Nadine Aisha Jassat
Appeared: 2 July
Nadine Aisha Jassat is the author of Let Me Tell You This (404 Ink, 2019), and her poetry, narrative non-fiction, and short stories feature widely online and in print; including in It’s Not About the Burqa (Picador), Nasty Women (404 Ink), Islands Are But Mountains: New Poetry from the UK (Platypus Press) and more. She has performed her work internationally, and her work has drawn significant acclaim, including being shortlisted for the Edwin Morgan Poetry Award and winning a Scottish Book Trust New Writer’s Award for Fiction and Narrative Non-Fiction. In 2019, she was named by Makar Jackie Kay in her official selection of 10 Compelling ‘BAME’ artists working in the UK, as part of the British Council and National Centre for Writing’s International Literature Showcase, and she has recently returned from Edinburgh International Book Festival’s Outriders Africa.
Appeared: 2 July
Nadine Aisha Jassat is the author of Let Me Tell You This (404 Ink, 2019), and her poetry, narrative non-fiction, and short stories feature widely online and in print; including in It’s Not About the Burqa (Picador), Nasty Women (404 Ink), Islands Are But Mountains: New Poetry from the UK (Platypus Press) and more. She has performed her work internationally, and her work has drawn significant acclaim, including being shortlisted for the Edwin Morgan Poetry Award and winning a Scottish Book Trust New Writer’s Award for Fiction and Narrative Non-Fiction. In 2019, she was named by Makar Jackie Kay in her official selection of 10 Compelling ‘BAME’ artists working in the UK, as part of the British Council and National Centre for Writing’s International Literature Showcase, and she has recently returned from Edinburgh International Book Festival’s Outriders Africa.
Spotlight on Independent Bookshops...
The Lighthouse
43-45 West Nicolson Street
Edinburgh EH8 9DB
email: [email protected]
Phone: 0131 662 9112
Website: https://www.lighthousebookshop.com/
Lighthouse - Edinburgh's Radical Bookshop is an activist, intersectional, feminist, antiracist, LGBTQ+ bookshop and community space. They are home to Edinburgh's annual Radical Book Fair & August Book Fringe and in normal times host hundreds of book events throughout the year. For now you can find their virtual community bookshop space on their website and across social media under the banner #LighthouseLifeRaft. Their weekly newsletter shares the highlights, including video readings, recommendations and author interviews, and that's where they'll announce their online events when they start up again! They are @Lighthousebks on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
They are still delivering books across the UK, which you can order via email or you can pick from a selection of our favourites on the website.
43-45 West Nicolson Street
Edinburgh EH8 9DB
email: [email protected]
Phone: 0131 662 9112
Website: https://www.lighthousebookshop.com/
Lighthouse - Edinburgh's Radical Bookshop is an activist, intersectional, feminist, antiracist, LGBTQ+ bookshop and community space. They are home to Edinburgh's annual Radical Book Fair & August Book Fringe and in normal times host hundreds of book events throughout the year. For now you can find their virtual community bookshop space on their website and across social media under the banner #LighthouseLifeRaft. Their weekly newsletter shares the highlights, including video readings, recommendations and author interviews, and that's where they'll announce their online events when they start up again! They are @Lighthousebks on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
They are still delivering books across the UK, which you can order via email or you can pick from a selection of our favourites on the website.
The Portobello Bookshop
46 Portobello High St,
Portobello, Edinburgh EH15 1DA
Website: https://www.theportobellobookshop.com/
The Portobello Bookshop is an independent bookshop based in Edinburgh's seaside community of Portobello. They opened their doors in July 2019 and had a wonderful first year, and are thrilled to be a part of their local high street. They're a general bookshop carrying a wide range of titles, and able to get hold of most books in print for customers. They're looking forward to one day opening their doors again, but in the meantime have launched an online shop, which they're developing all the time. They're thrilled to have been chosen by Nadine as her bookshop of choice, and wish everyone the very best during this tough time.
How people can order:
People can order via their online shop.
They can also get in touch via their contact page and they'll do our best to source any books currently in print.
They're keeping this page up to date with their current news as much as they can.
46 Portobello High St,
Portobello, Edinburgh EH15 1DA
Website: https://www.theportobellobookshop.com/
The Portobello Bookshop is an independent bookshop based in Edinburgh's seaside community of Portobello. They opened their doors in July 2019 and had a wonderful first year, and are thrilled to be a part of their local high street. They're a general bookshop carrying a wide range of titles, and able to get hold of most books in print for customers. They're looking forward to one day opening their doors again, but in the meantime have launched an online shop, which they're developing all the time. They're thrilled to have been chosen by Nadine as her bookshop of choice, and wish everyone the very best during this tough time.
How people can order:
People can order via their online shop.
They can also get in touch via their contact page and they'll do our best to source any books currently in print.
They're keeping this page up to date with their current news as much as they can.
Spotlight on Theatres...
Fringe of Colour
Website: https://fringeofcolour.weebly.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/FringeofColour
Fringe of Colour was started in 2018 by Jessica Brough as a publicly-available database of shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival by performers of colour. This was a response to the scarcity of shows by people of colour at the fringe, across categories, and the disproportionate promotion and support they receive in contrast to productions by either entirely or majority-white performers. Since then, Fringe of Colour has contributed to the conversation around the lack of representation of Black and Brown voices at arts festivals, and the majority white and middle-class environment that manifests in both the audiences and on stages.
This environment is prevalent at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and is an indication of the exclusivity and inaccessibility of arts festivals to people of colour and people from lower income backgrounds. These issues can have knock-on effects for performers of colour, who may experience feelings of isolation, tokenism and miscommunication when performing regularly to majority-white audiences. This is especially true for productions that address issues around race, ethnicity and other aspects of identity not shared by the white audience.
Website: https://fringeofcolour.weebly.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/FringeofColour
Fringe of Colour was started in 2018 by Jessica Brough as a publicly-available database of shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival by performers of colour. This was a response to the scarcity of shows by people of colour at the fringe, across categories, and the disproportionate promotion and support they receive in contrast to productions by either entirely or majority-white performers. Since then, Fringe of Colour has contributed to the conversation around the lack of representation of Black and Brown voices at arts festivals, and the majority white and middle-class environment that manifests in both the audiences and on stages.
This environment is prevalent at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and is an indication of the exclusivity and inaccessibility of arts festivals to people of colour and people from lower income backgrounds. These issues can have knock-on effects for performers of colour, who may experience feelings of isolation, tokenism and miscommunication when performing regularly to majority-white audiences. This is especially true for productions that address issues around race, ethnicity and other aspects of identity not shared by the white audience.
Spotlight on Libraries...
Woman Zone
Cape Town
Telephone: 083 431 9986
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Womanzonect/
The Woman’s Library is one of a kind in Cape Town, if not South Africa with well over 1000 books by, for and about women. It’s open on Thursdays and Fridays 12 – 2pm for reference, study or just for a visit. On the second Saturday of every month they hold their popular WZ Book Club meetings. The Library is our home on the ground floor of the Artscape Theatre Centre and is used as a hub for meetings. Volunteers or anyone wishing to hire the space can contact them.
Woman Zone's Vision: volunteer movement designed to bring together and unite women from all different communities of the Mother City. To get to know and understand one another better, to share stories and experiences, work together and learn from each other. The mission is to highlight and promote their achievements above their challenges – and ultimately unite all Cape Town through her women.
Since Lockdown at the end of March, Woman Zone has been closed but they have been posting on Facebook – and are now working towards a series of podcasts which hopefully will spread the stories they hear in Cape Town to a wider audience.
Nancy Richards, Executive Director of Woman Zone, says, 'When Nadine first contacted us at Woman Zone to say she was coming to Cape Town, we were thrilled. It just felt like it was going to be a very special connection. We weren’t wrong. We held a Story Café for her and fellow poet Amanda Thomson at the Women’s Library and between them they blew the audience away with their words and stories. They also made some lasting sistah friendships. That Nadine has identified our little Library as her favourite is an honour indeed. And we look forward to her return one day, when COVID19 has ceased to dominate all our lives. We are very much looking forward to hearing her performance and wish you well with this creative and exciting series birthed by Jackie Kay, National Poet for Scotland.
'In terms of support – if people would like to follow us on Facebook, check our site and/or sign up for our mailing list we’d be delighted. Of course, there is an open invitation to visit – once we’re all free to travel again. We’re a small team, with limited tech skills, but we’re doing our best to skill up and catch up!'
Cape Town
Telephone: 083 431 9986
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Womanzonect/
The Woman’s Library is one of a kind in Cape Town, if not South Africa with well over 1000 books by, for and about women. It’s open on Thursdays and Fridays 12 – 2pm for reference, study or just for a visit. On the second Saturday of every month they hold their popular WZ Book Club meetings. The Library is our home on the ground floor of the Artscape Theatre Centre and is used as a hub for meetings. Volunteers or anyone wishing to hire the space can contact them.
Woman Zone's Vision: volunteer movement designed to bring together and unite women from all different communities of the Mother City. To get to know and understand one another better, to share stories and experiences, work together and learn from each other. The mission is to highlight and promote their achievements above their challenges – and ultimately unite all Cape Town through her women.
Since Lockdown at the end of March, Woman Zone has been closed but they have been posting on Facebook – and are now working towards a series of podcasts which hopefully will spread the stories they hear in Cape Town to a wider audience.
Nancy Richards, Executive Director of Woman Zone, says, 'When Nadine first contacted us at Woman Zone to say she was coming to Cape Town, we were thrilled. It just felt like it was going to be a very special connection. We weren’t wrong. We held a Story Café for her and fellow poet Amanda Thomson at the Women’s Library and between them they blew the audience away with their words and stories. They also made some lasting sistah friendships. That Nadine has identified our little Library as her favourite is an honour indeed. And we look forward to her return one day, when COVID19 has ceased to dominate all our lives. We are very much looking forward to hearing her performance and wish you well with this creative and exciting series birthed by Jackie Kay, National Poet for Scotland.
'In terms of support – if people would like to follow us on Facebook, check our site and/or sign up for our mailing list we’d be delighted. Of course, there is an open invitation to visit – once we’re all free to travel again. We’re a small team, with limited tech skills, but we’re doing our best to skill up and catch up!'