Summer of writing

AGENDA UPDATED

Dear friends and music/book lovers, 

I hope this finds you well.

I'm settling in Bristol for the next three weeks, ready for a beautiful - let's hope - summer, before a bit of itinerancy in the rest of Europe...

Here are a few events coming next!!

I'm in town this Saturday for AFRICA WRITES! A Festival celebrating contemporary literature from Africa and the African diaspora with a series of performances, book launches, panels and workshops.

http://africawrites.org/bristol-2019/africa-writes-2019-bristol/

I'll also be at Bristol's Waterstones on 3 July, as a volunteer for this event:

Namwali Serpell discusses her new genre-bending novel The Old Drift, tracing three Zambian families across centuries and borders...

http://africawrites.org/bristol-2019/namwali-serpell-the-old-drift/

Then I'll be at St. Paul's Carnival on the 6th, we all look forward to it.

As I mentioned previously, on Thursday 4 July 2019, I'm invited to the Lifetrack Event run by two lovely women from BBC Bristol and Radio 4, it will be in Richmond Buildings, near the Triangle, from 7pm, with Ali Vowles as a host:

https://en-gb.fievent.com/e/lifetrack-with-guest-melissa-chemam/20666036

We'll talk about writing about music, the role of music in our lives (not only my life, but yours as well!) and we'll stay along to dance around and chat further :) 

There are still some tickets available, come along! 

And on 18 July, I'm invited in Exeter, With Literature Works:

https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/whats-on/exeter/exeter-custom-house/massive-attack-out-of-the-comfort-zone-melissa-chemam-in-conversation-with-patrick-cunningham/e-elgzgp

In between, if you want to organise another event, feel free to contact me.

On my way back from Exeter, on 19 July, I'd like to organise a drink/gathering with you all in Monteplier/Stokes Croft to celebrate... you know, summer, and surviving all that's going on out there! Let me know if you're around.

Then I'll go to Paris, Nantes (for a writing retreat!), Marseille (for a podcast project...), and a few locations in Greece throughout the second part of August, notably to volunteer at a film festival: BEYOND BORDERS.

Latest articles:

In the meantime, let me share a bit of my current work.

After working on two BBC podcasts these past 9 months - the latest will be audible here early July: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0006bch

I spent most of my time writing this past few weeks. 

Here are some links for those interested:

-On street art's beginning in Bristol, from Massive Attack's 3D to Banksy: 

http://www.londonstreetartdesign.co.uk/from-3d-to-banksy-why-bristols-street-art-tops-european-walls/

-On refugee rights in the UK:

https://medium.com/@melissachemam/refugees-in-the-uk-safe-haven-or-hostile-environment-1634106a10ab

On African and European music: 

https://medium.com/@melissachemam/after-africa-express-2019-i-wondered-to-witch-extent-can-african-and-european-music-travel-fb1365fe160c

On "greening" our local economies:

https://www.dw.com/en/living-planet-how-green-and-efficient-is-a-local-currency/av-49083362

http://melissa-on-the-road.blogspot.com/2019/06/how-green-and-efficient-is-local.html

On the aftermath of the Windrush scandal, work in progress:

http://melissa-on-the-road.blogspot.com/2019/06/windrushday.html

On human rights in Malaysia:

http://melissa-on-the-road.blogspot.com/2019/06/about-human-rights-in-malaysia.html

And I've been ask to review a book for the Times Literary Supplement for the first time, review coming soon, and to write an essay on Bristol's reggae scene by Palgrave Macmillan, normally out in 2020.

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To finish: my new profile on Medium:

https://medium.com/@melissachemam

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Many thanks!

A bientôt