Worlds Literature Festival 2013

WORLDSLITERATUREFESTIVAL 2013MONDAY 17 TO FRIDAY 21 JUNE

A WRITERS’ CENTRE NORWICH EVENT

1 WORLDS LITERATURE FESTIVAL

WELCOME TO WORLDS 2013 2

NORWICH UNESCO CITY OF LITERATURE 4

USEFUL INFORMATION 6

ENJOYING NORWICH 8

SCHEDULE 10

MAP 12

WORLDS PARTICIPANTS 13

MEET WRITERS’ CENTRE NORWICH 29

NOTES 34

CONTENTS

1

2WORLDS LITERATURE FESTIVAL 2

WORLDS 2013

WAYS OF WRITING: WAYS OF READING

AN INTRODUCTION

Welcome to Norwich, the newestUNESCO City of Literature and thefirst in England! We’re very muchlooking forward to welcoming you to our city.

Each year, we bring together a numberof fiction and non-fiction writers,poets, translators and teachers ofwriting in order to support anextended conversation over four days about writing as an art and craft. There is a programme of publicevents, readings and celebrations overthe course of Worlds, and at the heartof what we do is the private Salon.

The Salon is a space created and fedby the writers who take part and isdriven by a series of provocations,essays, conversations and questionsfrom the writers present. While theteam at Writers’ Centre, along withJon Cook of the University of EastAnglia and the writers commissionedto present provocations, have somesense of the shape of the discussionover the four days, we really have noidea where the conversation and thegroup might take us. We entrust thatdecision to each of you taking part.

In 2012 we enjoyed an amazing Salon on the theme of Memoir, Truthand the Self with provocations fromJM Coetzee, Dame Gillian Beer, GailJones, Chika Unigwe and Alvin Pangand events featuring JeanetteWinterson, Jo Shapcott, Anna Funderand Michael Ondaatje. An outline of last year’s events can be found atwww.writerscentrenorwich.org.uk/worldsliteraturefestival2012brochure.aspx and you can read moreabout the 2011 Salon here:www.writerscentrenorwich.org.uk/joiningtheworldssalon.aspx

One of the themes to emerge from the discussions last year was a sharedinterest and concern in the ways thatwriting and the writing life arechanging in the twenty-first century.How ought writers respond to otherartists and art forms, to newtechnologies and ways of working?How do other art forms and newmeans of sharing reading and writinghave an impact on the way writers are working (and thinking) today? How are the artistic, social, economicand technological conditions aroundwriters transforming how they seethemselves as artists and how they live as writers?

So the Salon in 2013 will be a series of conversations that address, fromdiffering directions, the notion of ‘Ways of Writing: Ways of Reading’.Our provocateurs will include GeoffDyer on music, photography, film andwriting; Ruth Ozeki on writing andreading as a philosophical investigationinto the self; Marcel Möring on thenovel as an experiment in art in theface of the commercial market; Sjónon transforming his grandfather’smemoirs into a novel and rewritingthat as an opera; Peng Lun and EricAbrahamsen on the emerging marketfor adaptation, treatment andtranslation in China and RachelLichtenstein on what technology (in the form of a digital app) hasbrought to her book on London’sHatton Garden. We’re delighted thatour Chair will again be Professor Jon Cook and that George Szirtes will act as a rapporteur and expertsummariser in the final session.

WELCOME TOWORLDS 2013

Of course, the writers commissionedto offer provocations might choose to address themselves to questionsvery different to those I outlined. You might, as a group, choose to movethe conversation in any number ofdirections, and it’s partly this freedomthat makes the Salon such a pleasureto take part in.

One of last year’s participating writers noted that:

Worlds is without peer: one of themost important and unique literaryevents anywhere on the globe. TheWorlds Salon – a grouping of writersfrom across different genres,generations and nationalities todiscuss the key literary concerns ofthe day – is a tour de force ofthoughtful and sophisticated literaryconnoisseurship that actually works.Egos are suspended, differences setaside, energies and attentionfunnelled into rollicking roundtabledialogues that sound like every wordmatters, and matters intimately.

I hope that the conversations this yearturn out to be as productive andenjoyable for you.

In addition to the Salon we will have aprogramme of afternoon readings andevening events to celebrate Norwich’sstatus as a UNESO City of Literature.The WCN team hopes you have awonderful time!

CHRIS GRIBBLECHIEF EXECUTIVE, WRITERS’ CENTRE NORWICH

3 WORLDS LITERATURE FESTIVAL3

The Hostry at Norwich Cathedral by Dave Guttridge

NORWICHUNESCO CITYOF LITERATURE

IN 2012, NORWICHCONSOLIDATED ITS POSITION ASENGLAND’S FOREMOST LITERARYCITY BY BECOMING ITS FIRSTUNESCO CITY OF LITERATURE,JOINING AN ELITEINTERNATIONAL NETWORKCOMPRISING EDINBURGH,MELBOURNE, IOWA CITY, DUBLINAND REYKJAVIK.

Here are ten reasons to be proud ofNorwich’s literary influence:

1 A CITY OF LITERATURE

Norwich has been a literary city for900 years: a place of ideas where the power of words has changed lives, promulgated parliamentarydemocracy, fomented revolution,fought for the abolition of slavery and transformed the literary arts.Today, it remains the regional centrefor publishing and is home to five per cent of the UK’s independentpublishing sector. People in Norwichspend more per capita on culture than anywhere else in the UK, andNorwich remains a destination for poets, novelists, biographers,playwrights, translators, editors, literary critics, social critics, historians,environmentalists and philosophers. It is a place for writers as agents of change.

2 A CITY OF FIRSTS

The first book written by a woman in the English language came from the pen of Julian of Norwich in 1395,when a series of visions led her tocompose Revelations of Divine Love –an extraordinary contemplation ofuniversal love and hope in a time ofplague, religious schism, uprisings andwar. In the sixteenth century, the firstpoem in blank verse was written hereby Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey. The first English provincial library(1608) and newspaper (1701)followed, and Norwich was also thefirst place to implement the PublicLibrary Act of 1850. More recently, in 1970, Malcolm Bradbury and AngusWilson founded the UK’s first CreativeWriting MA at University of EastAnglia (UEA); Ian McEwan was the first graduate. In 2006, Norwichbecame the first (and still is the only)UK city to join the International Citiesof Refuge Network, which was formedto promote free speech and supportimperilled writers.

3 A CITY OF LIBRARIES

The Norfolk and Norwich MillenniumLibrary, housed in the magnificentForum in the heart of Norwich, hasbeen the most-visited public library in the UK for the past five years andlends more items than any other in thecountry. Across the city, the Cathedrallibrary is home to more than 20,000books (some dating back to thefifteenth century), while the John InnesCentre hosts a remarkable collectionof natural-history and rare books.

4 A CITY OF INDEPENDENTBOOKSHOPS AND PUBLISHERS

The Jarrold family arrived in the East of England in the seventeenth century,bringing with them the art of printingand bookbinding. They published AnnaSewell’s global bestseller Black Beautyin 1877, and today the Jarroldsdepartment store contains one of the foremost independent bookshopsin the UK. Norwich’s newest addition,The Book Hive, opened in 2009 tonational praise and in 2011 was namedby The Telegraph as the Best SmallIndependent Bookshop in Britain.

5 A CITY FOR WRITERS AND READERS

Formed in 2004, and the force behind Norwich’s UNESCO bid,Writers’ Centre Norwich is aliterature development agency thatworks locally, nationally andinternationally. It provides professionaldevelopment for writers throughworkshops, courses, networking andcompetitions, reaches thousands ofchildren through innovative schoolprogrammes, connects with readersthrough a successful summer readingcampaign, and hosts a series of high-profile events throughout the year. The Worlds international gathering of writers is held each June and offers a uniquely writer-focused forum fordiscussion and debate about writingand literature from a writer’sperspective. In March 2012, Writers’Centre Norwich was awarded £3million from Arts Council England’sCapital Investment Programme fund to develop the National Centre forWriting (NCW). The NCW, inpartnership with Norwich CityCouncil, UEA and Norfolk CountyCouncil, will be a hub for excellence in literature from around the world.

4WORLDS LITERATURE FESTIVAL

6 A CITY OF WRITERS

Following a successful start with Ian McEwan, the Creative Writing MAat UEA has established itself as theforemost course of its kind in the UKand a global hub for national andinternational literature. Graduatesinclude three Booker Prize winners(Kazuo Ishiguro, Ian McEwan and AnneEnright), as well as a number of othermajor prize-winners including TracyChevalier, Joe Dunthorne and NaomiAlderman. The British Centre forLiterary Translation at UEA, foundedby the renowned author W G Sebald,is Britain’s leading centre for thedevelopment, promotion and supportof literary translation from and intomany languages.

7 A CITY OF INDEPENDENT MINDS

Writers from Norwich have, quiteliterally, changed the world. Born justsouth of Norwich, Thomas Painewrote Common Sense, a treatise thatinfluenced the course of the AmericanRevolution, and his Rights of Man isone of the most widely read books of all time. Harriet Martineau, anotherradical and campaigning journalist,wrote promoting the causes of gender and racial equality, personalresponsibility, fair economics andevidence-based science. Celebratedpolymath Thomas Browne, prisonreformer Elizabeth Fry and, morerecently, humorist Stephen Fry, have all called Norwich their home.

8 A CITY OF REFUGE

Writers’ Centre Norwich establishedNorwich as the UK’s first City ofRefuge for threatened writers, and wasa founding member of the InternationalCities of Refuge Network (ICORN).Norwich was also a founding memberof the Shahrazad project, whichbrought together six Cities of Refugeto open up a free space for writersfrom all over the world to connect and tell their stories.

9 A CITY OF PERFORMANCE

Norwich is the focal point for athriving live literature scene, and ishome to some of the most vibrantand creative performance poets in the UK. Aisle 16 was formed by agroup of students at UEA in 2000 and has delighted audiences eversince, playing a central role in thedevelopment and popularity of liveliterature at festivals over the pastdecade. Founding member LukeWright also set up Nasty Little Press in 2009, dedicated to publishing poetryfrom the UK’s best loved live poets –including Molly Naylor, Martin Figura,Tim Clare, Hannah Walker and JohnOsborne, all Norwich residents.

10 A CITY OF FESTIVALS

Norwich is home to the oldest cityarts festival in the country, theinternationally renowned Norfolkand Norwich Festival. At UEA, thebiannual International Literary Festivalregularly plays to packed houses of up to 500, and celebrated its twenty-second anniversary in 2012. Within anhour of Norwich are a multitude ofother literature festivals, including theAldeburgh Poetry Festival, Poetry-next-the-Sea and Cambridge Wordfest.


Worlds writers on Elm Hill, Norwich by Facundo Arrizabalaga

USEFUL INFORMATION

WRITERS’ CENTRE NORWICH

Located on Princes Street (just aroundthe corner from your hotel and theCathedral Hostry), festival organiserWriters’ Centre Norwich is theleading literature development agencyin the East of England, and the drivingforce behind Norwich’s UNESCOWorld City of Literature activities. Our friendly staff are at your disposalthroughout the Festival, so forenquiries large and small, for a quiet place to relax with a cup of tea, to record an interview or use the internet, and to find out moreabout the work we do – then pleasedo feel free to drop in!

ACCOMMODATION

Your accommodation is in thepicturesque Maids Head Hotel on theancient street of Tombland, the heartof Norwich’s Cathedral Quarter and a few minutes’ walk away from thecentral shopping district, where youcan access shops, banks, restaurantsand bars.

The Maids Head HotelTombland, Norwich, Norfolk NR3 1LBT: 01603 272007 F: 01603 613688

ACCESSING THE INTERNET

Wi Fi internet access is complimentarythroughout the Maids Head Hotel; youwill be given a password on arrival atReception. Computers with internetaccess will be present during theafternoon events, and you can also log in to Wi Fi at the Writers’ CentreNorwich offices.

CATERING

All meals are provided during theweek of Worlds (17 – 21 June). Detailsof lunches and dinners can be found inthe schedule. A choice of Continentaland Full English breakfast is included in your Maids Head room booking –simply make your way to therestaurant between 7am and 9.30amand wait to be seated by a member of the hotel staff.

TRANSPORT

WCN will organise free transport to and from the Festival events, and to all Festival venues that are furtherthan a short walking distance fromeach other (including restaurants). If you have any questions or additionalrequests, please ask a member of theWCN team.


The Worlds Salon by Martin FiguraWriters’ Centre Norwich

REIMBURSEMENT

International: Your registration packwill include an expenses form forexpenses incurred travelling to andfrom the Worlds festival. Please seethe International Travel Guide fortravel booking recommendations.Please fill in any outstanding claims (eg train fare, taxi cost) and presentwith your receipts or tickets to theWCN Finance Staff before departingWorlds festival. Annelli Clarke, FinanceOfficer will be available at the WCNoffices on Wednesday and Thursdaymornings between 10 and 12.00 tocomplete these payments. Amountsover £200 will be paid by electronictransfer so we will require yourinternational bank details, for amountsbelow £200, please note that we areonly able to provide reimbursement in pounds sterling. UK: Your registration pack will includean expenses form for expensesincurred travelling to and from theWorlds festival. You can fill in anyoutstanding claims (eg train fare, taxicost). Please send your completedexpenses form and receipts via post to Martin Figura following Worlds. All expenses will be paid following the festival..

THE WORLDS TEAM

Writers’ Centre Norwich office: (between 9am and 5pm)0044 (0)1603 877 177

Jon Morley (Programme Director): 0044 (0)7904 163 025

Lara Narkiewicz (Programme Assistant): 0044 (0)7984 764 054

OTHER USEFUL NUMBERS

Local taxi service 01603 666 33301603 619 619

Emergency services (Police, Fire and Ambulance) 999

MEDIA

Photography and Video RecordingPhotographs and short videorecordings will be taken throughoutthe week and will be used for publicitypurposes. If you would prefer not tohave your photograph taken, please let Writers’ Centre Norwich know.

Audio RecordingWriters’ Centre Norwich may audiorecord your events with us. Audio will be used for non-profit purposesonly. Recordings will include theprovocations given during Salonsessions but the Salon discussion will not be recorded for public use.Images, video and audio may beshared following Worlds viawww.writerscentrenorwich.org.ukwww.newwriting.net

TwitterIf you tweet we are using the hashtag#worlds13 for this event.


The Norwich Showcase at the Hostry by Dave Guttridge


ENJOYING NORWICH

THE FOLLOWING IS A GUIDE TOSOME OF OUR FAVOURITEPLACES IN NORWICH. FOR MOREIDEAS AND LISTINGS, SEE:www.visitnorwich.co.uk www.visitnorfolk.co.uk

FURTHER INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND AT THE NORWICHTOURIST INFORMATION CENTRE,THE FORUM, MILLENNIUM PLAIN,NORWICH, NORFOLK, 01603 213999.

1 Walk the Cathedral grounds andsurrounding streets, and visit theCathedral. The Cathedral and itsgrounds cover a large area in thecentre of Norwich and all parts can be walked for free. Particularlylook out for Pulls Ferry, (a beautifulcrossing place on the river where tea, coffee and cake can be purchasedcheaply), the Old Hospital (a stunningbuilding), The Adam and Eve pub (the oldest in Norwich, dating back to the 12th Century) and, if you havetime, stop in at the Cathedral as well.(A guided tour is included as part ofthe Worlds schedule.)

2 Explore the shops in The Lanes andthe Market. There has been a marketon that site since Norman times and it is now the largest Monday-to-Saturday open market in the country:over 190 stalls selling just aboutanything you could want. Nearby,Norwich Lanes (roughly the streetsbehind the Tesco Metro) boast arange of fabulous shops includingdresses in Exile, jewellery in LisaAngel, books in The Book Hive, and a bit of everything in Thorns.

3 Mousehold Heath offers thecountryside on your doorstep; you can lose yourself in forest, rolling hills, scrub and outdoor fun.There is also an 18 hole Pitch andPutt course hidden away.

4 Plantation Gardens is a hidden gem.Located just behind the RomanCatholic Cathedral, it is a beautifulplanned Victorian gardens that feels a little bit like stepping into a forgotten city. Free to enter, thoughdonations are requested.

5 Get tea / coffee / hot chocolate andcake in the Britons Arms, a charmingcafe on Elm Hill (one of the oldestroads in England). The Britons Armswas used in the film Stardust and, as well as delicious cakes, boasts adelightful secluded garden.

6 No visit to Norwich is completewithout lunch at the Waffle House,which serves organic, savoury andsweet dishes with savoury and sweetwaffles. 39 St. Giles Street, Norwich,Norfolk NR2 1JN.

THINGS TO SEE

Landmarks of Norwich by Martin Figura


7 Take a trip out into Norfolk. GreatYarmouth is a tourist’s dream:beaches, a pier, mini golf, Segwayracing, greyhounds, fish and chips, hotfresh donuts and lots more besides.Buses and trains to Yarmouth arefrequent and reasonably priced, anda journey should take no more than45 minutes. The North Norfolkcountryside and coastline offerpretty towns such as Cromer, Holtand Wells-next-the-Sea with picturepostcard views, local cuisine, hiking,beaches and water sports.

8 Norwich Castle offers an intriguingmix of local history, art (featuringlots of Norfolk Schoolwatercolours), with a bit of Victoriantaxidermy and Ancient Egyptianhistory thrown in for good measure.We recommend a climb to the topto look out over Norwich, and adescent into the dungeons below.

9 Strangers Hall on Charing Cross is one of Norwich’s oldest and mostfascinating buildings, dating back to1320. Stroll through a maze ofinterlinked rooms enriched withtextiles and period objects, bringingthe days of the Tudors and Stuartsvividly to life.

BARS

Franks19 Bedford Street, NR2 1ARA cafe bar in the centre of Norwichwith table service. Good breakfasts,reasonable food served all day. Popular artsy venue where films are shown on Sunday afternoons.

Playhouse Bar42-58 St. Georges Street, NR3 1ABA cool and popular bar that is part of an independent theatre. Lovely beergarden overlooking the River Wensum,and a good range of drinks. Late nightopening and DJs. A quieter room is also available.

Bicycle Shop17 St. Benedicts Street, NR2 4PEA quirky independent cafe / bar that serves food and drinks incomfortable surroundings.

Take Five17 Tombland, NR3 1HFJust across the road from your hotel,this bustling tavern offers food, drinksand occasional live literature eventsfrom Monday to Saturday.

TRANSPORT

Norwich Bus StationSurrey Street, NorwichRegular buses from Norwich to therest of East Anglia and much of the UK.

Norwich Train StationRegular trains from Norwich to EastAnglia and the rest of the UK.

Image courtesy of The ForumImage courtesy of The Book Hive

SCHEDULE

MONDAY 17 JUNE

5.30 – 7pmThe Cathedral HostryWELCOME DINNER

8pm – 10pmFusion at The Forum THE LAUNCH OF 26 FOR NORWICHIn this new interactive website, 26 contemporary writers and 26 UEAstudents respond to the work and livesof 26 of Norwich’s literary luminaries –the resulting conversations and storiesspan 900 years of the city’s literaryheritage. With readings by Sara Sheridan, John Simmons and Elise Valmorbida.

GETTING THERE: Representatives from Writers’ Centre Norwich will escort you to the venue.

TUESDAY 18 JUNE

12 – 12.30pmThe Cathedral HostryLUNCH

12.30pm – 3.30pmThe Cathedral HostrySALON DAY ONE:WITH PROVOCATIONS BY SJÓN AND RUTH OZEKI

4pm – 5.30pmThe Cathedral HostryAFTERNOON READINGS Featuring Rozalie Hirs (Netherlands),Rachida Lamrabet (Belgium), Bejan Matur (Turkey), Marcel Möring(Netherlands) and Neel Mukherjee(UK), and hosted by Chris Gribble(Chief Executive, WCN).

5.30 – 7pmLast RestaurantDINNER

GETTING THERE: Representatives from Writers’ Centre Norwich will escort you between thevenue and the restaurant.

7.30 – 9.30pmThe Cathedral HostryTORN BETWEEN THE LIGHT AND DARK: MOOMINS,MERCHANDISE AND THE ARTAND LIFE OF TOVE JANSSON Poet and writer Rebecca Swift will bejoined by novelist and screenwriterEsther Freud, actor Samuel West, andwriter and musician Sjón to considerthe legacy of the great Swedish writerand illustrator Tove Jansson.

WEDNESDAY 19 JUNE


12.30 – 3.30pmThe Cathedral HostrySALON DAY TWO: WITH PROVOCATIONS BY MARCEL MÖRING ANDRACHEL LICHTENSTEIN

4 – 5.30pmThe Cathedral HostryAFTERNOON READINGS Featuring Tash Aw (Malaysia / UK),Chandrahas Choudhury (India),Melissa Lucashenko (Australia), Elif Shafak (Turkey) and Zhang Yueran(China), and hosted by Jon Morley(Programme Director, WCN).

5.30 – 7pmPinnochio’s DINNER

GETTING THERE: Representatives from Writers’ Centre Norwich will escort you between thevenue and the restaurant.

7.30 – 9.00pmThe Cathedral HostryGRANTA PRESENTS THE BEST OF YOUNG BRITISHNOVELISTS 4Previous Granta “Best Of” writers forpast decades have included SalmanRushdie, Kazuo Ishiguro, Ian McEwan,Will Self, Jeanette Winterson, ALKennedy and Ali Smith, so the newselection is always a reliable indicatorof quality. Featuring David Szalay andEvie Wyld, introduced by Granta’sdeputy editor Ellah Allfrey.



12.30 – 3.30pmThe Cathedral HostrySALON DAY THREE:WITH PROVOCATIONS BY PENG LUN WITH ERIC ABRAHAMSEN ANDMASASHI MATSUIE WITHMICHAEL EMMERICH

4.30 – 6pmThe Cathedral HostryTOUR OF NORWICH CATHEDRALBY COLIN HOWEY (NORWICHGRAFFITI SURVEY)

6 – 7pmFREE TIME

7 – 9pmDragon HallMEIR OF NORWICHMeir Ben Elijah is medieval England’sonly known Hebrew poet, whoseextraordinary voice emerges from atime of brutal conflict and religiouspersecution. Now a new set oftranslations, performed here by TS EliotPrize winner George Szirtes and theLondon Cantorial Singers, brings this13th Century poet back to life, evokinga distant time when Norwich was aworld capital of trade and learning. Withtranslators Bente Elsworth and EllmanCrasnow and editor Keiron Pim.

GETTING BACK: Representatives from Writers’ Centre Norwich will meet you at the Maid’s Headreception at 6.30pm.

9.30pmIron HouseDINNER

FRIDAY 21 JUNE

12 – 1pmUEA Council ChamberLUNCH

GETTING THERE: Transport will depart from outside the Maids Head at 11.30am.

1 – 4pmUEA Council ChamberSALON DAY FOUR:WITH PROVOCATIONS BY GEOFF DYER AND GEORGE SZIRTES

4.30 – 6pmUEA Drama StudioAFTERNOON READINGS Featuring Pedro Carmona-Alvarez(Norway), Michelle de Kretser(Australia), Ruth Ozeki (USA/Canada)and Masashi Matsuie (Japan) withMichael Emmerich (USA/Japan), andhosted by Kate Griffin (InternationalProgramme Director, British Centrefor Literary Translation).

6pm – 7.30pmFREE TIME

8pmThe Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts Restaurant (UEA)FAREWELL CELEBRATION AND DINNERTo mark the end of Worlds andcelebrate Norwich’s new status as a City of Literature.

GETTING THERE: Transport will depart from outside the Maids Head at 7.30pm.

THURSDAY 20 JUNE


An audience at Worlds by Martin Figura

MAP

BETHEL ST

ST. GILES STREET

CLEVELAND ROAD

KIN

ROUENROAD

FARMERS AVE

REDLIONSTREET

ST. STEPH

EN’SSTREET

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ST. CRISPIN'S ROAD ST. CRISPIN'S RO

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MAGDALEN

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WENSUMST

WESTW

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ST. ANDR WE ’S STREETBANK

PLAIN

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ALLSAINTSGREEN

ST. BENEDICT’S STREET

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NEW MILL’S YD

UPPE

KINGSTREET

THORNLANE

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SURREY

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CATTLEMARKETST

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ELMHILL

LOWER CLOSE FERRY LANE

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ST. GEORGE’SSTREET

COLEGATE

CASTLESTREETLONDONST

WESSEX STREET

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DUKESTREET

QUEEN’S ROAD

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PRINCE OF WALES RDTHORPE RO

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CHAPELFIELD NORTH

THEATRE STREET

WESTLE GATE

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FDEB ORD STREET

GENTLEMAN’SWALK

SQUARE

UPPERCLOSE

UPPERCLOSE

KOBLENZ AVE

TIMBER

HILL

CHARING CROSS


This map is based upon or reproduced from Ordnance Survey material with the permission of Ordnance Survey on behalf of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office © Crown Copyright. Unauthorised reproduction infringes Crown copyright and may lead to prosecution or civil proceedings. Norwich City Council Licence No. LA 10009747


WORLDSPARTICIPANTS

ERIC ABRAHAMSEN

Eric Abrahamsen is a Chinese-Englishliterary translator and publishingconsultant who has lived in Beijingsince 2001. He is the manager ofPaper Republic (www.paper-republic.org), which promotes Chinese literature abroad, and aneditor of Pathlight magazine, featuringChinese short stories and poetry inEnglish translation. He is the recipientof NEA and PEN translation grants,and his translation of Wang Xiaofang’sThe Civil Servant’s Notebook waspublished in 2012 by Penguin.

ELLAH ALLFREY

Ellah Allfrey O.B.E. is Deputy Editor ofGranta, an international literary journalof new writing. Born in Zimbabwe and educated in the United States, she began her publishing career aseditorial assistant at Penguin Press,working on history and modernclassics titles. Before joining Granta, she was Senior Editor at JonathanCape, Random House where shecontinued to publish history as well as introducing a list of young Africanwriters including Brian Chikwava,Dinaw Mengestu and Peter Akinti. She sits on the board of Writers’Centre Norwich and the Council of the Caine Prize for African Writing.A Fellow of the Royal Society of theArts, Allfrey was awarded an OBE in 2011 for services to the publishing industry.

TASH AW

Tash Aw is the author of three novels which have been translated into 23 languages, won the Whitbreadand Commonwealth prizes for BestFirst Novel and been longlisted for the MAN Booker Prize. He was bornin Taipei, brought up in Malaysia and is now based in London.

Toby Rhind-Tutt


CHRISTOPHER BIGSBY

Christopher Bigsby is an academic,novelist, biographer and broadcaster.For eighteen years he chaired theBritish Council’s Cambridge Seminar,and for twenty-one years, the ArthurMiller Centre International LiteraryFestival at the University of East Anglia.(Four volumes of interviews based onthis series have been published.) AtUEA, he is responsible for internationaldevelopments in the Faculty of Artsand Humanities. He is a Fellow of theRoyal Society of Literature and theRoyal Society of Arts.

SIGRID BOUSSET

Sigrid Bousset is the Managing Directorof the international house of literaturePassa Porta, a Brussels basedorganisation founded in 1998. PassaPorta organizes literary evenings, publicdebates, a residence-programme forinternational writers, special creativeprojects on contemporary literature,and the renowned bi-annualinternational Passa Porta Festival ofLiterature. Sigrid Bousset is a boardmember of HALMA, the Europeannetwork of literary centres.

ANTONIA BYATT

Antonia Byatt is Director, Literature at Arts Council England and from June2013 she will also be a Director in theSouth East Area, based in Cambridge.Before joining Arts Council England,Antonia was Director of the Women’sLibrary at London MetropolitanUniversity, an academic researchlibrary and cultural centre containingthe largest collection of women’shistory in the UK. Prior to joining the library, Antonia was head ofliterature at Southbank Centre, whichinvolved overseeing the literatureprogramme of around 130 events a year and overall management of the poetry library. She is a governor of the Bishopsgate Institute and since2008 has been governor of NewBuckinghamshire University.

Alexandra C

ool

WORLDSPARTICIPANTS


PEDRO CARMONA-ALVAREZ

Pedro Carmona-Alvarez was born inChile and moved to Norway as a tenyear old. He has published threecollections of poetry, three novels, a collection of essays, an anthology of translated poetry (with GunnarWærness), six albums with SisterSonny and a solo album under thename of Moonpedro. His new albumand collection of poems will bereleased in September 2013. He livesin Bergen with a dog that loveslistening to Miles Davis.

CHANDRAHAS CHOUDHURY

Chandrahas Choudhury is a novelistbased in New Delhi. He is the authorof the novel Arzee the Dwarf (2009),which was shortlisted for theCommonwealth First Book Award and selected by World Literature Today as one of 60 essential works ofIndian literature in English since 1947.The book was translated into Germanand Spanish and appears this year inAmerica (NYRBLit). Choudhury alsoreviews books for the New York Timesand the Washington Post. He is theFiction & Poetry editor of the Indianmonthly The Caravan, and writes aweekly column on Indian affairs forBloomberg World View.

PROFESSOR CATHERINE COLE

Professor Catherine Cole is Professorof Creative Writing and Deputy Dean,Faculty of Creative Arts, WollongongUniversity, NSW, Australia. As well as her academic writing, she haspublished novels, short stories, poetryand memoir. She previously worked at RMIT University in Melbourne,University of Technology, Sydney andthe University of UNSW. She is aformer member of the AustralianResearch Council’s Excellence inResearch Australia trial committee in Humanities and the Creative Artsand has provided expert advice to arange of universities on their researchand creative practice activities. She is a regular book reviewer, participant in Australian and international writers’festivals and a judge of major nationalbook awards.

Eva Lene Gilje Ø

stensen

JON COOK

Jon Cook is Professor of Literature atthe University of East Anglia. The focusof his teaching and research has beenon romantic and modern literature.He has supervised a large number ofPhD students on subjects in modernliterature, literature and philosophy,and creative and critical writing and hewas convenor of the MA in creativewriting at UEA from 1986–96. He hastaught at universities in the US, Europe and India, most recently as a HurstVisiting Professor at the University of Washington. He is a member of the Arts and Humanities ResearchCouncil Peer Review College. His recent publications include Poetryin Theory (2004) and a biographicalstudy, Hazlitt in Love (2007). He playedan active role in establishing Writers’Centre Norwich and its Worldsprogramme, and has hosted andchaired the Salon of internationalwriters since its inception in 2005.

ED COTTRELL

Ed Cottrell works at the BritishCouncil as a Literature Assistant,focusing on the Cultural Programme atthe London Book Fair. Prior to this heworked as Digital Media Officer atWriters’ Centre Norwich and as aWebmaster at HowTheLightGetsIn.He lives in London, and can be foundonline at @erghargh and erghargh.tumblr.com

ANDREW COWAN

Andrew Cowan is a graduate of theCreative Writing MA at UEA, wherehe was taught by Malcolm Bradburyand Angela Carter. His first novel, Pig(1994), won a Betty Trask Award, theSunday Times Young Writer of the YearAward, The Authors’ Club First NovelAward, a Scottish Arts Council BookAward, the Ruth Hadden MemorialAward, and was shortlisted for fiveother literary awards. Common Ground(1996) and Crustaceans (2000) both received Arts Council bursaries.What I Know was the recipient of anArts Council Writers’ Award and waspublished in 2005. His creative writingguidebook, The Art of Writing Fiction,was published in 2011. His fifth novel,Worthless Men, was published in 2013.He is the Director of the CreativeWriting programme at UEA.


WORLDSPARTICIPANTS


MICHELLE DE KRETSER

Michelle de Kretser was born in Sri Lanka and moved to Australiawhen she was 14. She was educated in Melbourne and Paris, and publishedher first novel, The Rose Grower, in1999. Her second novel, The HamiltonCase (2003), was winner of theTasmania Pacific Prize, the EncoreAward (UK) and the CommonwealthWriters Prize (Southeast Asia andPacific). The Lost Dog was published in 2007 and was one of 13 books on the long list for the 2008 MANBooker Prize for Fiction. From 1989 to1992 she was a founding editor of theAustralian Women’s Book Review. Hermost recent novel is Questions of Travel.

GEOFF DYER

Geoff Dyer’s books have beentranslated into more than twentylanguages. His awards include aSomerset Maugham Prize, the EMForster Award, and a 2012 NationalBook Critics Circle Award for theessay collection Otherwise Known asthe Human Condition. His latest book is Zona, about Tarkovsky’s film Stalker. www.geoffdyer.com

MICHAEL EMMERICH

Michael Emmerich is assistant professorof Japanese literature at the Universityof California, Santa Barbara. He hastranslated a dozen or so books fromJapanese into English, including novelsand short story collections by authorsranging from the Nobel Prize recipientYasunari Kawabata to the bestsellerBanana Yoshimoto. His translation of Hiromi Kawakami’s Manazuru was awarded the Japan-U.S. FriendshipCommission Prize for the Translation of Japanese Literature in 2010. He isthe editor of Read Real Japanese Fiction(Kodansha) and New Penguin ParallelTexts: Short Stories in Japanese (Penguin)and the author of The Tale of Genji:Translation, Canonization, and WorldLiterature (Columbia University Press,forthcoming in August, 2013).


ESTHER FREUD

Esther Freud trained as an actressbefore writing her first novel HideousKinky, published in 1991. Hideous Kinkywas shortlisted for the John LlewellynRhys Prize and was made into a filmstarring Kate Winslet. She has sincewritten six other novels, including The Sea House and Love Falls. She alsowrites stories, articles and travel piecesfor newspapers and magazines, andteaches creative writing, in her ownlocal group and at the Faber Academy.Her most recent book, Lucky Break,was published in April 2011. She livesin London with her husband and three children.

KATE GRIFFIN

Kate Griffin is an internationalliterature consultant who hasdeveloped projects in the Middle East,Asia, and Europe. She is currentlyInternational Programme Director at the British Centre for LiteraryTranslation, and also works withWriters’ Centre Norwich and theLondon Review of Books. She hasworked for Arts Council England, theBritish Council, the Arvon Foundation,and PEN International. From 2005–2010 she was a judge for theIndependent Foreign Fiction Prize. She spent most of the 1990s workingoverseas in Belgium and Russia.

ALICE GUTHRIE

Alice Guthrie is a freelance literaryand media translator, writer, editor and researcher, and is also ProjectManager-Researcher for Arab Worldand Euro-Mediterranean Projects at Literature Across Frontiers (LAF).As part of her BA in Arabic withTranslation from the University ofExeter, UK, she spent two yearsstudying at IFEAD (now IFPO) inDamascus. She has since translatedliterary work by various Palestinian,Egyptian, Sudanese, Syrian and SaudiArabian authors into English, withwork published by Saqi, Comma Press,World Literature Today and others.

WORLDSPARTICIPANTS


DANIEL HAHN

Daniel Hahn is a writer, editor andtranslator, of work for adults andchildren, with thirty-something booksto his name. His translations fromPortuguese, Spanish and French includefiction from Africa, Europe and theAmericas, and non-fiction by writersranging from Portuguese Nobellaureate José Saramago to Brazilianfootballer Pelé. He has written worksof non-fiction for adults and a picture-book for children; and edited a numberof reference books, including theaward-winning series of reading guidesfor children and teenagers, The UltimateBook Guides. He has judged severalbook prizes; and his own books havewon him the Independent ForeignFiction Prize and the Blue Peter Book Award. He is on the board of a number of organisations thatpromote reading, writing and freeexpression; a former chair of theTranslators’ Association, he is nownational programme director of theBritish Centre for Literary Translation.He is currently translating a Braziliannovel and compiling the new OxfordCompanion to Children’s Literature.

ROZALIE HIRS

Rozalie Hirs has written five poetrybooks: Locus (1998), Logos (2002),Speling (2005), Geluksbrenger (2008),and Gestamelde werken (2012),published by Querido, Amsterdam, TheNetherlands. Hirs studied compositionwith Louis Andriessen and TristanMurail at the Royal Conservatoire, TheNetherlands, and Columbia University,New York. Recent musical works havebeen performed by Asko|Schönberg,Percussion The Hague, BozziniQuartet, and Netherlands RadioPhilharmonic Orchestra. Her CDsPlatonic ID (2007), featuringinstrumental works written forAsko|Schönberg, and Pulsars (2010),featuring electroacoustic compositionswith text, appeared with Attaccarecords, Amsterdam. Hirs performsher own electroacoustic works withtext in the international poetry scene.

DAVID KARASHIMA

David Karashima is responsible for The Nippon Foundation’s “ReadJapan” programme and founded thefirst Tokyo International LiteratureFestival in March 2013. His translationshave been published by Penguin,Random House, and Faber & Faber,and his novel The Making of the NextKamimura was published by Kodanshain 2010.

Marco Borggreve

RACHIDA LAMRABET

Rachida Lamrabet is a Moroccan-Belgian writer who writes in Dutch.She received the Debuutprijs (DebutPrize) for her 2007 novel WomanCountry [Vrouwland]. Her secondbook, A Child of God [Een kind vanGod, 2008], resulted in the BNGNieuwe Literatuurprijs (BNG NewLiterature Prize, Amsterdam). Bothbooks are translated in German byLuchterland Verlag. Her latest novel isThe Man Who Didn’t Want to be Buried.

RACHEL LICHTENSTEIN

Rachel Lichtenstein’s first book,Rodinsky’s Room (1999, co-written with Iain Sinclair), began as a personalquest and evolved into a compellingpsycho-geographical adventure. Nowconsidered a classic of its genre, it hasbeen translated into five languages.Her most recent book, Diamond Street:The Hidden World of Hatton Garden,was published to much critical acclaimin 2012. Diamond Street is the secondin a trilogy of nonfiction works forpublishers Hamish Hamilton, exploringdifferent London streets. The first inthe series, On Brick Lane (2007), wasshortlisted for the Ondaatje prize. A volume on Portobello Road willfollow. She is also the author of A LittleDust Whispered, Keeping Pace: OlderWomen of the East End and Rodinsky’sWhitechapel. Current projects includea multimedia, GPS activated, location-based digital app drawing on contentfrom her book Diamond Street.Lichtenstein trained as a sculptor and her artwork has been widelyexhibited both in the UK andinternationally. She also curates andhosts multi-media exhibitions, literarysalons and literary festivals. In 2011,she co-curated Shorelines: The World’sFirst Literary Festival of the Sea forarts organisation Metal, alongside poetLemn Sissay. She is currently workingon Shorelines 2013.

MELISSA LUCASHENKO

Melissa Lucashenko is an award-winning novelist who lives betweenBrisbane and the Bundjalung nation.Her writing explores the stories andpassions of ordinary Australians withparticular reference to Aboriginalpeople and others living around themargins of the First World. Melissa’smost recent book is Mullumbimby, a contemporary novel of romanticlove and cultural warfare set in aremote NSW valley. Melissa is afounding member of Sisters Inside, a groundbreaking organisation whichsupports criminalised women inQueensland. She is a member of the national Aboriginal and TorresStrait Islander Arts Board, and iscurrently working on a novel ofhistorical Queensland, as well as several screenplays. www.melissalucashenko.com.au

James Price

Mark C

rocker


WORLDSPARTICIPANTS


PENG LUN

Peng Lun was born in 1976. Hestudied journalism in ShanghaiInternational Studies University andworked as a journalist with a weeklynewspaper on books and publishing. In 2004 he joined Shanghai 99Readers’ Culture, a young privatepublisher with a book club and anonline bookstore. He is editor offoreign fiction, mostly literary novelsand short stories. His authors includeJD Salinger, Philip Roth, EL Doctorow,William Trevor, Patrick Modiano, IrèneNémirovsky, Michael Ondaatje, ColmTóibín, Paul Auster, Colum McCann,Javier Marias, Enrique Vila-Matas, etc.He is editor of the Chinese edition of Granta magazine, which launched inMarch 2013. He also translated somebooks from English to Chinese such asThe Patrimony and Everyman by PhilipRoth, At Random: The Reminiscences ofBennett Cerf and Max Perkins: Editor ofGenius by A Scott Berg. In 2011 hehelped initiate Shanghai InternationalLiterature Week, a literary festival atShanghai Book Fair.

MASASHI MATSUIE

Masashi Matsuie is an author, editor, and visiting professor at Keio University. He worked for thepublisher Shinchosha for 28 years,during which time he founded ShinchoCrest Books, a series of contemporaryliterature in translation, and thequarterly magazine The Thinker. His first novel At the Foot of the Volcano published in 2012 wasawarded the Yomiuri Literary Prize.

BEJAN MATUR

Bejan Matur was born of an AleviKurdish family in Turkey. In heruniversity years, she was published inseveral literary periodicals. Reviewersfound her poetry “dark and mystic”. It was shamanist poetry with paganperceptions, belonging to the pastrather than the present, of herbirthplace and of the nature and life of her village; it has been translatedinto 24 languages. She is a formerdirector of a cultural foundation called DKSV (Diyarbakır Cultural Art Foundation) which is located in Diyarbakır, where she conductedsocial projects with children andwomen who had been removed fromtheir villages. She is an expert counselfor the DPI (Democratic ProgressInstitue) which focuses on conflictresolution. Currently she works as an expert counsel on Kurdish issues.She has a daily Op-Ed column in thenewspaper Rudaw which is based inErbil, Kurdistan, writing about Kurdishpolitics, history, minority rights, prisonliterature and women’s issues.


MARCEL MÖRING

Marcel Möring was born in 1957 inEnschede, near the Dutch-Germanborder. In the late sixties his familymoved north, to Assen. He studiedDutch literature for two years, thenwent from one odd job to another. He wrote several plays in those years,producing and directing two of them,and moved to Rotterdam. Möringpublished his first novel, Mendel, in1990, to unanimous critical acclaim. His second novel, Het Grote Verlangen(The Great Longing, published in morethan fifteen countries) won the AKOPrize, the Dutch equivalent of theBooker Prize. Over 150,000 copies of The Great Longing have been sold in the Netherlands alone. Then came a 500 page novel: In Babylon. This bookwon two Golden Owls, a Flemishaward for the best Dutch / Flemishbook, in 1998. It was a success in boththe Netherlands (over 100.000 copiessold) and Germany and was publishedin the UK (Flamingo), France(Flammarion), the USA (WilliamMorrow) and a great number of othercountries. DIS (In a Dark Wood), waspublished in 2006 and was awardedthe Bordewijk Prize for the best Dutchnovel of 2006. Louteringsberg is hislatest book.

NEEL MUKHERJEE

Neel Mukherjee was born in Calcutta.He has lived in the UK since 1992. His first novel, A Life Apart, won theVodafone-Crossword Award in India,the Writers’ Guild of UK Award forbest novel, and was shortlisted for theinaugural DSC Prize for South AsianLiterature. His second novel, The Livesof Others, is out in May 2014.

RUTH OZEKI

Ruth Ozeki is a filmmaker, novelist, andZen Buddhist priest, and the author ofthree novels, A Tale for the Time Being,My Year of Meats and All Over Creation.Translated and published in more thanfourteen countries, her novels havegarnered international critical acclaimfor their ability to integrate issues ofscience, technology, environmentalpolitics and global popular culture intounique hybrid narrative forms. Beforeturning to fiction writing, Ruth workedin commercial television and mediaproduction, including low budgethorror, for over a decade, and herindependent films, including the award-winning documentary Halving theBones, have shown at Sundance and onAmerican public television. Her shortfiction and essays have appeared in anumber of anthologies, magazines andnewspapers, and she has taught andlectured at universities and collegesaround the world. A long-timepractitioner of meditation, Ruth wasordained as a Soto Zen Buddhistpriest in 2010. She and her husband,environmental artist OliverKellhammer, divide their time betweenNew York City and Cortes Island, B.C.www.ruthozeki.com

WORLDSPARTICIPANTS


MARTIN PICK

Martin Pick graduated from theUniversity of East Anglia in SocialStudies in 1967, and subsequentlyworked as an editor and publisherwith Oxford University Press in Indiaand Pakistan from 1967–72, and withLongman and Macmillan in the UKuntil 1979. From 1980–94 he ran his own company, Belitha Press,publishing children’s non-fiction. He was also involved in making manydocumentaries for Channel 4 duringthe 1980s. He became a literary agentin 1994, and still acts part-time in thiscapacity. He was a Council member of Minority Rights Group Internationalfrom 1998–2006. He is also a mentorwith the Write to Life group at theMedical Foundation for Victims ofTorture, Chair of the Trustees of City and Hackney Mind; and a trusteeof Peace Child International. He isHonorary Events Organiser at theSavile Club in London, where he hasrun an annual UEA/Savile series ofliterary evenings with Prof. Jon Cookfor seven years. He is currently on theAdvisory Council for the Sri LankanCampaign for Peace and Justice, agroup seeking to encouragereconciliation in Sri Lanka.

JOHN PREBBLE

John Prebble is Relationship Manager(Literature) at Arts Council Englandfor the South East. He works with arange of organisations and individualsto support their work and to developliterature in various forms across theregion. Prior to joining Arts Council, he was Programme Manager at theCanterbury Festival, where he built up literature programming and writerdevelopment through the CanterburyLaureate scheme. He has also workedwith the Hay-on-Wye Festival, theFolkestone Literary Festival, and theliterature stages at the LatitudeFestival. He starts his day withWeetabix and a poem, currently from Modern Poetry in Translation.

JOHN SIMMONS

John Simmons is author of manybooks, mainly non-fiction, mostrecently “Room 121”. He runs “DarkAngels” creative writing courses and is founder director of 26. www.26fruits.co.uk


Elif Shafak was born in Strasbourg,France, in 1971. She is an award-winning novelist and the most widelyread woman writer in Turkey. Criticshave named her as “one of the mostdistinctive voices in contemporaryTurkish and world literature”. Herbooks have been translated into morethan thirty languages and she wasawarded the honorary distinction ofChevalier of the Order of Arts andLetters. Shafak has published twelvebooks, eight of which are novels andshe writes fiction in both Turkish andEnglish. She blends Western andEastern traditions of storytelling,bringing out the myriad stories ofwomen, minorities, immigrants,subcultures, youth and global souls. Her work draws on diverse culturesand literary traditions, as well as deepinterest in history, philosophy, Sufism,oral culture, and cultural politics.Shafak’s writing breaks down categories,clichés, and cultural ghettoes. She alsohas a keen eye for black humor. Shafak’sfirst novel, Pinhan (The Mystic) wasawarded the “Rumi Prize” in 1998,

which is given to the best work inmystical literature in Turkey. Her secondnovel, S5 ehrin Aynaları (Mirrors of the City),brings together Jewish and Islamicmysticism against a historical setting inthe 17th century Mediterranean. Shafakgreatly increased her readership withher novel Mahrem (The Gaze), whichearned her the “Best Novel-TurkishWriters’ Union Prize” in 2000. Hernext novel, Bit Palas (The Flea Palace),has been a bestseller in Turkey and was shortlisted for the IndependentBest Fiction Award.

SARA SHERIDAN

Sara Sheridan: Pint-sized, bestsellinghistorical and crime novelist, swot,twitter evangelist, 26 Board member,Society of Authors Committeemember, occasional radio reporter,sometime journalist and AgathaChristie obsessive. www.sarasheridan.com

WORLDSPARTICIPANTS

ELIF SHAFAK


SJÓN

Sjón began his literary career inIceland at fifteen, publishing his firstpoetry collection. In the early 1980she founded the neo-surrealist groupMedúsa, and soon acquired a highprofile on the Reykjavík culture scene.He has published seven novels andnumerous other poetry collections,and written plays, librettos and picturebooks for children. His novels includeThe Whispering Muse, From the Mouthof the Whale, and The Blue Fox (allpublished in the UK by Telegram); the last was awarded the prestigiousNordic Council Literary Prize andnominated for the 2009 IndependentForeign Fiction Prize. In 2001, his long-time collaboration with the Icelandicsinger Björk led to an Academy AwardBest Song co-nomination (for lyrics toI’ve Seen It All), for the Lars von Trier-directed film Dancer in the Dark. In2007-08 he held the Samuel FischerGuest Professorship at the FreieUniversität in Berlin, and was a guestof the Berliner Künstlerprogramme in2010-11. He resides in Reykjavík withhis wife and two children.

RACHEL STEVENS

Rachel Stevens joined the BritishCouncil in 2003 as an EnglishLiterature graduate to work for the cultural relations think tank,Counterpoint. In 2007 she joined theLiterature team and is now DeputyDirector responsible for globalpartnerships and developing literatureprogrammes in South Asia and theAmericas working across the sector in literary translation, live literature,creative writing, reader developmentand publishing.

HENRY SUTTON

Henry Sutton was the UEA / NewWriting Partnership Creative WritingFellow in 2008. He has been teachingCreative Writing at the University of East Anglia ever since, and is now a faculty member and the convener of the MA Prose Fiction programme.He is the author of nine works offiction. His new novel, My CriminalWorld, explores issues of genre,violence and metafiction and waspublished by Harvill Secker in early2013. He has judged numerous literary awards, and is a long-standingliterary critic. He lives in Norwich with his family.

Thomas A


REBECCA SWIFT

Rebecca Swift read English at OxfordUniversity and has since worked as an editor and writer. For seven yearsshe worked at Virago Press, where she first conceived of the idea for TheLiterary Consultancy. For Chatto &Windus she edited a volume of lettersbetween Bernard Shaw and MargaretWheeler, Letters from Margaret: TheFascinating Story of Two Babies Swappedat Birth (1992) and ImaginingCharacters: Six Conversations aboutWomen Writers, a book ofconversations between writer A.S.Byatt and psychoanalyst Ignes Sodre(1995). Rebecca has also had poetrypublished in Virago New Poets (1990),Vintage New Writing 6 (1995),Driftwood, US (2005), Staple (2008),InterlitQ (2010) and Talking Poetry(2011). Rebecca is an Emeritus Trusteeof Writers’ Centre Norwich and a Trustee of the Maya Centre. In 1999 she completed an M.A. inPsychoanalytic Studies at the TavistockCentre in London and UEL. Her thesistitle was ARE YOU READING ME? An exploration of the relationshipbetween people who write and thosewho read them in publishing andrelated industries.

DAVID SZALAY

David Szalay was born in Canada in1974. His family moved to the UK thefollowing year and he has lived heremore or less ever since. After getting a degree at Oxford University he did a number of different jobs – mostly in sales but also some writing for BBC radio – before publishing his first novel, London and the Southeast, in 2008. It won the Betty Trask Prizeand the Geoffrey Faber MemorialPrize. Since then he has published two more novels, The Innocent andSpring. At the moment, he lives partlyin London and partly in Hungary.

GEORGE SZIRTES

George Szirtes was a refugee from theHungarian Uprising of 1956 and cameto England as a child together with hisparents and younger brother. His firstdegree was in Fine Art at Leeds andhe practised as a painter for someyears after. His first book of poetry The Slant Door (1979) was joint winnerof the Faber Memorial Prize. In 2004he won the TS Eliot Prize for histwelfth book of poems, Reel, and was shortlisted for the prize again in 2009 for The Burning of the Books. In between Bloodaxe published hisNew and Collected Poems (2008). His new book, Bad Machine (2013) is a Poetry Book Society Choice and is again shortlisted for the TS EliotPrize 2013. His books of translationfrom the Hungarian have won variousawards. He has written for children,most recently in In the Land of theGiants (2012) and on visual art. His work has been translated intoseveral languages. He teaches at theUniversity of East Anglia and is marriedto artist, Clarissa Upchurch. His manytranslations have won several prizes.

WORLDSPARTICIPANTS


ELISE VALMORBIDA

Elise Valmorbida writes books andshort stories, teaches creative writing(Arvon and Central Saint Martin’s),leads communications agency word-design, and is on the board of 26.www.word-design.co.uk/ev

EVIE WYLD

Evie Wyld runs Review, a smallindependent bookshop in Peckham,south London. Her first novel, After theFire, a Still Small Voice, won the JohnLlewellyn Rhys Prize and a Betty TraskAward. In 2011 she was listed as oneof the Culture Show’s Best NewBritish Novelists. She was also shortlisted for the Orange Prize for NewWriters and the International IMPACDublin Literary Award. She is includedin Granta’s list of Best of Young BritishNovelists 2013. Her second novel Allthe Birds Singing comes out in June2013 from Jonathan Cape and in 2014from Pantheon in the US.

SAM WEST

Sam West is an English actor anddirector. He is perhaps best known for his role in the film Howards Endand his work on stage (including theaward-winning play Enron). He haswritten essays on Richard II for theCambridge University Press seriesPlayers of Shakespeare, on Hamlet for Michael Dobson’s CUP studyPerforming Shakespeare’s TragediesToday and on “Shakespeare and Love”for BBC Radio 3. He has publishedarticles on Harold Pinter and on theShipping Forecast. He also writesfrequently and speaks in public aboutarts funding. West is an AssociateArtist of the Royal ShakespeareCompany, Chair of the NationalCampaign for the Arts and a memberof the council of the British Actors’Union, Equity.


ZHANG YUERAN

Zhang Yueran is regarded as one ofChina’s most influential young writers.She has published two short storycollections: Sunflower Missing In 1890(2003) and Ten Tales of Love (2004),and three novels: Distant Cherry(2004), Narcissus (2005) and ThePromise Bird (2006), which was namedthe best saga novel on the 2006Chinese Novel Ranking List. Each ofher books has sold more than 300,000copies. She has been the chief editorof the prestigious literary magazineNewriting since 2008. She has receivedmany awards, such as the ChinesePress Most Promising New TalentAward (2005), the “MAO-TAI Cup”People’s Literature Prize (2008), andthe Spring Literature Prize (2006). Sheis currently studying for her doctoraldegree in Ancient Chinese Literature.

WORLDSPARTICIPANTS


KATY CARR

Katy Carr is Communications Director at Writers’ Centre Norwichand manages media, PR, website, data, print, social media and allcommunications work for theorganisation. She is also an advisoryboard member for The Rialto poetrymagazine. Previous jobs have includedmanaging community arts and writingprojects and teaching. Katy studiedliterature and creative writing at theUniversity of East Anglia and enjoyswriting, having worked on acollaborative Arts Council-funded play and a radio drama for the BBC.She is currently working on a novel.

ANNELLI CLARKE

Annelli Clarke is Finance Assistant forWriters’ Centre Norwich. She is also a model milliner who uses traditionalmillinery techniques and processes to produce unique and stylish hats and headwear. Her influences arediverse – twentieth-century classicstyles, headwear from other cultures,religions or periods in history, popularculture, sculpture, birds and insects.

MARTIN FIGURA

Martin Figura is Finance Manager for Writers’ Centre Norwich and is a photographer and poet. His book of photographs This Man’s Army(Dewi Lewis) was published in 1998and Work – Space – Work (Happen) in 2008. His work has been widelypublished and exhibited – including at the National Portrait Gallery. He performs widely at events andfestivals in the UK and abroad andruns Café Writers, a monthly liveliterature event in Norwich. His poetrycollection Whistle (Arrowhead Press)was published in 2010 and together with the spoken word stage versionwas shortlisted for the Ted HughesAward for New Work, going on to tour theatres including the EdinburghFestival Fringe and the LondonRoundhouse. Boring the Arse off Young People is published by NastyLittle Press.

MEET WRITERS’ CENTRENORWICH


CHRIS GRIBBLE

Chris Gribble is the Chief Executive of Writers’ Centre Norwich. Aftercompleting a PhD in German Poetryand Philosophy at the University of Manchester, Chris worked inpublishing then the cultural sector and was the Director of ManchesterPoetry Festival and then ManchesterLiterature Festival. He is on the Board of Directors of ICORN (the International Cities of RefugeNetwork), sits on the Advisory Groupfor Manchester University’s Centre for New Writing and the EditorialBoard of Jon McGregor’s new journalThe Letters Page.

SHENAZ KEDAR

Shenaz Kedar is a ProgrammeManager at Writers’ Centre Norwichand joined the organisation in June2006 to launch and manage theNorwich City of Refuge programme.She has over 11 years experienceworking on community andparticipation based projects, workingwith asylum seekers, refugees andmigrant workers in a variety ofcontexts focusing on communitycohesion in Portugal, Japan, Greeceand Israel.

ROXANNE MATTHEWS

Roxanne Matthews is the part-timeProgramme Coordinator on the newVolunteer-led Reading and WritingProgramme, working with NorfolkLibrary and Information Service toengage teenagers in creative readingand writing across the county. Roxannecame to WCN from a background in arts and museum learning, havingstudied a BA in World Art at UEA andlater an MA in the Arts of Europe. Shehas worked in numerous communitysettings, run the community learningprogramme for the Wallace Collection,curated and run learning programmesfor a gallery in Tanzania and lovesworking with young people. Shespends her time outside the Writers’Centre freelancing in museums andrunning a heritage city learning project,LivingNorwich.



ALISON McFARLANE

Alison McFarlane is Executive Directorat Writers’ Centre Norwich. Alison iscurrently working on WCN’s businessplanning, organisational developmentand reporting structures as well as the change management process asWCN moves towards becoming theNational Centre for Writing. Followingtraining as an artist and a few years asa self employed textile designer, Alisonspent six years as senior lecturer in theDepartment of Arts and Humanitiesat the University of LondonGoldsmiths’ College. This was followedby ten years at Arts Council EnglandEast based in Cambridge, firstly asHead of Visual Arts and finally as Headof Arts. On leaving the Arts Council,Alison worked as CEO of a voluntaryorganisation in Norwich for beforebeing appointed as Executive Directorof the Norfolk & Norwich Festivalwhere she stayed until September2012. Alison was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 2006.

JON MORLEY

Jon Morley is Programme Director atWriters’ Centre Norwich. He haspreviously programmed and producedtheatre shows, concerts and outdoorarts festivals for The Drum inBirmingham, been a publisher andliterary activist in Coventry and taughtwriting and literature at the Universityof Warwick, Coventry University andthe Workers’ Education Association.He contributed essays to The OxfordCompanion to Black British Historyand has edited the work of numerousCaribbean writers, past and present.His poetry, which won an Eric GregoryAward, has been published in TheAllotment (Stride) and Voice Recognition(Bloodaxe), and he has perfomed fromhis pamphlet and jazz CD Backra Manat festivals in Scotland, Ireland, Trinidad,Slovakia, Portugal and Brazil.

LARA NARKIEWICZ

Lara Narkiewicz is ProgrammeAssistant for Writers’ Centre Norwich, providing support to otherProgramme Team staff on a range of projects. She co-ordinates theWCN Book Club and loves hearingthe discussions at their monthlymeetings. She completed a BA inFrench and Hispanic Studies at theUniversity of Sheffield, focusing onLatin American and post-colonialFrench language literature, and an MA in International Relations andDevelopment Studies at the Universityof East Anglia. She has taught Englishto groups with English as a secondarylanguage, and has worked andvolunteered for local and internationalcharities and organisations.


SAM RUDDOCK

Sam Ruddock joined Writers’ CentreNorwich in February 2009 havingpreviously been a Senior Booksellerwith Waterstones. He is now aProgramme Manager and looks afterthe Norwich Showcase, SummerReads, Norfolk and Norwich Festival,and monthly Salon programmes. Sam’s big love is fiction. He believespassionately in the power of stories to transform our understanding of theworld. Outside work he blogs onbooks and literature at Books, Time,and Silence, and contributes regularlyto others, including the popular bookcollective, Vulpes Libris.

LAURA STIMSON

Laura Stimson is a ProgrammeManager at Writers’ Centre Norwichand formerly co-managed the Writers’Centre Norwich Live Literatureprogramme. Laura delivers a range ofWCN programmes including Worlds.Outside of Writers’ Centre Norwichshe produces music and literatureevents and also performs in lounge-core band The Ferries. She is a fictionwriter and has studied at NorwichSchool of Art & Design and Universityof East Anglia.

LEILA TELFORD

Leila Telford is the Resources Managerand part of the Senior ManagementTeam and has been with Writers’Centre Norwich since it was formedin 2004. For four years she was the Office Manager, leading onadministration, finance, developmentand running several of the originalprogrammes. She worked in the healthsector for many years as a GP SurgeryManager and was a mature graduateof the Norwich School of Art andDesign (now Norwich UniversityCollege of the Arts) and its renownedCultural Studies BA. For three yearsshe was involved in a voluntarycapacity in the organisation of theNorwich Fringe Festival, where shealso exhibited, and for two years wasProject Narrator for the i10 East ofEngland university consortium.



RICHARD WHITE

Richard White is Marketing Officer at Writers’ Centre Norwich, andpreviously worked in Communicationswith Arts Council England, East. He has(too) many interests, including websitedevelopment, graphic design andmaking objects and drawings somemight place under the banner of ‘art’.Last and by no means least, he lovesreading books. Unlike the rest of hiscolleagues, he lives outside Norwich, in the city of Ely.

ROWAN WHITESIDE

Rowan Whiteside is the MarketingAssistant at Writers’ Centre Norwich,where she helps Katy and Richardpromote the myriad of activities thatWriters’ Centre Norwich participatesin and organises. After completing aBA in English and American Literatureat the University of East Anglia in 2011she worked at Waterstones as themanager of the fiction department.Born in Durban, South Africa, she isnow an unabashed supporter of the“Fine City” of Norwich.


NOTES

WWW.WRITERSCENTRENORWICH.ORG.UK

Documents

Worlds Literature Festival 2013