n \n \n \n \n \n Momtaza URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/notes-on-compassion-words-music-and-us/ LOCATION:Queen Elizabeth Hall Foyer\, Southbank Centre\, Belvedere Road\,\, London\, SE1 8XX CATEGORIES:Literature & Spoken Word,Music ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Sukina.imgp2885-scaled-1.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20221013T200000 DTEND;TZID=UTC:20221013T220000 DTSTAMP:20260421T215748 CREATED:20220923T114455Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240709T145000Z UID:10000014-1665691200-1665698400@counterpoints.org.uk SUMMARY:About Us! Artists’ Scratch Showcase: South West Edition DESCRIPTION:Presented by Counterpoints Arts and Dartington Trust\, and curated by artist and producer AWATE\, the About Us! Artists’ Scratch Showcase: South West Edition is a sharing and networking event for creatives based across the South West.  \nThe About Us! Artists’ Scratch Showcase is curated and initiated by AWATE\, inspired by a similar platform developed by TekstLab (Oslo)\, and developed by Counterpoints Arts in partnership with Southbank Centre. It was created as a safe space to uplift and connect artistic experimenters that identify as Black\, POC\, and/or with lived experience of migration or displacement. The South West Edition is a public event held as part of Counterpoints Arts’ Pop Culture & Social Change Retreat at Dartington Hall (12-14 October)\, bringing together a group of 50 change-making entertainment producers\, artists\, cultural innovators\, activists and philanthropists committing to building long-term narrative power for Black\, POC\, migrant and refugee communities. \nEach commissioned artist performs or presents one piece of work to a public audience\, including creative peers. After each performance\, the artists and audience will discuss any shared or contrasting themes\, talk about craft\, as well as networking and industry advice.  \nArtists may include writers\, musicians\, dancers\, filmmakers\, designers\, architects (or anything between!). Previous showcases have included comedians\, screenwriters\, folk singers and performance art.  \nWhether or not you are an artist\, everyone is invited to join us for an inspiring and interactive evening! \nIf you are an artist or creative interested in showcasing your work\, you can apply here by midnight 2nd October. All selected artists receive a fee plus travel expenses.  \nDetails\n\nThursday\, 13th October\, 8-10pm\nDartington’s’ Great Hall\, Totnes\, Devon TQ9 6EL\nPay what you can (suggested £5-10)\nAges 16+\, wheelchair accessible (for further accessibility requirements\, email boxoffice@dartington.org)\n\nBOOK ONLINE VIA DARTINGTON TRUST \n// \nAWATE is a visionary rapper and producer from Eritrea. Raised in Camden\, his mix of vintage sounds provided by collaborator\, Turkish Dcypha\, and intricate lyrics with triumphantly psychedelic melodies have had acclaim from Complex\, Noisey and Spotify. \nCounterpoints Arts is a leading UK organisation in the field of arts\, migration and cultural change. It’s mission is to support and produce the arts by and about migrants and refugees\, seeking to ensure that their contributions are recognized and welcomed within British arts\, history and culture. The Pop Culture and Social Change Retreat 2022 is produced through it’s PopChange Initiative\, exploring how to harness entertainment to shift narratives about migration and displacement. \nDartington Trust\, founded in 1925\, is a thriving visitor destination and charity supporting learning in arts\, ecology and social justice\, set on a beautiful 1\,200 acre estate in the South Devon countryside. Throughout its history it has drawn leading artists and thinkers including Bernard Leach\, composer Igor Stravinsky\, cellist Jacqueline du Pre\, musician Ravi Shankar\, playwright Bernard Shaw and environmental activist Vandana Shiva. URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/about-us-artists-scratch-showcase-south-west-edition/ CATEGORIES:Literature & Spoken Word,Music,Performance & Dance ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/MCH_1VA1649-Counterpoints-RW2022-547-e1662479162562-1820x1087-1.jpeg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20220626T120000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20220626T160000 DTSTAMP:20260421T215748 CREATED:20220517T112359Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240709T145001Z UID:10000064-1656244800-1656259200@counterpoints.org.uk SUMMARY:Artists' Scratch Showcase DESCRIPTION:Are you a creative looking for a safe space to share your ideas? Are you looking for inspiration for your next creative project?\n  \nWhether or not you’re ready to embrace the name ‘artist’\, if you’re making work or thinking about it\, this event is for you. \nSign up to one or both of our two sessions to present your work (or work in progress) and engage in discussions with a room full of like-minded artistic experimenters. \nMusic\, film\, comedy\, drama\, improv\, visual art and everything in between is welcome! \nThe event features guest showcases in collaboration with Counterpoints partners at TekstLab\, Oslo. \nFull running orders to be updated when the presenters have been selected. \n  \nFree\, but ticketed. For ages 16+. \n  \n\n\n\n\nApply here to be featured in this showcase by telling us a bit about you and your work.  This event is split into two sessions with different presentations in each. Please book a ticket for both sessions if you want to attend both. \nThis event takes place on the Queen Elizabeth Hall stage. Please get in touch if you need level access. For more info email Southbank Centre at hello@southbankcentre.co.uk \n  URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/artists-scratch-showcase/ CATEGORIES:Literature & Spoken Word,Multi-Art Form,Music ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/55350023-scaled-1.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20220625T193000 DTEND;TZID=UTC:20220625T193000 DTSTAMP:20260421T215748 CREATED:20220517T111527Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240709T145002Z UID:10000015-1656185400-1656185400@counterpoints.org.uk SUMMARY:Awate Presents: About Us! DESCRIPTION:Music\, films\, comedy and multimedia projects are presented by paradigm-shifting artists from around the world in an event led by Awate.\n  \nThe Eritrean-born\, Camden-raised wordsmith\, poet\, rapper\, producer and activist curates this event as part of Refugee Week 2022. \nAwate has past commissions or residencies with The Roundhouse\, The British Library Sound Archive\, Tate Archives\, PRS Foundation\, British Council and Counterpoints Arts. \nFull line-up to be announced. \nAges 16+. Approximate run time: 105 mins. \n  \nTickets: \n£5 standard entry. Excludes £3.50 booking fee. \nConcessions 25%. Limited availability. Read about concessions. Tickets can only be sold through the Southbank Centre and our authorised agents\, and can’t be resold. You can return your tickets to the Southbank Centre for a credit voucher up to 48 hours before the event. Tickets resold on any third-party platforms will become invalid. URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/awate-presents-about-us/ CATEGORIES:Literature & Spoken Word,Music ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Awate-British-Museum-1.jpeg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20220624T193000 DTEND;TZID=UTC:20220624T193000 DTSTAMP:20260421T215748 CREATED:20220517T105658Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240709T145004Z UID:10000016-1656099000-1656099000@counterpoints.org.uk SUMMARY:Passage: New Writing on Displacement and Migration DESCRIPTION:Hear from fresh new writers and established authors as they discuss their work on the themes of displacement and migration.\n  \nThis event features a line-up of artists and writers at the forefront of driving social change through their storytelling. \nSpeakers include Helen Benedict\, British American novelist and journalist\, is best known for her writings on war and social injustice. Her new non-fiction book\, Map of Hope and Sorrow\, co-authored with Syrian writer\, Eyad Awwadawnan\, released in June 2022\, tells the stories of today’s refugees trapped in Greece. \nAnia Bas grew up in Poland and moved to the UK over 15 years ago to pursue her career in the arts. She has worked with the Tate\, the Whitechapel Gallery\, Eastside Projects and others as an artist and arts organiser. She graduated from the Faber Academy in 2018 and Odd Hours is her first novel. \nThis event is also in collaboration with Footnote. \nLaunching in spring 2022\, Footnote is a disruptive new publisher focusing on migration\, identity and marginalised knowledge and experience. \n  \nTickets: £5 standard entry\, excludes booking fee. \nConcessions 25%. Limited availability. Read about concessions. Tickets can only be sold through the Southbank Centre and our authorised agents\, and can’t be resold. You can return your tickets to the Southbank Centre for a credit voucher up to 48 hours before the event. Tickets resold on any third-party platforms will become invalid. \nFor ages 16+.  Approximate run time: 90 mins. URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/passage-new-writing-on-displacement-and-migration/ CATEGORIES:Literature & Spoken Word ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/NMB2019_FRI_MIKEMASSARO-0292-scaled-1.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20210617T163000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20210617T163000 DTSTAMP:20260421T215748 CREATED:20210606T131218Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240709T145414Z UID:10000176-1623947400-1623947400@counterpoints.org.uk SUMMARY:Refugee Week Family Event: Michael Rosen and Sita Brahmachari DESCRIPTION:Join authors Michael Rosen and Sita Brahmachari in conversation with Sanchita Basu De Sarkar at this free online event for Refugee Week\, recommended for children aged nine and over. \nThe two authors will share stories and poems inspired by people on the move and answer questions from audience members of all ages. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMuch-loved author Michael Rosen writes with frankness and heart about some of humanity’s most difficult experiences\, including in ‘Many Different Kinds of Love’\, written after his near-death experience with Covid-19\, and ‘The Missing’\, a study of the fate of his father’s uncles in World War Two. \nHis children’s books about migration include ‘On the Move’\, a deeply personal poetry collection about migration and displacement. Rosen features in the ‘We Cannot Walk Alone’ portrait series\, shot by acclaimed photographer Misan Harriman for Refugee Week 2021. \nSita Brahmachari’s upcoming book ‘Swallow’s Kiss’ is an uplifting story that explores the common threads that connect our communities\, inspired by Barhmachari’s experience as artist-in-residence at the Islington Centre for Refugees and Migrants\, along with the book’s illustrator Jane Ray. Swallow’s Kiss is published by Pop Up on 24 June. \nSanchita Basu De Sarkar is the owner of the Children’s Bookshop in Muswell Hill. \nThis event is hosted by Counterpoints Arts and Schools of Sanctuary\, with support from BookTrust. \nIt will be held on Zoom and only the speakers will be visible. A link will be sent out shortly before the event. \nWe recommend that children are accompanied by an adult. \nAbout the hosts: \nCounterpoints Arts is a leading national organisation in the field of arts\, migration and cultural change. It supports and produces the arts by and about migrants and refugees\, seeking to ensure that their contributions are recognised and welcomed. Counterpoints Arts coordinates Refugee Week in the UK\, an annual festival celebrating the contributions of refugees\, 14-20 June. \nSchools of Sanctuary is a growing network of more than 300 primary and secondary schools committed to supporting the thousands of young people seeking sanctuary in the UK. Schools of Sanctuary is part of City of Sanctuary UK. \nBookTrust is the UK’s largest reading charity and reaches millions of children every year with books\, resources and support to help develop a love of reading. URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/refugee-week-family-event-michael-rosen-and-sita-brahmachari/ CATEGORIES:Literature & Spoken Word ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/RW_Rosen_Brahmachari_fb_twitter.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20200710T120000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20200710T120000 DTSTAMP:20260421T215748 CREATED:20200709T110522Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240709T145416Z UID:10000236-1594382400-1594382400@counterpoints.org.uk SUMMARY:Caroline Bergvall: Night & Refuge DESCRIPTION:We are delighted to share this film of Caroline Bergvall’s Night & Refuge event\, a public collaborative writing event between five UK-based poets\, which took place over Zoom during the Covid-19 lockdown. \nThis unique event happened online on 20 May 2020\, from 6-9pm BST\, and spanned many  time-zones. The short film presented here\, edited in a visually and sonically startling way\, shows the five poets exchanging thoughts and processes while developing the shared poem. Curator and host-poet Caroline Bergvall had set a brief loosely inspired by the tradition of Renga – an ancient and strict rule-bound Japanese form of collective writing. The motifs to be explored followed the phases of the night and asked: what is the night\, what is refuge\, how does one seek refuge during this pandemic confinement? \nMany other writers started joining in spontaneously with comments and lines on Twitter at #nightandrefuge. They slowly became part of the event. The writing in progress was made visible to the poets and audiences alike through a Digital Writing Desk developed with visual artist Mays Albeik. \nFilmed and edited by Andrew Delaney. \nSound design by Jamie Hamilton. \nProduced by C. Bergvall. \nA Sonic Atlas Project. \n \nThe Poets: \nVahni Capildeo is a Trinidadian Scottish writer working on their eighth full-length book (their fourth from Carcanet Press). Recent collaborations include Light Site Poetry with Andre Bagoo\, linked to Capildeo’s Light Site (Periplum\, forthcoming 2020). Capildeo is Writer in Residence at the University of York and a Seamus Heaney Centre fellow at Queen’s University\, Belfast. \nWill Harris is a poet and critic from London. He has had work published in The Guardian\, The White Review\, the TLS\, and the LRB. He was the co-editor of the Spring 2020 issue of The Poetry Review. His debut collection RENDANG (Granta) is the Poetry Book Society Choice for Spring. \nLeo Boix is a Latinx bilingual poet born in Argentina who lives and works in the UK. Boix has been included in many anthologies\, such as Ten: Poets of the New Generation (Bloodaxe) and Un Nuevo Sol: British Latinx Writers (flipped eye). He is a fellow of The Complete Works Program and the recipient of the Keats-Shelley Prize 2019. Boix debut collection will be published by Chatto & Windus (Penguin/Random House) in 2021. \nNisha Ramayya grew up in Glasgow and is currently based in London. Her debut collection States of the Body Produced by Love (2019) is published by Ignota Books. Other publications include ‘Notes on a Means without End’ (2020) in Poetry Review; In Me the Juncture (2019) published by Sad Press; Threads (2018)\, a critical-creative pamphlet co-authored with Sandeep Parmar and Bhanu Kapil\, published by clinic. \n* \nMays Albaik is an artist whose interdisciplinary visual practice has literary writing at its heart and includes performance\, video\, and spatial installations. Holds an MFA from Rhode Island School of Design; a B.Arch from the American University of Sharjah. She has participated in exhibitions including Qala 0.8900 (Darat Al Funun\, Jordan); Glass Triennial (Woods Gerry Gallery\, USA); Sawt 2a (Grey Noise\, Dubai); Mind the Gap (Tashkeel\, Dubai)\, and Change Coordinates + Someone Else (1971 Design Space\, Sharjah). \n* \nCaroline Bergvall – Initiator and Host-poet of the event. Writer\, artist\, and performer who works across art-forms\, media and languages. The recipient of many international commissions\, she is a noted exponent of writing and performance methods adapted to contemporary audiovisual and contextual situations\, as well as multilingual identities and translocal exchange. Awarded the Heidsieck Art Literary Prize\, Centre Pompidou\, Paris (2017). Cholmondeley Award for Poetry for her book and project Drift (2017). Latest book Alisoun Sings (2019). Ongoing cycle of live works\, Sonic Atlas (2016-). \nNight & Refuge is a project within Bergvall’s ongoing cycle of interdisciplinary perfomances Sonic Atlas\, which explores languages in movement and in transformation through speech\, sounds\, songwork in a range of performative situations. It began with Ragadawn (2016)\, staged at daybreak in locations as diverse as Marseille and the Isle of Skye\, and continued with Conference of the Birds (2018) a discussion soundwork first presented at the Whitstable Biennale. \nYou can find out more about the project\, including the many twitter contributions\, on Caroline Bergvall’s website here: http://carolinebergvall.com/work/night-refuge/ \nHosted by event partners Cement Fields & Counterpoints Arts. Co-hosted by Festival of Hope\, Versopolis. \nThis event was made possible with funding from Arts Council England and support from Cement Fields and Counterpoints Arts. URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/caroline-bergvall-night-refuge/ CATEGORIES:Literature & Spoken Word,Multi-Art Form ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/NightRefuge_FilmStill_CarolineBergvall-scaled.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20200617T190000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20200617T203000 DTSTAMP:20260421T215748 CREATED:20200608T085710Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240709T145418Z UID:10000245-1592420400-1592425800@counterpoints.org.uk SUMMARY:Imagine Anthology Q&A DESCRIPTION:Writers around the globe are uniting this Refugee Week to imagine a brave new world in a new digital collaboration: the Imagine Anthology. \nJoin us for a Q&A with authors featured in the Imagine Anthology including Dina Nayeri\, Vesna Maric and Tim Finch. Chaired by Erica Wagner. \nAbout the Imagine Anthology \nThe Anthology\, commissioned by Counterpoints Arts\, features a compilation of non-fiction\, flash fiction\, poetry and essays written by writers such as Mohsin Hamid\, Edmund de Waal\, Dina Nayeri\, Rupi Kaur\, Vesna Maric and Tim Finch. \nTogether\, they conjure up progressive visions of a brave new world where both the biggest and smallest of things could be life-changing. Authors have been asked to explore one thing they would most like to change about our future\, to consider making the invisible visible. Themes address big global issues like open borders\, hunger\, power and shame\, as well as reflecting on how everyday things such as taekwondo\, beekeeping or a front door key can be life-changing. \nAt a time where the world is contending with uncertainty and unrest around major global issues of Covid-19\, racism\, the climate crisis and ongoing conflict\, the message of this collection could not be more timely. There has never been a better time to challenge the status quo\, and artists have always been the first to do so. \nThe Imagine Anthology is a publishing collaboration between Counterpoints Arts and Visual Editions. Introduction by Erica Wagner\, Edited by Jessica Jackson. Designed by Nina Jua Klein Studio \nwww.imagineanthology.com \nPost-event notes \nAttendance: 50 \nFeedback and evaluation via Auidence Finder \nFacebook Live (545 views) URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/imagine-anthology-qa/ CATEGORIES:Literature & Spoken Word ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/200519_IA_Website_Still.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20200614T100000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20200614T110000 DTSTAMP:20260421T215748 CREATED:20200610T133723Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240709T145418Z UID:10000243-1592128800-1592132400@counterpoints.org.uk SUMMARY:Onjali Q. Raúf DESCRIPTION:Author Onjali Q. Raúf will be reading from her award-winning novel The Boy at the Back of the Class. \nShe will also share an activity for young people based on the Refugee Week 2020 theme of “Imagine” \nPresented for Refugee Week 2020 by Countepoints Arts in association with Book Aid International \nIt wll be streamed live on Refugee Week Facebook\, followed by live Q&A with Onjali. \nOnjali Q. Raúf is the founder and CEO of O’s Refugee Aid Team\, a nonprofit that helps frontline refugee response teams across northern France and Greece; and Making Herstory\, which works to fight all forms of domestic abuse and human trafficking crimes in the UK. \n“Inspiring and sweet . . . [The Boy at the Back of the Class] is a beautiful\, open-hearted debut from Onjali Q Raúf that should help children be the best they can be and realise the power of kindness.”–Booktrust (UK) \nAbout Book Aid International \nBook Aid International is the UK’s leading international book donation and library development charity. Every year\, the charity aims to ship around one million brand new books to thousands of communities where people have very few opportunities to access books and read. \nBook Aid International works with an extensive network of libraries\, schools\, hospitals\, NGOs and other partners to ensure that the books it sends are accessible to all. The charity estimates that the books it provides reach over 19 million people every year. \nPhoto: Pål Hansen \nPost-event notes \nFacebook Live video (3.4K views) URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/onjali-q-rauf/ CATEGORIES:Literature & Spoken Word ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Screen-Shot-2020-06-08-at-11.43.38-1.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20200520T180000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20200520T210000 DTSTAMP:20260421T215748 CREATED:20200519T072227Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240709T145419Z UID:10000251-1589997600-1590008400@counterpoints.org.uk SUMMARY:NIGHT & REFUGE - Live Writing Room by Caroline Bergvall DESCRIPTION:Photo by Thierry Bal \n  \nCaroline Bergvall & Sonic Atlas present:\nNIGHT & REFUGE\nA collaborative poem writing event\nvia Zoom (a link will be sent to the participants on the day of the event)\nRecommended Age 14+ \nFree event\, tickets via Eventbrite \nA unique opportunity to witness the creation of a collaborative poem between five different UK-based poets of very different practices and reputations. \nFollowing a brief set by Bergvall\, the poets will be exploring themes of the night\, of seeking refuge\, and share their processes. This collaborative process is inspired by the tradition of Renga – an ancient and strict rule-bound Japanese form of collective writing. \nThe writing process\, its developments and the conversations between the poets will be visible throughout on a Shared Writing Desk. \nThe Live Writing Room has been developed by visual artist Mays Albeik who will act as the event’s Desk Manager. Sound mixing by Jamie Hamilton. \nThe conversations and the developing lines of the poem will be recorded by the project’s sound artist Jamie Hamilton. He will be editing and recomposing these for the next event: Berlin Poetry Festival\, 9 June. \nPoets filmed by project’s cinematographer Andrew Delaney. \nVahni Capildeo is a Trinidadian Scottish writer working on their eighth full-length book (their fourth from Carcanet Press). Recent collaborations include http://www.lightsitepoetry.com with Andre Bagoo\, linked to Capildeo’s Light Site (Periplum\, forthcoming 2020). Capildeo is Writer in Residence at the University of York and a Seamus Heaney Centre fellow at Queen’s University\, Belfast. \nWill Harris is a poet and critic from London. He has had work published in The Guardian\, The White Review\, the TLS\, and the LRB. He was the co-editor of the Spring 2020 issue of The Poetry Review. His debut collection RENDANG (Granta) is the Poetry Book Society Choice for Spring. \nLeo Boix is a Latinx bilingual poet born in Argentina who lives and works in the UK. Boix has been included in many anthologies\, such as Ten: Poets of the New Generation (Bloodaxe) and Un Nuevo Sol: British Latinx Writers (flipped eye). He is a fellow of The Complete Works Program and the recipient of the Keats-Shelley Prize 2019. Boix debut collection will be published by Chatto & Windus (Penguin/Random House) in 2021. \nNisha Ramayya grew up in Glasgow and is currently based in London. Her debut collection States of the Body Produced by Love (2019) is published by Ignota Books. Other publications include ‘Notes on a Means without End’ (2020) in Poetry Review; In Me the Juncture (2019) published by Sad Press; Threads (2018)\, a critical-creative pamphlet co-authored with Sandeep Parmar and Bhanu Kapil\, published by clinic. \nCaroline Bergvall – (Host-poet of the event) French-Norwegian Anglophonic poet\, sound artist\, and writer\, who works across art forms\, media and languages. Recent book project: Alisoun Sings (Nightboat Books\, NY\, 2019). Awarded a Cholmondeley Award for her book and project Drift (2017). \nDate & Time: 20 May – 6 pm BST for 3 hours. \nThe event will close with a short reading by the poets.\nPart of Festival of Hope by Versopolis. \nThis event was made possible with funding from Arts Council England and support from Cement Fields and Counterpoints Arts. URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/night-refuge-live-writing-room-by-caroline-bergvall/ CATEGORIES:Literature & Spoken Word ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Caroline-Screenshot-69.png END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20160130T173000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20160130T183000 DTSTAMP:20260421T215748 CREATED:20160108T121551Z LAST-MODIFIED:20240709T145506Z UID:10000100-1454175000-1454178600@counterpoints.org.uk SUMMARY:Bards Without Borders at Arcola Theatre DESCRIPTION:5.30pm\, Arcola Theatre\, 24 Ashwin Street\, London E8 3DL \nPlatforma presents a free performance by Bards Without Borders in support of Nine Lives at Arcola Theatre. \nBards Without Borders (BWB) brings together poets from refugee and migrant backgrounds to create new writing and performance in response to the work of William Shakespeare. Their first gig last month was sold out\, and they are now working on new material for performances throughout 2016 – the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. \nBWB is led by poet/facilitator Laila Sumpton and theatre director Arne Pohlmeier (Two Gents) with support from Platforma / Counterpoints Arts. BWB poets: Freddy Macha\, Tolu Agbelusi\, Shamim Azad\, Alia’ Kuwalit\, Belinda Zhawi\, Edin Suljic\, Lloyd Benjamin\, Haroon O Mahdi\, Barbara Lopez\, Fatima Diriye\, Hamdi Khalif. \n \nNine Lives is a gripping new play from Zodwa Nyoni (Channel 4 Writer in Residence 2014) threading together humour and humanity to tell the real personal story behind asylum headlines. Former West Yorkshire Playhouse Associate Director Alex Chisholm directs Lladel Bryant\, UK Young Citizen of the Year in 2006 and the co-founder of Chicken Shop Shakespeare. \nFull details about Nine Lives\, and free booking for Bards Without Borders: https://www.arcolatheatre.com/production/arcola/nine-lives \nImage by Briony Campbell URL:https://counterpoints.org.uk/event/bards-without-borders-at-arcola-theatre/ CATEGORIES:Literature & Spoken Word,Platforma ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://counterpoints.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/bwb-1024x681.jpg END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR