Travel Writing Scholarship to Beijing

Hello,
I would like to let you know about an exciting scholarship opportunity for your students.
WorldNomads.com in conjunction with Rough Guides is offering the chance to be mentored by Rough Guides travel writer Martin Zatko. The scholarship recipient will work with Martin in Beijing and also have the chance to write for Rough Guides (including a review of the Forbidden City!). The resulting work will be considered for publication in the next edition of The Rough Guide to China.
The winner of the scholarship will also join international travel journalist and Beijing local, Kit Gillet, for a three-day adventure into his backyard to explore the hutong alleyways, the burgeoning Chinese art scene and even spend a night camping on the Great Wall!
For the last leg of the scholarship, they will discover the rich food culture of Beijing with three culinary experiences (think tea tasting and dumpling making classes) from Hias Gourmet.
Applicants for the scholarship must submit a personal travel essay based on one of the following themes: ?Understanding a Culture through Food?, ?Catching a Moment?, ?Sharing Stories – A Glimpse into Another’s Life?, or ?A Local Encounter that Changed my Perspective?. They will also be asked to provide a statement on why they should be awarded the 2013 Travel Writing Scholarship.
All interested students should visit the World Nomads Scholarship page for more information.
The deadline for entrants is April 19, 2013. We would appreciate you forwarding this information on to your students and lecturers, and uploading the information to the appropriate section of your website as this opportunity is open to all students.
You may also download a poster to put up around your school;
A4 size
A3 size
US letter size?
Please let me know if you would like more information regarding this exciting travel writing scholarship!
Kind Regards,
Alicia Smith
PROGRAMS MARKETING MANAGER

Bangladesh: Past Present Future

Shahidul Alam’s My Journey as a Witness

Rupert Grey,  media and copyright lawyer, journalist, photographer and teacher, based in Covent Garden  London.

cover
Dr Alam’s aspiration is to teach the pixels to dance. It is a characteristically elegant and evocative phrase in comparison with the generally arid language of the digital lexicon, and it conveys the ambit of his vision and the scope of his knowledge. His Journey is a considerable one. It takes the author from a PhD in chemistry in London to photographer, political activist and educationalist in Bangladesh; it spans the 40 years since the birth of his native country, when he was 16, to its coming of age as an economic and political power amongst Asian nations.  Alam has played his part in that growing up.  He has challenged oppression and fought for justice and freedom of speech, not infrequently at considerable risk to himself and his partner Rahnuma Ahmed,[i] and he has forged an international reputation.[ii] My Journey as a Witness, published by Skira, Milan, 2011 is a self portrait of an activist who has used photography to chronicle his nation’s anguish.[iii] Continue reading “Shahidul Alam’s My Journey as a Witness”

Kamra Publishes Kamra Edition- 2

Kamra?is excited to announce Kamra?Edition 2 with the co-publisher, Nokta.

Kamra is a bangla book on photography which published its first edition on 26th January, 2012. After getting overwhelming response with edition 1, Kamra edition 2 comes with more text and photographs. Keeping documentary photography in mind, Kamra edition 2 includes a wide range of documentary practice with unique and different views. Starting from classic documentary to today?s contemporary practice, the book includes text on Nan Goldin, Eugene Smith, Martin Parr, Josef Koudelka etc. This edition also translates two important texts on critiques and theoretical views on documentary photography with the tittle- Documentary, Pramanikota o Bibidhartho by Martha Rosler and Pramanno Alokchitrer bhetor, bahir o otopor by Olivier Lagun.
Kamra 2nd Edition_Web01 Continue reading “Kamra Publishes Kamra Edition- 2”

Lokkhi Terra and The Che Guevara's Rickshaw Diaries

2012 began with Lokkhi Terra performing at Drik. The group has performed all around the world at venues such as Ronnie Scotts, Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall, the House of Commons, Glastonbury and at Womad.? They were one of the critics? choices at this year?s Womad festival in the UK, and was the band chosen to perform at the closing ceremony of the South Asian Games 2010.
Lokkhi Terra?s two albums?No Visa Required,?and?Che Guevara?s Rickshaw Diaries, received much critical acclaim around the world.

Photo Of Lokkhi Terra

From?Bangladesh,?Cuba,?Turkey,?United Kingdom
Open-eared and well-travelled world/jazz fusion
The music of Lokkhi Terra isn’t for those who don’t travel well, while those with strong wanderlust in their bones are advised to strap themselves in. The sound of this London-based, multi-membered collective zigzags all over the map. Their point of departure appears to be jazz fusion, but from here they touch down in the streets of Bangladesh, the Afrobeat clubs of Nigeria, the cantinas of Cuba and the beaches of Brazil. Such eclecticism might suggest a disjointed jumble, a sound dreamed up by committee. But in Lokkhi Terra’s care, it all makes utter and perfect sense, a seamless collage of some of the best noises this planet’s ever made. And they’re a bunch keen on album titles that sum up their modus operandi. Last year’s No Visa Required emphasised their border-busting sound, while their forthcoming record also gives a hint of their influences and inspirations: it’s called Che Guevara’s Rickshaw Diaries.
(Biography written by Nige Tassell 2011)
They have all performed around the world at venues such as Ronnie Scotts, Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall, the House of Commons, Glastonbury and at Womad.? They were one of the critics? choices at this year?s Womad festival in the UK, and was the band chosen to perform at the closing ceremony of the South Asian Games 2010.
Lokkhi Terra?s two albums?No Visa Required,?and?Che Guevara?s Rickshaw Diaries, received much critical acclaim around the world.
The combined sonic forces usually transform a quiet room into one which has people clapping and swaying within minutes and Khan is hoping for a similar reaction in India. Times of India.
Lokkhi Terra will be playing?23rd of January at Blue Frog Delhi and on the 24th January at Blue Frog Mumbai.
Lokkhi Terra is led by the Bangladeshi Kishon Khan

Kisho Khan
Kisho Khan?Pianist/Composer/Arranger/Producer

Here is what people have said about him:
?Kishon Khan leant back from his keyboards with the glee of a man driving a super-car, and played as if distilling the entire 1970s work of Herbie Hancock into a high-octane drive in the country, as congas bounced and brass slid around him…? FT.com
?A formidable jazz pianist? Simon Broughton, Evening Standard
? Highly innovative, a key figure in the British Bangla-Afro-Cuban-Jazz circle? Agogo Records
?Exceptional? ? Movimientos
Kishon Khan is a classically trained pianist, born in Bangladesh, and brought up and living in London. He is widely regarded as one of the most versatile players on the scene today ? sessioning across the genres whilst also being at the heart of some of London?s most critically acclaimed bands. He has lived, studied and worked in countries a far afield as Cuba, Brazil, South Africa, and of course Bangladesh, and this is reflected in the diversity of his musical works/collaborations.
Lokkhi Terra is developing the theme music for Chobi Mela VII, the international festival of photography, held in Dhaka.
———
The year sadly ended with the attack at Ramu, the devastating fire at Tazreen Fashions and the brutal assassination in broad daylight of Biswajit Das. While both parties wax lyrical on their successes at the talk shows, the real heroes of Bangladesh continue to be the farmer in the field, the migrant workers and the garment workers who pay for the lavish lifestyles of the Tri State residents of Gulshan, Baridhara and Banani. Let’s take time to remember some of the other Bangladeshis who have made us proud. Some of them young like the choreographer Akram Khan and the writer Tahmima Anam the cricketer Shakib Al Hasan, the educationist Salman Khan and others more senior like the elephant in the room whom we are not allowed to mention, Muhammad Yunus.
Please Retweet #bangladesh #muhammadyunus #tahminaanam #akramkhan #shakibalhasan #salm

River Bloom

By Ranjit Hoskote.

Art in America Column: Atlas Bombay (extract)

If you think of South Asian art today, you likely focus on the subcontinent?s metropolitan centers; on the gallery scenes in Bombay, New Delhi and Bangalore in India, and on artists? circles in Karachi and Lahore in Pakistan. Not surprisingly, it?s the artists who work in these populous, kaleidoscopic hubs of activity, transiting between there and West Europe and North America, who are most often selected by curators to embody the specificity of their place and time.
But where, I suspect, many curators are not yet looking is several thousand miles away from South Asia?s metropolitan centers, in the northeast of India and in Bangladesh, at the geographical edge where the South Asian subcontinent shades away into the Himalayan foothills of Tibet to the north and the tropical lushness of Burma and Thailand to the south. Continue reading “River Bloom”

Commonwealth writers conversation

Hay Festival in Dhaka

Writer Farah Ghuzhnavi speaking at the Commonwealth Writers Forum with activist Shireen Huq looking on. Others on the panel were entrepreneur?Kamal?Quadir and photographer. The session was moderated by Belize writer Godfrey Smith. ???Shahidul Alam/Drik/Majority World


Our autumn festival odyssey across four continents begins in?Kenya, continues in?Spain, races on to?Mexico, then ventures to?Turkey, and on to?Bangladesh.

As we travel four continents we hope you will join us by downloading podcasts from each festival, signing up for our regular newsletters for monthly updates and following our international?Hay Festival blog?where writers from around the world offer their thoughts and reflections on the festivals they visit and the debates they take part in. We look forward to sharing our conversations, re-imagining the world with you.

About the festival

The three-day programme of events in 2012 will include authors and speakers from Bangladesh and across the world. The festival will take place over the 15th, 16th and 17th November at the Bangla Academy Ground.

The Hay Festival presents a wonderful opportunity to create dialogue between leading British and Bangladeshi authors; I hope this event will herald a new wave of Bangladeshi writing as we bring some of the magic of Hay to Dhaka.?Tahmima Anam

Dhaka is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh. It is located in the geographic centre of the country, in the great deltaic region of the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers. The city is within the monsoon climate zone, in one of the world?s leading rice and jute growing regions. Dhaka is divided into an old city and a new city.
Saturday?17?November
[148]?3:30PM?COMMONWEALTH?WRITERS?CONVERSATION:?Main?Stage
A?panel?chaired?by?Godfrey?Smith,?the?award-winning?writer?from Belize,?explores?how?artists?can?participate?in?the?mechanisms?which affect?our?lives and?what participatory?governance?really?means.?With writer?Farah Ghuznavi,?entrepreneur?Kamal?Quadir,?activist?Shireen Huq?and photographer?Shahidul?Alam.
Full programme?Please Retweet #hayfestdhaka
More images from DrikNews
Protest against Hay Festival in Dhaka

Kakababu choley gelen: Sunil Gangopadhyay (1934-2012)

by Udayan Chattopadhyay

Late Sunil Gangopadhyay with late Humayun Ahmed.
Source: Nuhospolli blog

That the passing of Sunil Gangopadhyay came as a shock to many ? despite his age and health ? is a reflection of his being, till his last Puja season during which he died ? the most prolific and recognizable mainstream writer in post-1947 Indian Bengal. Continue reading “Kakababu choley gelen: Sunil Gangopadhyay (1934-2012)”

Chai, Autos and Sher Shah Suri

by Shoaib?Danyal: Kafila.org

OCTOBER 27, 2012
photographer unknown

Nothing good comes of having your status as capital snatched from you by Delhi. As a Calcuttan I know the pain. Of course, my city?s had it relatively easy when you consider the fate of Sasaram in Bihar. That?s where Afghan warlord (what a useful phrase: right from Bihar in the 16th century to the US invasion in the 21st) Sher Shah Suri had his capital, as ruler of Bengal and Bihar, before he overthrew Humayun and moved shop to the Purani Qila in Delhi. Unlike the Afghan warlords of today though, Sher Shah was a pretty impressive ruler. He introduced the?rupiya. which was the predecessor of the modern rupee. More interestingly, he introduced a small denomination coin called the?dam?which probably gave rise to the English phrase ?I don?t give a damn?. The administrative set-up introduced by him was so impressive that Akbar copied liberally from it and Sher Shah?s ideas therefore ruled India for centuries after the man?s death. Continue reading “Chai, Autos and Sher Shah Suri”

Hafez and Goethe

PARTICIPATE

DIWANS.ORG is a participatory web project proposing an intercultural dialogue through artistic responses. DIWANS.ORG is generated by people around the world who are invited to produce and upload audio-visual creations inspired by the poetry of the Persian poet Hafez and the German writer Goethe. It is a contemporary interactive poetry bundle, in which you can contribute with an audio-visual response and discover which creations are inspired by your own work. You can also go deeply into in the related contexts or simply enjoy the audio-visual poems. Continue reading “Hafez and Goethe”