EXILED WRITERS INK EXILED LIT CAFE PRESENTS
Inside and Outside the Dream Room
7.30PM
MONDAY 9th January 2017
BETSY TROTWOOD
56 FARRINGDON ROAD
LONDON EC1R 3BL
WITH POETS, MUSIC AND OPEN MIC
Amir Darwish
Mona Dash
Isabel del Rio
Adnan Al Sayegh
Stephen Watts
Amir Darwish is a British Syrian poet and writer of Kurdish origin. Born in Aleppo, he came to Britain as an asylum seeker in 2003. He completed an MA at Durham University before moving to London. His work has been published in the UK, USA, Pakistan, Finland, Turkey and Mexico. His debut collection, Don’t Forget the Couscous was published in 2015. His forthcoming works are an autobiography, From Aleppo Without Love (an autobiography) and Strings of Love and Pain a poetry collection.
Mona Dash. Originally from India, Mona Dash has been living in London for the last fifteen years. She writes poetry and fiction and her work has been published and anthologised widely. Her short stories have been shortlisted in Momaya Press Anthology 2015 and The Asian Writer 2016. Her first novel is 'Untamed Heart' (Tara India Research Press, 2016) and next collection of poetry is to be published by Skylark Publications UK in 2017 through a crowd funding initiative. She holds a Masters in Creative Writing( distinction) from LondonMetropolitan University. With a background in Engineering and Management, she works full time in Technology.
Isabel del Rio is a writer and linguist. She was born in Madrid but has spent most of her life in London. She has published fiction, poetry and language-learning material in both English and Spanish, and regularly takes part in poetry events and short-story readings. Her latest poetry collection is “The moon at the end of my street”, and her most recent bilingual short-story collection is “Zero Negative – Cero negativo” on the subject of bloodshed. She is now working on a thriller and a memoir. She is also an established translator and linguist.
Adnan Al Sayegh Born in al-Kufa (Iraq) in 1955, Adnan al-Sayegh is one of the most original voices from the generation of Iraqi poets known as the Eighties Movement. Adnan uses his words to denounce the devastation of war and the horrors of dictatorship. In 1993 his uncompromising criticism of oppression and injustice led to his exile in Jordan and the Lebanon. After being sentenced to death in Iraq in 1996, he took refuge in Sweden. Since 2004 he has been living in London. In total Al-Sayegh has had 11 books published but his first in English is Biography of an Exile by Arc Publications (2016). It is translated by Stephen Watts and Marga Burgui-Artajo.
Stephen Watts is a poet, editor and translator, with family roots in the Italian Alps. He lives in Whitechapel. He twice won second prize in the National Poetry Competition (1983 and 1992). Recent books of his own work include Gramsci & Caruso (2004), The Blue Bag (2005), Mountain Language / Lingua di montagna (2009), The Language Of It (DVD 2007), and a video-poem Journey To My Father (2009). He edited Amarjit Chandan's Sonata For Four Hands (2010) and has co-translated poetry by A. N. Stencl (2007), Ziba Karbassi (2009), Adnan al-Sayegh (2009) and Meta Kušar (2010).
Open Mic
£5 or £3 2016 Exiled Writers Ink members and asylum seekers
www.exiledwriters.co.uk