April 2009
India 09: Through Fresh Eyes
India 09: Through Fresh Eyes is British Council’s exciting new literature programme that aims to highlight the India Market Focus at London Book Fair 2009 through participation in a series of literature festivals, workshops and readings in India and the UK.
The British Council is taking over 40 Indian writers to London in April 2009 to be part of seminars at the world’s premier publishing trade and rights event and other venues in the UK. With 10 seminars at the London Book Fair and 32 events planned in outside venues with partners such as the Foyles Bookshop, International PEN, the Nehru Centre, Penguin, Harper Collins and the British Library, the cultural programming around India Market Focus promises to morph into the largest festival of Indian writing in London. Writers from India represent the depth and diversity of Indian writing, in terms of languages, states, genres, gender, religion and ethnicity. As part of that cultural exchange, we will also present a number of writers from the UK at various venues in India up to April 2009 and beyond.
March 2009
Abu Dhabi International Book Fair
17 - 22 March 2009
As part of its commitment to Reader Development in the region, the British Council has invited specialist David Kendall to take part in a series of workshops designed to encourage reading amongst young people. Taking place in the Children’s Corner of the Book Fair, David will have workshops for both students and teachers. His topics will include how to encourage reluctant readers and look at how the graphic novel, comics and digital media can be used to engage young people with reading.
February 2009
Words and Beyond: Exploring Illustrated Children's Literature in the English Language Classroom
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 17 - 20 February 2009
Following on from the British Council’s successful three-year Animating Literature project in East Asia, this seminar will explore the relevance of understanding visual literacy and themes of interculturality at a primary level. Participants from across East Asia will include English language teaching (ELT) specialists, teacher trainers and representatives of various ministries of education. UK speakers include the popular writer and illustrator Oliver Jeffers, plus literacy and educational expert Janet Evans and ELT specialist and storytelling pro Carol Read.
Emirates Airline International Festival of Literature
Dubai, UAE 26 February - 1 March 2009
As the first major literature festival of its kind in the region, EAIFL looks set to be attended by a host of famous authors from both the English-speaking and Arab world. As part of the festival’s educational strand of the festival, the British Council are delivering series of Literature in Performance workshops at the Fringe with storyteller Alec Williams and performance poet Valerie Bloom. Building on the strong storytelling tradition in the region, Alec and Val will host events with children, teachers and artists from the region to explore the potential of performing literature in the English language classroom and beyond.
January 2009
Walberberg Seminar of Contemporary Literature 2009
This year's seminar, the 24th, ran from 22 - 25 January 2009 and was held at Akademie Schmockwitz, Berlin on the theme ‘Changing Literary Climates'. Click here for more information on the Seminar from British Council Germany.
Jaipur Literature Festival
21 - 25 January 2009
There were three British Council sessions at the Jaipur Lit Fest this year, apart from our support that enabled several UK authors to attend Asia’s premier literature festival. The opening day of the Jaipur Lit Fest featured Found in Translation where eight authors, four each from UK and India, sharing almost a dozen languages between them. This presentation of literary translation and cross-cultural exchange was the outcome of week-long translation retreat funded by the British Council and Wales Arts International at Neemrana Fort, supported by Siyahi, a literary consultancy.
Six young publishers from the UK captivated the audience at Jaipur Literature Festival on 24 January as they talked about the innovative ways in which they are working to bring writing to new audiences. The six young creative entrepreneurs from the UK have been selected as finalists for an award in publishing led by the British Council. Each has identified a successful niche within the publishing industry in which they can develop new ways of printing books, of signing up new writers, or of getting books to readers. Following this presentation, Rod Pryde, Director British Council India hosted lunch on the lawn for festival delegates.
The Cairo Book Fair
22 January – 2 February 2009
In celebration of the UK being guest of honour at the 2009 Cairo Book Fair, the British Council has arranged an exciting programme of events focusing on developing links between the UK and Arab World publishing industries. This will include seminars, breakfast briefings and networking events, as well as sessions with writers such as Ben Okri, Margaret Drabble, Ahdaf Soueif and many more.
2nd Children’s and Young Adults’ Book Fair
Athens, Greece, 23 - 26 January 2009
In celebration of UK being the guest of honour at this year’s fair, the British Council have arranged a series of talks, workshops and performances aimed at engaging young people in reading. As well as presenting writers, the showcase will also include a wider range of media including graphic novels, storytelling and performance poetry. Participants from the UK include popular young-fiction writers Kevin Brooks and Celia Rees, performance poetry boy band Aisle 16 and director of Institute for the Future of the Book, Chris Meade.
Hay Festival in Cartagena, Columbia
29 January – 2 February 2009. As part of the UK presence at the international literary festival in Cartagena, the British Council sponsored author Martin Amis to deliver the British Council lecture in conversation with Hay festival founder Peter Florence. Also in attendance was Benjamin Zephaniah who delivered a poetry reading and author Isabel Fonseca who spoke with Juan Villoro about her debut novel ‘Attachment.’
December 2008
The Animating Literature Portal is undergoing a review and is currently unavailable.
November 2008
Medi-Café conference in Tunis
28 - 29 November 2008
The British Council and University of London in Paris held a two-day creative writing conference in Tunis. A range of workshops focussing on fiction, non-fiction and poetry were run by the Medi-Café mentors and attended by the project’s ever-enthusiastic participants.
Publisher’s Training
In partnership with London Book Fair we organised a training programme for 38 Indian publishers who have taken up stalls at the London Book Fair. The training, conducted by Sheila Lambie of Oxford Brookes University, Ray McLellan of Motilal Banarsidass and Susie Nicklin, Director Literature, British Council, prepared the publishers for making the most of the market focus opportunity. Attendees included VK Karthika of Harper Collins India.
October 2008
Power in the Voice - celebrating young people finding their voices through spoken word, performance poetry, rap, storytelling and the oral tradition came to the South Bank Centre in October. Students from St Aloysius School performed work that took them to Botswana to join others from across Southern Africa, at the Power in the Voice International Festival. Click here for more information.
The British Council's Speechless performance poetry tour, in conjunction with Apples & Snakes, concluded at the end of October - click here for more details.
Ended
The London Book Fair and the Arab World
The London Book Fair ran from 14 – 16 April 2008. For a look at our related New Arabic Books website, which aims to bring Arabic books to English language readers, please click here.
Read&Click@Europe
The final year of Animating Literature in North and Central Europe kicked off with a workshop in the Ukraine to bring together 28 teachers who have been working on British Council reading projects in their own countries. Groups of students in different counties are now reading the same short stories and poems online, taken from the New Writing anthology, BritLit and Reading the City resources, and holding reading circles in their country group. Using the EnCompass Culture website, the groups have online contact with their partners in at least two other countries. The teachers act as facilitators, helping the students use the texts as the basis for exploring each others’ cultures and Britain today.
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