Writeidea brochure 2019

15-17 11-13 November 2016 2019
The
Writeidea Writeidea
Festival Festival
2019 2016
www.ideastore.co.uk/writeidea
www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/writeidea
East
London’s
FREE
Reading
Festival
East
London’s
FREE
Reading
Festival

INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the eleventh
edition of the Writeidea
Festival, Tower Hamlets
Council’s unique, free
reading festival which
celebrates the pleasure of
reading with an exciting
line-up of authors and
performers.
We are proud to continue
to provide a very diverse
programme with a
combination of well-known
names with emerging
writers, all bringing their
own local, national and
international perspective
on fiction and non-fiction
writing. We are particularly
pleased to include writers
suggested by the public, and
we hope this year’s festival
will inspire you to suggest
even more for next year’s
edition.
With over 40 events on
offer over the weekend, our
speakers cover a range of
themes, genres and topics.
Also with dance, music
and spoken word poetry
performances, it’s not going
to be easy to decide what to
attend!
A special mention goes to
our Writeidea volunteers
and to the team at Tower
Hamlets Local History
Library & Archives who have
curated the local history
strand of the festival and
who will be hosting a stall
on the Saturday. The festival
is also supported by Brick
Lane Books, an independent
local bookshop that will be
selling books by the authors
involved, if you want to own
your own copy.
We are also very grateful to
the Arts Council of England
for its continued support.
Enjoy the festival.
Mayor John Biggs and
Cllr Sabina Akhtar, Cabinet
Member for Culture, Arts
and Brexit

For hearing-impaired members of the audience,
a number of our events will have live subtitles,
also known as speech-to-text transcription (STT),
provided by Stage Text www.stagetext.org. Please
check www.ideastore.co.uk/writeidea for details.
All the events are FREE. Most events will be very
popular and we strongly advise booking a ticket
in advance. We allocate more tickets than there is
capacity in order to allow for the high number of noshows
that unfortunately happen when events are
free of charge. Please arrive early as entry to events
is on a first come, first served basis.
Book tickets at www.ideastore.co.uk/writeidea
Follow us on twitter @writeideafest #writeidea
You can keep up to date with Idea Store events
through our website www.ideastore.co.uk
Details in this brochure are correct at the time of print,
but the programme may be subject to last minute changes.
For the latest information see the Writeidea Festival pages
www.ideastore.co.uk/writeidea

Photo: Dominic Martlew
FESTIVAL LAUNCH
COLIN GRANT
Homecoming: Voices of
the Windrush Generation
7:00pm Dance Studio
When Colin Grant was
growing up in Luton in the
1960s, he learned not to
ask his Jamaican parents
why they had emigrated to
Britain. “We’re here because
we’re here,” his father would
say. ‘You have some place
else to go?’
But now, seventy years
after the arrival of ships
such as the Windrush, this
generation of pioneers is
ready to tell its stories.
Homecoming draws
on over a hundred firsthand
interviews, archival
recordings and memoirs by
the women and men who
FRIDAY 15 NOVEMBER
came to Britain from the
West Indies between the
late 1940s and the early
1960s. In their own words,
we witness the transition
from the optimism of the
first post-war arrivals to the
race riots of the late 1950s.
We hear from nurses in
Manchester; bus drivers
in Bristol; seamstresses
in Birmingham; teachers
in Croydon; dockers in
Cardiff; inter-racial lovers
in High Wycombe, and
carnival queens in Leeds.
These are stories of hope
and regret, of triumphs
and challenges, brimming
with humour, anger and
wisdom. Together, they
reveal a rich tapestry of
Caribbean British lives.
Homecoming is an
unforgettable portrait of a
generation which brilliantly
illuminates an essential
and much-misunderstood
chapter of our history.

SATURDAY PROGRAMME AT A GLANCE
Celeste Bell and Zoë Howe
Bob Gilbert
Ayisha Malik
Danny Stack and Tim Clague
Raymond Antrobus
Dr Anne Kershen and Colin Holmes
Isabella Tree
Deirdre Shanahan
Susannah Stapleton
Kia Abdullah
Spread the Word
Kate Thompson and Melanie McGrath
Lesley Thomson
Mariam Khan
Diane Atkinson
Kerry Hudson
David Hepworth
Janine Booth
Jack Shenker
Elly Griffiths
Hallie Rubenhold
1:00pm
1:00pm
1:00pm
1:00pm
1:00pm
2:30pm
2:30pm
2:30pm
2:30pm
2:30pm
2:30pm
4:00pm
4:00pm
4:00pm
4:00pm
4:00pm
5:30pm
5:30pm
5:30pm
5:30pm
7:00pm
Please check on the day for rooms.

1:00PM
CELESTE BELL AND
ZOË HOWE
Dayglo: The Poly Styrene
Story
1:00pm
Dayglo tells the story of Poly
Styrene, star of brilliant firstwave
London punks X-Ray
Spex and radical songwriter.
Poly Styrene, who passed
away in 2011, left a dayglobright
legacy and a multifaceted
archive of neverseen-before
lyrics, stories
and sketches, many of
which feature in this vibrant
oral history, which takes in
everything from the singer’s
London roots to her Somali
heritage. Poly Styrene,
born Marian Joan Elliott-
Said, was the daughter of
a Somali seaman, Osman
Said, and an English legal
SATURDAY 16 NOVEMBER
secretary, Joan Elliott.
Although Marian spent her
early years in Brixton, her
father lived and worked in
the docklands of London’s
East End for most of his
adult life. The history of the
Somali seafaring community
in the port cities of Britain is
one that goes back to the
19th century, at a time when
Somali seamen saught their
fortune as sailors and shipworkers
on merchant navy
vessels across the world.
Join Celeste, Zoe, and Kinsi
Abdulleh (Numbi Arts) as
they explore the impact of
migration and nomadism on
the imagination and creative
expression of Poly Styrene as
a writer and artist.

1:00PM
BOB GILBERT
Ghost Trees
1:00pm
SATURDAY 16 NOVEMBER
AYISHA MALIK
Sofia Khan is Not Obliged
1:00pm
Ghost Trees is the story
of a city landscape told
through its trees. Beginning
from Poplar, where he lives,
Bob Gilbert explores our
relationship with the trees
that have helped shape
London; from the original
wildwood to the street trees
of today. He draws from
history and natural history,
poetry and painting, myth
and magic, and his own
walking, observing and
listening. Beautifully written,
passionate and defiant,
Ghost Trees tells the secrets
and stories of the urban
wildscape, of glorious nature
resilient and resurgent on our
very doorsteps.
Billed as the Muslim Bridget
Jones, Sofia Khan is Not
Obliged is a romantic
comedy from the writer
behind Nadiya Hussain’s
best-selling The Secret
Lives of the Amir Sisters.
Sofia Khan is single again,
after her sort-of boyfriend
proves rather too close to
his parents. And she’d be
perfectly happy, if her boss
hadn’t asked her to write
a book about the world of
Muslim dating. Of course,
even though she definitely
isn’t looking for love, to write
the book she does need to
do a little research.

1:00PM
DANNY STACK AND
TIM CLAGUE
UK Scriptwriters Podcast
1:00pm
SATURDAY 16 NOVEMBER
RAYMOND ANTROBUS
Spoken Word Poetry
a
1:00pm
Tim and Danny host the UK
Scriptwriters Podcast, giving
honest and entertaining
advice on writing, based on
their own experience. As
a writer/producer/director
duo they made family films
Who Killed Nelson Nutmeg?
and Future TX, and they’ve
just completed the liveaction
children’s TV show,
Dog Years. Tim and Danny
advocate doing—not just
sitting back and hoping
that the industry will pick up
your script. Experience the
very first live version of their
podcast, an absolute must
for aspiring writers.
Raymond Antrobus is a
poet of Jamaican heritage,
who, as a deaf spoken-word
artist, has been performing
poetry since 2007. This year
he has won both the Ted
Hughes Award for new work
in poetry and the Rathbone
Folio Prize, awarded for the
first time ever to a poet. This
was for his collection The
Perseverance which uses his
experience to consider the
ways we all communicate
with each other. Chair of
judges Kate Clancy said:
“Raymond Antrobus is as
searching a poet as you’re
likely to find writing today.”

2:30PM
DR ANNE KERSHEN AND
COLIN HOLMES
East End Legacy
a
2:30pm
SATURDAY 16 NOVEMBER
ISABELLA TREE
Wilding
a
2:30pm
An East End Legacy is
a collection of essays in
tribute to William J (Bill)
Fishman, writer of seminal
works on the East End of
London. Historians inspired
by Fishman cover the
social, political, religious and
cultural changes that have
happened here over the past
120 years and also examine
East London’s links with
other parts of the world.
Editors and contributors
Colin Holmes and Anne
Kershen will discuss the
legend that is Bill Fishman
and the way his influence
has been reflected in the
work of recent historians.
In 2000, aware that
intensive farming of
the heavy clay soils on
their Sussex farm was
economically unsustainable,
Isabella Tree and her
husband took a leap of faith
and handed their acreage
back to nature. With herds
of free-roaming animals
stimulating new habitats,
their land is now heaving
with life. The project shows
how letting nature take
charge can restore both
the land and its wildlife in
a dramatically short space
of time, reversing the
cataclysmic declines that
have affected most species
elsewhere in Britain.

2:30PM
DEIRDRE SHANAHAN
Caravan of the Lost and
Left Behind
2:30pm
SATURDAY 16 NOVEMBER
SUSANNAH STAPLETON
The Adventures of Maud
West, Lady Detective
2:30pm Lab 1a
Caravan of the Lost and Left
Behind, is the hauntingly
moving story of Eva, a
member of the traveller
community, who returns
to Ireland with her son
Torin and finds Caitlin, the
daughter she abandoned
there years before. Torin
and Caitlin meet and we see
their entangled relationship
and the consequences
when they discover their
true connection. The novel
explores the tensions
around family and what it
means: escape and flight,
urban and rural life and the
compromises we have to
make to survive and love.
Maud West set up her
detective agency in London
in 1905. Her exploits
grabbed headlines but,
beneath the public persona,
she was forced to hide
her true identity in order to
thrive in a class-obsessed
and male-dominated world.
Susannah Stapleton
investigates the truth about
Maud West and illustrates
the reality of being a female
private detective in the
‘Golden Age of Crime’ by
skilfully interweaving tales
from the detective’s own
‘casebook’ with social
history and extensive
research.

2:30PM
KIA ABDULLAH
Take it Back
2:30pm
SATURDAY 16 NOVEMBER
SPREAD THE WORD
Common People
2:30pm
Kia Abdullah is an author
and travel writer from
Tower Hamlets. Her new
novel, Take It Back, is a
gripping courtroom drama
in which a 16-year-old white
girl accuses four Muslim
classmates of something
unthinkable. Described by
The Guardian as “superb”
and The Telegraph as
“sparklingly intelligent”,
Take It Back explores ugly
divisions in British society.
Kia will talk about the
pressure to write positive
stories, the dearth of
working-class authors and
going from free school meals
to a two-book deal.
Riley Rockford, Elaine
Williams, Adam Sharp and
Loretta Ramkissoon are
the four London-based
writers who were selected
to have their writing featured
in Common People – an
anthology edited by Kit
de Waal and published
by Unbound. Join them in
conversation with Charlotte
Hutchinson (Publicity
Manager at Unbound),
as they share their work,
discuss their experiences
and the importance of raising
working class voices in
publishing. This event is run
in partnership with Spread
the Word.

4:00PM
KATE THOMPSON AND
MELANIE MCGRATH
Talking About All Things
East End
4:00pm
SATURDAY 16 NOVEMBER
LESLEY THOMSON
The Playground Murders
4:00pm
Kate Thompson and
Melanie McGrath, two much
loved local authors, will
be discussing their mutual
love of social history while
also talking about their
acclaimed books, Secrets of
the Homefront Girls and Pie
& Mash Down the Roman
Road, respectively. They
will describe the men and
women the history books
forgot and tell us why they
feel the time is ripe to tell
the extraordinary clichedefying
stories of ordinary
men and women who call
the East End home.
Lesley Thomson is a
Londoner whose first crime
novel, A Kind of Vanishing,
won The People’s Book
Prize in 2010. She will talk
about her writing journey,
and what has inspired
her best-selling novels,
including the renowned The
Detective’s Daughter series.
She will describe the themes
she chooses to explore and
her research process. This
has involved attending a
Catholic Mass, learning how
to deep clean and travelling
on the District Line in the
cab of an Underground
Train.

4:00PM
MARIAM KHAN
It’s Not About the Burqa
4:00pm
SATURDAY 16 NOVEMBER
DIANE ATKINSON
Remarkable Lives of the
Suffragettes
4:00pm Conference Room
Photo: FACEphotography
Mariam Khan is editor of
It’s Not About the Burqa.
The book started life when
Mariam read about the
conversation in which
David Cameron linked the
radicalisation of Muslim
men to what he called the
‘traditional submissiveness’
of Muslim women. As a
counterblast, Mariam has
compiled this collection of
essays that explores the
pressures of being a Muslim
woman today. The collection
has been described as:
“incredibly important…
passionate, angry, selfeffacing,
nuanced and utterly
compelling.”
Diane Atkinson’s detailed
and authoritative Rise Up,
Women! has become the
definitive history of the
suffragettes and is both
moving and thrilling.
Her talk charts women’s
struggle for the vote
through the lives of those
who took part – and
describes the vitriol they
faced. What comes through
is the power and courage of
the ‘bloody difficult’ women
who continued to challenge
the establishment and, at
the same time, changed the
perception of women, for
the better, before the war in
1914.

4:00PM
KERRY HUDSON
Lowborn
4:00pm
5:30PM
ELLY GRIFFITHS
Now You See Them
5:30pm
Prize-winning novelist Kerry
Hudson introduces her
memoir, Lowborn, “one of
the most important books
of the year” (The Guardian).
Lowborn is a powerful,
exploration of poverty in
today’s Britain. In it, Kerry
Hudson lists devastating
life experiences that had to
be endured and describes
youthful chaos (including nine
primary schools, periods in
care, a sexual abuse childprotection
inquiry, abortion
and rape). But it is also a
moving portrait of the survival
and eventual flourishing of a
remarkable spirit.
Elly Griffiths discusses her
successful writing career,
from the best-selling Dr
Ruth Galloway series to her
new novel Now You See
Them (part of The Brighton
Mysteries series).
Her first crime novel, The
Crossing Places, is set on
the Norfolk coast where she
spent holidays as a child and
where her aunt still lives. She
also tells the story of how
she came to be Elly Griffiths.
Photo: Sara Reeve

5:30PM
DAVID HEPWORTH
A Fabulous Creation
5:30pm
The era of the LP began in
1967, with ‘Sgt Pepper’;
The Beatles didn’t just
collect together a bunch of
songs, they Made An Album.
Henceforth, everybody else
wanted to Make An Album.
The end came only fifteen
years later, coinciding with the
release of Michael Jackson’s
‘Thriller’. By then the
Walkman had taken music
out of the home and into
the streets and the record
business had begun trying to
reverse-engineer the creative
process in order to make big
money. Nobody would play
music or listen to it in quite
the same way ever again.
SATURDAY 16 NOVEMBER
It was a short but
transformative time.
Musicians became ‘artists’
and we, the people,
patrons of the arts. The LP
itself had been a mark of
sophistication, a measure
of wealth, an instrument
of education, a poster
saying things you dare not
say yourself, a means of
attracting the opposite sex,
and, for many, the single
most desirable object in their
lives.
This is the story of that time;
it takes us from recording
studios where musicians
were doing things that had
never been done before
to the sparsely furnished
apartments where their
efforts would be received
like visitations from a higher
power. This is the story of
how LPs saved our lives.

5:30PM
JANINE BOOTH
Minnie Lansbury:
Suffragette, Socialist and
Rebel Councillor
5:30pm
SATURDAY 16 NOVEMBER
JACK SHENKER
Now We Have Your
Attention: Inside the New
Politics
5:30pm
Minnie Lansbury, who joined
the East London Federation
of Suffragettes in 1915,
was elected alderman on
Poplar’s first Labour council
in 1919. She was one of
the councillors jailed for six
weeks in 1921 for refusing to
levy full rates in the povertystricken
area. Due to her
imprisonment, she developed
pneumonia and died in 1922
aged only 32. This is a story
of a remarkable woman
whose experiences and
struggles are directly relevant
to today’s labour movement,
and to today’s campaigns
against anti-semitism and for
women’s equality.
Jack Shenker is an awardwinning
reporter on politics
and protest, whose work has
been shortlisted for the Orwell
Prize. In Now We Have Your
Attention he explores Britain’s
current political turmoil from
the perspective of ordinary
people and shows how
disillusionment with
Westminster politics is fuelling
a passionate engagement
with politics of a different
kind: local, personal, effective
and utterly fearless, inspiring
and terrifying in equal
measure. The book uncovers
a revolutionary transformation
in attitudes and behaviour,
and a future that will shape
us all.

7:00PM
HALLIE RUBENHOLD
The Five: The Untold
Lives of the Women Killed
by Jack the Ripper
7:00pm
The Five is the first full-length
biography to explore and
contextualise the lives of
the five victims of Jack the
Ripper. Offering new insights
and drawing on previously
unseen or unpublished
material, its focus is entirely
on the women and not on
their murderer. A general
lack of understanding of
how poor, working class
women lived in the Victorian
era — or how ‘respectable
society’ perceived them —
has helped establish the view
that Jack the Ripper’s victims
were ‘just prostitutes’.
SATURDAY 16 NOVEMBER
But historian Hallie
Rubenhold’s groundbreaking
research proposes that
virtually everything we’ve
ever come to assume about
these five women is largely
untrue. As an investigation
into these women’s
experiences, The Five traces
the surprising triumphs and
heart-breaking difficulties
they encountered throughout
their lives. In hearing their
stories it is impossible for
us to ever again see them
as something other than
daughters, wives, sisters,
lovers and mothers, or
remember them simply as
nameless, faceless victims.
We are delighted to
welcome Hallie Rubenhold
to Writeidea. Her talk will be
chaired by Diane Atkinson,
author of Rise Up Women!
The Remarkable Lives of the
Suffragettes.

SUNDAY PROGRAMME AT A GLANCE
David Rosenberg
Dan Hancox
Christopher Skaife
Louise Doughty
Resist: Stories of Uprising
Short Story Competition Awards
English National Ballet
Philippa Stockley
Jill Dawson
Naomi Wood
Vivi Lachs
James Lubbock
Bards Without Borders
David Laird
Cathi Unsworth and Jordan
Common People: A Panel Discussion
Ruth Badley
Changing Tastes
Gemma Romain
Matthew Green
Kay Seeley
Movies, Memories, Magic
Klezmer Klub
11:00am
1:00pm
1:00pm
1:00pm
1:00pm
1:00pm
1:00pm
2:30pm
2:30pm
2:30pm
2:30pm
2:30pm
2:30pm
4:00pm
4:00pm
4:00pm
4:00pm
4:00pm
5:30pm
5:30pm
5:30pm
5:30pm
7:00pm
Please check on the day for rooms.

11:00AM
DAVID ROSENBERG
Walk: Radicals and Rebels
in the Brick Lane Area
1880s-1970s
11:00am - 1:00pm
1:00PM
DAN HANCOX
Inner City Pressure: The
Story of Grime
1:00pm
Brick Lane is famous for
its curries and bagels and
street market, but it also has
a rich history of social and
political struggle. It was on
Brick Lane and the streets
that cross it that many
struggles and campaigns for
better lives were created and
developed and fought over,
literally. Come on this walk to
find out about the individuals
and groups that played their
part in this rich history.
Reserve your free place at:
http://www.eastendwalks.
com/?page_id=82
Inner City Pressure: The
Story of Grime weaves the
story of London’s grime
music, and its triumph
against the odds, into the
history of the 21st-century
city, where gentrification,
urban protest, pirate radio,
police harassment, riots and
tragedy are intertwined in the
evolution of this creative style
of grassroots urban music.
On a local note, Langdon
Park School in Tower
Hamlets features in the
book as the place attended
by Dizzee Rascal, and Dan
Hancox acknowledges the
influence of the school’s
then Head of Arts in the
musician’s development.

1:00PM
CHRISTOPHER SKAIFE
The Ravenmaster: My Life
with the Ravens at the
Tower of London
1:00pm
SUNDAY 17 NOVEMBER
LOUISE DOUGHTY
Platform Seven
1:00pm
Interweaving history, natural
history and myth, this is
the first behind-the-scenes
account of life with the
ravens at Britain’s most
famous national monument.
Over the years in which he
has cared for the physical
and mental wellbeing of
these remarkable birds
Christopher Skaife has come
to know them like no-one
else. Helen Macdonald,
author of H is for Hawk, says
Skaife is “A born storyteller
with a gift for banter…It is
a beguiling, fascinating and
highly amusing account of
the strangely magical birds.”
Photo: Nathalie Weatherald
Best-selling author of Apple
Tree Yard (and Writeidea
patron) Louise Doughty will
be talking about her latest
novel, Platform Seven.
“No one is more desperate
to understand what connects
the two deaths at Platform
Seven than Lisa Evans
herself. After all, she was the
first of the two to die…”
Deborah Moggach says
of Platform Seven: “Utterly
mesmerizing, with the pace
of a thriller and a sense of
profound mystery in the
most ordinary of settings. I
was hooked from its start to
its nerve-racking, surprising
finish.”

1:00PM
RESIST
Stories of Uprising
1:00pm
SUNDAY 17 NOVEMBER
WRITEIDEA PRIZE:
SHORT STORY AWARDS
1:00pm
Building on the success
of Comma’s previous
project, Protest: Stories of
Resistance, this anthology
challenges 20 acclaimed
authors to get under the skin
of key moments of British
protest. Working closely with
historians, crowd scientists
and activists, these stories
reimagine events through the
eyes of the people involved,
and take in every form of
resistance.
We are delighted to welcome
three contributors to this
anthology: Luan Goldie,
Nikita Lalwanni and Uschi
Gatward who, we’re proud
to note, is a past winner of
the Writeidea Short Story
Prize.
Join us for an awards
ceremony where the
winners of our short
story competitions will be
announced.
The Writeidea 2019 Short
Story Prize is a competition
aimed at writers who have
never been published before.
The Writeidea ESOL Prize
is a local short story prize
for learners enrolled on
Idea Store Learning ESOL
(English for Speakers of
Other Languages) courses.

1:00PM
2:30PM
ENGLISH NATIONAL
BALLET
Performance by ENBElders
1:00pm
Photo: Richard Barton
PHILIPPA STOCKLEY
Restoration Stories
2:30pm
The English National Ballet is
moving to the East End.
To celebrate this, the
ENBEldersCo will be
performing at Writeidea
and demonstrating how
ballet and contemporary
dance can be for everyone.
Launched in 2018,
ENBEldersCo offers
individuals aged 55+ an
inspiring opportunity to
develop their dance practice
in an inclusive, friendly
environment, promoting
well-being and strength.
Most recently, ENBEldersCo
worked with choreographer
Charlie Brittain to create
Nexus, a new piece inspired
by the work of William
Forsythe.
Philippa Stockley, journalist,
novelist and painter, returns
with a fully-illustrated
talk on her new book,
Restoration Stories, about
16 restorations of mainly
18th century houses,
mostly in Tower Hamlets.
Stockley restored her own
home, so along with many
great images there’ll be
time to discuss paint, lime,
woodworm, rot and all the
delights and horrors of old
houses with the audience.

2:30PM
JILL DAWSON
The Language of Birds
2:30pm
SUNDAY 17 NOVEMBER
NAOMI WOOD
The Forgotten Women of
the Bauhaus
2:30pm
The Language of Birds is
a hypnotic and thoughtprovoking
novel inspired
by the sensational Lord
Lucan case, by best-selling
author and Writeidea patron,
Jill Dawson. Drawing on
the infamous murder, this
compelling novel explores
the crime from a fresh
perspective and brings
to vivid life an era when
women’s voices all too often
went unheard. Jill Dawson
has an unparalleled gift
for turning real people into
characters in her fiction and
in her depiction of the nanny
gives life to the too often
forgotten victim.
Photo: Yves Salmon
In the centenary year of the
Bauhaus school of art and
design, you will probably
hear of Walter Gropius,
Wassily Kandinsky and Paul
Klee. But you might not hear
so much about the women
photographers, designers
and weavers. Digging
through the audio-visual
archives, and profiling some
of the most exciting artists
of the 1920s avant-garde,
novelist Naomi Wood will
explore the life and work of
the Bauhaus women who
deserve to be put back in the
record books.
Photo: Rachel Hippolyte

2:30PM
VIVI LACHS
Whitechapel Noise
2:30pm
SUNDAY 17 NOVEMBER
JAMES LUBBOCK
Breaking Dad
2:30pm
Whitechapel Noise tells new
tales of an immigrant culture
in flux through the abundant
Yiddish couplets written in
pre-first world war London.
Heartbreaking ballads of
children in poverty and
strident union songs depict
hard lives and the struggle
for improved conditions.
Hilarious music hall songs
with edgy lyrics display
the changing nature of
sexual relationships, marital
disharmony and abuse.
Satirical verse pinpoints
how immigrants grappled
with modernising religious
practice, and they tell these
stories with humour, intensity,
and passion.
In December 2009 the
media reported the arrest
of a ‘drug baron’ with the
biggest haul of crystal
meth ever seen in Britain.
Behind the headlines was
a story the reporters never
discovered, a story more
sensational than they could
ever have wished for. This
drug baron was, in fact, just
a few years before, a meek
law-abiding suburban family
man – James Lubbock’s
dad, Richard. In Breaking
Dad James tells the whole
shocking tale: “Think you’ve
got a dysfunctional family?
Meet mine”.

2:30PM
BARDS WITHOUT
BORDERS
On Belonging
2:30pm
4:00PM
DAVID LAIRD
125 Years of Tower Bridge
4:00pm
Bards Without Borders,
a collective of poets and
performers from refugee and
migrant background, will be
presenting their latest writing
development, On Belonging.
Bards bring tales of those
who came before and their
own experiences, to explore
how a sense of belonging
to a place, to a country, to
a nation is formed; why and
how we become bound to
each other. From a personal
to a collective response to
the challenging times in the
past and in the present.
What unites us and what is
dividing us? Is it still possible
to create a modern myths
On Belonging?
Tower Bridge, one of the
most famous bridges in the
world, is 125 years old this
year. The iconic structure is
one of London’s most visited
attractions and a defining
feature of our capital.
David Laird, an expert on
the bridge, will share with
us the stories behind the
engineering, the people, the
architecture and the city that
created this landmark.
Want to visit? Tickets to
the bridge cost £9.80, but
Tower Hamlets residents with
proof of address and photo
ID get in for only £1, and
accompanying children are
free.

4:00PM
CATHI UNSWORTH AND
JORDAN
Defying gravity; Jordan’s
story
4:00pm
SUNDAY 17 NOVEMBER
COMMON PEOPLE:
A PANEL DISCUSSION
Louise Doughty, Alex
Wheatle and Eva Verde
4:00pm
With her white beehive
and Mondrian make-up,
Jordan’s look helped shape
a revolution and is still an
iconic part of pop culture.
How did a ballet-mad girl
from sleepy Sussex make
her way – via the gay clubs
of Brighton and London
– to 430 King’s Road and
the eye of punk’s storm?
Jordan and Cathi Unsworth
tell the outrageous life
story of punk’s poster girl
and bring to light all kinds
of unexpected gems. “If
you’ve never read a book
about punk, this is the only
one you’ll ever need” (Julie
Burchill)
With half of all authors and
writers coming from the
middle class, compared to
just 10% from working class
backgrounds, Common
People, a collection of original
pieces by working class
writers, is an attempt to
redress the balance. Working
class stories are not always
tales of the underprivileged
and dispossessed. Written
in celebration, not apology,
this anthology gives voice
to perspectives that are
increasingly absent from
our books and newspapers.
Common People ensures
they are heard loud and clear
as they reclaim and redefine
what it means to be working
class.

4:00PM
RUTH BADLEY
Where are the Grown-Ups?
4:00pm
SUNDAY 17 NOVEMBER
MILE END COMMUNITY
PROJECT
Film: Changing Tastes—
Whitechapel’s south Asian
Restaurants
4:00pm
Where are the Grown-Ups?
is a frank examination
of parent and child
relationships, through
three generations of the
author’s family. Her maternal
grandmother, Rose, a
cigarette maker from
London’s Jewish East End,
died following childbirth in
1930 at the age of 25. The
author’s mother, Sylvia, was
subsequently adopted by
an aunt and uncle. A nonlinear
narrative moves from
present day Dubai, to 1960s
and 70s North London,
and to the Jewish East End
between the wars. The story
concludes in East London
during 2017.
We are delighted to present
a short film, Changing Tastes
which explores the history of
the South Asian restaurant
trade in Whitechapel.
The palate is one of the best
barometers of social change
and Whitechapel’s history
can be tracked though the
menus of its restaurants.
This film uses interviews with
restaurant owners to capture
a strand of this history,
looking at how Bangladeshi
and Pakistani eateries are
changing and evolving.
Made in partnership with UEL
and the Survey of London.

5:30PM
SUNDAY 17 NOVEMBER
GEMMA ROMAIN
Patrick Nelson: Race,
Sexuality and Identity in
Britain and Jamaica
5:30pm
Patrick Nelson, a queer
Black man, came to Britain
from the Caribbean in the
1930s. He was a valet, then
studied law and worked
as an artist’s model. He
served in the army in
1940, was captured and
was a prisoner of war for
four years. After release
he returned to Jamaica,
experiencing the struggles
for independence, before
re-migrating to London.
Gemma Romain explores
themes in Nelson’s life
including queer Bloomsbury
(he was a boyfriend and
then lifelong friend of artist
Duncan Grant) and queer
Black London.

5:30PM
MATTHEW GREEN
A History of London
io
5:30pm
SUNDAY 17 NOVEMBER
KAY SEELEY
A Girl Called Hope
io
5:30pm
Discover how London
cracked out of its medieval
shell, sprawled into the
suburbs and emerged as
a “human awful wonder of
God” in this mesmerising,
vividly illustrated talk by Dr
Matthew Green, author of
London: A Travel Guide
Through Time which has
been hailed by the Londonist
as “easily the most engaging
social history of London for
a decade”. Hear tales of
medieval bear pits, Georgian
coffee houses, Victorian
pornography shacks,
medieval zoos and more,
in this whirlwind tour of the
capital’s past which will be
seared into the soft wax of
your mind forever.
Kay Seeley is a writer of
novels, short stories and
poetry. A Girl Called Hope,
is her fourth novel set in
nineteenth century London’s
East End. Kay writes with
passion and inspiration in
this evocatively written tale
about a family’s struggle to
stay together when fate is
pulling them apart. Love,
loyalty, tragedy and betrayal
all play their part in this
gripping story. Kay’s previous
novels were all shortlisted
for The Wishing Shelf Book
Award, and The Guardian
Angel was a number one
best-seller. Join her to
talk about books, writing,
research, Victorians and life
in general.

5:30PM
MOVIES, MEMORIES,
MAGIC
Documentary Film
io
5:30pm
7:00PM
KLEZMER KLUB
Klezmer music, singing
and dancing – join in!
io
7:00pm
Movies, Memories, Magic is
a dynamic new documentary
exploring the vibrant history
of South Asian cinema in
London which, from the
winding alleyways of Brick
Lane to the bustling streets
of Southall, shaped trends
in music, food, fashion
and politics. The film won
a Queen Mary University
Community Engagement
Award in 2018, and has
been screened in several
cities from Johannesburg
and Bangalore to Singapore.
Don’t miss this opportunity to
bring your own memories of
cinema to this screening.
We’re rounding off Writeidea
2019 with a performance
from Klezmer Klub. Klezmer
is, at its heart, dance music,
wedding music, both wild
and tender. Often described
as bitter-sweet, it came out of
poverty and oppression. Both
dances and song contain joy,
exhilaration and wit alongside
the sadness, anger and
defiance. A Klezmer Klub
gig typically sees the
audience joining in with both
singing and dancing, the
traditional dance steps being
taught by Vivi Lachs in a
simple, direct fashion that
get everyone involved.

SPARE PAGE
“It’s so
exciting to have this
broad and well-curated
collection of events so close
to our home. Cost often
prevents us from attending
literary events, so it’s
wonderful that these events
are free.”
(Audience member
2016)
Writeidea—bringing writers and readers together

VENUE
Idea Store Whitechapel
321 Whitechapel Road
London E1 1BU
Whitechapel Underground/Overground Station
Fully accessible
For more information about any
of our events visit
www.ideastore.co.uk
Brick Lane Bookshop will be
supplying books for sale
throughout the festival.
Patrons:
Jill Dawson
Louise Doughty
Spread the Word
Alex Wheatle
Brick Lane Bookshop
166 Brick Lane
London E1 6RU
Tel: 0207 247 0216
info@bricklanebookshop.co.uk
follow: @bricklanebooks