Naari Vaani - In association with Vaani

Naari Vaani: 
The Poetic Voices of South Asian Women

Appearing at this event

Date November 3, 2012
Start // End 7 pm // 8:30 pm
Venue Bush Theatre 
Ticket price £5 / £4 conc.

For buying tickets, please visit SALF website.

Bringing together some of the most exciting talent in women’s poetry today.

Welcome to an event rich in variation which promises texture, nuance and patterns; these are the moods of a new paradigm in poetic literature of South Asia. Bringing together some of the most exciting talent in South Asian women’s poetry today, each of the poets has distilled her own heritage, history and origin to create pieces that are evocative and lyrical yet contemporary.

Shanta’s poems were published initially in major Indian journals during the 1970s. In the mid-1990s her first two collections appeared – the first in India and the second in England. In 2010, Arc Publications brought out her fifth collection of poetry. She is currently working on a New & Selected Poems.

Sweta’s mission as a writer is to create a body of work that reflects social change using words. All of my seven books have the underpinning of my South Asian heritage interlaced with my concerns for the conditions of women globally and their misplaced identity in society.

Shazea’s poetry has been published in anthologies and journals in the UK and US including Ten (Bloodaxe Books, 2010), The Financial Times, Poetry Review, Modern Poetry in Translation. The Courtesans Reply, a long poem sequence will be published as a pamphlet in November 2012.

In association with Vaani

Manni-From a world beyond stars - A Book Review

The two books 'Manni From the world beyond stars' and 'The Turtles Dream and keys' by Benrali are a collection of verses and illustrations.
Berali has used both his skills as a poet and as an artist to tell his readers a story of friendship and coming of age.

Muted yet colourful images have dream like qualities to them in the twin books. The words add to the magic created by the art.

"Jupiter's colors are like slipper orchids, hard to find in nature. colors that I imagine are a memory of ancient seas, colors that remind me of fish from coral reefs."

The authors love for the Eastern box turtle of North America is evident on each page but sometimes a reader might forget that this story is about a tiny turtle and not about themselves.

"Look at all the patterns in a garden, stars in moss, circles in sand, ivy wings, little hats on mushrooms and sun letters on box turtle shells."

The second book Manni from a World Beyond Stars is more suited for children aged 5-9 as it tells a story along with beautiful and mesmerising illustrations.

The books are best bought as a gift for children or even for adults who like rich art illustrations.

By Smita Singh

Newbridge School Multicultural Day Celebrations Pics

At New Bridge Special School on 15th September 2012. We celebrated the Multicultural Day with so much zeal. There was a very good turn out and a great audience. The DJ played some wonderful music and the audience were very enthusiastic to join in on the dance floor. What a wonderful experience!

It was personally a first time experience of witnessing a foot tapping Irish Dance, melodious Israeli dance and exciting Punjabi dance all in one programme. We even got to learn a few steps of Israeli dance. Just amazing!

Amazing Bagpiper Player, Redbridge Mayor and Smita Singh from left

Wonderful Irish Dancers!

On the Dance floor!

VAANI's own- best Dancer Andrea

Exhilarating Punjabi dancers

An update by Smita Singh

NEWBRIDGE SCHOOL PRESENTS...

 
A

CELEBRATION DAY

WITHIN THE COMMUNITY

NEWBRIDGE PRIMARY SCHOOL

AT GRESHAM DRIVE CAMPUS

ON

SATURDAY 15^th SEPTEMBER 2012

1.00pm-5.00pm

AN AFTERNOON OF ENTERTAINMENT, FOOD AND INFORMATION.

 

FREE ADMISSION.

TRADITIONAL DRESS WELCOME

NEWBRIDGE SCHOOL           

GRESHAM DRIVE CAMPUS

161 GRESHAM DRIVE
CHADWELL HEATH

RM6 4TR

THIS IS A MULTI CULTURAL CELEBRATION DAY

****About NEWBRIDGE PRIMARY SCHOOL****

NEWBRIDGE PRIMARY SCHOOL is a community special school catering for up to 138 children and young people between the ages of two and nineteen years who have a complex learning difficulty, which is often accompanied by additional special educational needs, which may include;

• Physical disabilities
• Sensory impairments
• Autistic Spectrum disorders                                                                
• Challenging behaviour
• Medical needs

Get your copy of 9.69 seconds

Olympic games are on and the spirit of sportsmanship is in the air! People are participating in this festival of strength, perseverance, endurance, sweat, blood and victory in every way they can.

Keeping with the spirit of Usain Bolt, dedicated to his record in the last Olympics, get your copy of 9.69 Seconds.

Don't miss out on the and get a taste yourself, click on the image to go to Amazon website.

9.69 Seconds - Book Launch Photos

From VAANI event on 28th april 2012

Meet Sunetra Gupta!

On 28th April 2012 - Meet Sunetra Gupta, she is an acclaimed novelist, essayist and scientist. Her fifth novel, So Good in Black was published in February 2009. She has been the winner of the 2009 Royal Society Rosalind Franklin Award for her scientific achievements. Sunetra is Professor of Theoretical Epidemiology at Oxford University's Department of Zoology.
Other dignitaries include The Redbridge Mayor and Mayoress along with speakers like Hema Macherla author of Breeze from River Manjeera and Blue Eyes.

VAANI is launching it's second anthology 9.69 seconds, a collection of short stories and poems dedicated to the spirit of sports and Olympics 2012.

There are cultural performances by local children and VAANI's service users, people with learning disabilities of project SENSE.

Food will be available for all the guests.
Date: 28th APril 2012
Time: 19:00pm to 21:30pm
Venue: Gloucester Room, Ilford Central Library.
Tickets - £2.50
Please book yours early.

A pessimistic view on Women's Day

The mention of Women's Day triggers a chain of thoughts in the mind. It raises a few questions. Why do people celebrate?
Is it because they are happy or because they have achieved something or because they are afraid of something and wouldn't like to have it happen to them again?

In the olden time people used to celebrate the onset of colorful spring, good harvesting, beginning of rainy season or other religious festivals. But the modern times has seen the deterioration of relationships. As more of us become individualistic, self centered, the more celebrations of relationships. This is not to put the blame on people but that's how commercialisation has victimised the society and it's roots are evident in every relationship.

Earlier, where the emotions ruled the world, now it's the legal proof that abounds. The rivers of love have dried up and all that's left is the bitter salt of past glory. Some find it easier to manage the relationships along with their busy life and the others are simply too busy to pause.
The speed with which the life goes on in the developed and developing countries is at contradiction with the prolonged life expectancy. As the two genders struggle shoulder to shoulder to survive in this fast paced life, the frictions, the differences melt away and soon there will be a day when there are no men or women.

It is ironic that we celebrate Women's day like we celebrate other obsolete or taken for granted relationships, i.e. mother's day, father's day, valentine's day etc. It's not too far ahead in future where we will be celebrating Men's day as well. One wonders what will happen after that?What will people celebrate after that? Human Day?

By Smita Singh
Image from feministsforchoice.com

Rastaa - A Book Review

Rastaa by Janaki Sastry is a novel based on the journey of two sisters being raised in Bradford. A real life family drama unfolds in the flashback of the narrator. There are heart curdling tortures bestowed by the closest, the most trusted relatives and then on the other hands there are moments of pure love shining through among the strangers.

The letters written by Naz the younger sister of the two are the most emotional. For example,
"Abbu, they all loved us when you were with us, as soon as you were gone they changed a lot. They hated us, Abbu. Is it my fault that you died so suddenly? They said nasty things about you Abbu. I felt so helpless."
The novel explores the depth of victimization and how difficult it becomes for the victims to come out of the vicious circles they find themselves in.

The author has woven the ups and downs of the two main characters in such a way that it keeps the readers glued to the book. From the suggestion of incest, misunderstandings, domestic violence, extreme cruelty to love flourishing in all the wrong places, the story has all the ingredients for the making of a good read.

A Book Review
By Smita Singh

Get Involved and raise your voice!

CULTURAL COMPETITION
Redbridge Book and Media Festival is one of the best and most popular festivals around and it creates a huge platform for all involved reaching around 16,000 residence.
Starting with a fantastic new cultural competition of dancing, singing, writing competitions open to children of ages between 6 to 15 years. The selected groups/individual will perform in our major event during Redbridge Book and Media Festival April 2012 and the finalists will be awarded by invited celebrities. 
For more details please contact Smita on smita@vaani.org.
Please put your name forward as early as possible for practice and better chances of selection.

DONATE and gain goodwill and blessings
Our project SENSE for the people with learning disabilities is working on an Art and Craft initiative supporting Paralympics 2012. The Art works will be exhibited during Redbridge Book and Media Festival 2012. VAANI is a small non-profit organisation working at the grass root level. We thrive on the community support. We will be gratefull if you would like to donate your used/unused colour pencils, crayons, water colour, Acrylics, plain papers or any other Art and craft materials.

Regular Meetings
New year needs new resolutions. VAANI is starting a special young people basic Creative Writing course lasting 10 weeks where children will learn the basic creative writing techniques and will also get a chance to meet and ask questions with a published author. For AGE:7 years and above.

VAANI's Regular Meetings starts from 10th Jan 2012.
SENSE(VAANI) for People with learning disabilities begins 10th Jan 2012 from 10:30am to 12:30 pm at Forest House, Clements Road, Ilford.
VAANI authors meeting is held every other Saturdays starting 14th Jan 2012 from 14:00pm to 15:30pm at COSTA, 1st floor Exchange Mall, Ilford.

If you are interested in attending any of the above meetings, please email info@vaani.org