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| Raman Mundair
My journey started in India, where I left for England in my early years my tongue flowing with Panjabi and Hindi ...having washed upon these shores my 1st generation self grew... immersed in the foreign tongue until memories of umbilical tongue became diluted. Now I play with notions of home and projections of the self. I am supposed to be in a land where there are no true reflections of me… I play god... create... music where there is no V O I C E
My
work has been featured on BBC Radio 4's Women's Hour, Greater
London Radio and BBC World Service and has been used
as part of the Open University, Florida International
University, University of Aberysthwyth, University
of Portsmouth and Roehampton University course programmes. Creative
Workshop Facilitator As a facilitator I work in such a way that I become a channel through which the creative instinct is nurtured, empowered and manifests it's glorious self. I have particular experience in working with children, young people, refugees, people whose first language is not English, people with disabilities, survivors of the mental system, survivors of sexual abuse, torture, domestic violence and women, on issue based creative writing workshops. I also facilitate general creative writing classes concentrating on 'the nuts and bolts' of writing prose, poetry and for performance. I have experience in intergenerational/reminiscence work; in facilitating the telling, collation and documentation of our communities' stories, across the ages. Most recently I have worked with the British Council in Namibia working with NGOs, students and local community in Windhoek. I have worked with Akademi, an South Asian dance company, where I collaborated with dancers on an educational project in schools, looking at migration and refugee issues. I have also worked with Jubilee Books on an intensive project in the borough of Greenwich, exploring issues to with racism and diversity in the wake of the murder of Stephen Lawrence. I have been Writer in Residence in The Isle of Wight, Oxford, Maidenhead and Slough. I have run workshops for The Word Literature Festival, Amnesty International and the Camden Language and Support Service for refugee awareness week and the 'One day we had to run' visual arts exhibition. I have ran cross-cultural workshops in Windhoek, Namibia, where I worked with the local community around many themes, including their experience of the liberation struggle, and their relationship with the truth and reconciliation process. I have also been working on an Asian Elders project at Newham Asian Womens Project; collating intergenerational stories and facilitating prose and poetry workshops I have ran Creative Writing and Performance workshops, often theme based, for many schools, libraries and voluntary sector projects including; The Royal Observatory and National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, The British Council, Sister Namibia, Windhoek, The SpitLit Festival, Jagonari Centre, Hounslow Community Arts Education, Clapton Technology College, East Midlands Shape, Windsor Arts Centre, Eltham Hill School, Argyle School, Sexual Abuse and Survivors Association, Newham College, The Royal Greenwich Maritime Museum and Observatory, JAMI, The Jewish Association for Mental illness, Newham Asian Womens Project, Humara Ghar (Asian Elders Residential Home), Balham Family Welfare Association, Belgrave Beheno Asian Womens Centre, and Queen Mary and Westfield College (London) I
have facilitated courses for Tower Hamlets Summer University (London),
for several years and for Apples and Snakes. Commissions I was commissioned
by the The Austrian Cultural Institute in association with Apples
and Snakes and Battersea Arts Centre, to write a contemporary
poetic response to the waltz and Johan Strauss; my piece, Atempause,
was performed at Battersea Arts Centre in May 99. Talawa Theatre
Company have developed my work, Missing Pieces under their Women
Writers Initiative. Live Performance (readings/song/drama) Mar 2001 Palazzo
del Cinema, Venice (The British Council), The SpitLit Literature
Festival As A Playwright Nov 99 Reading
of 'Tara' at The Tristan Bates Theatre (in association with Pop
Up Theatre Company) Collaborations 1999 Worked
with Director Simon Nicholson on 'Zoodle Doodle Doo' which
will be produced by Sheffield Theatres in Publications A selection
of my prose and poetry is featured in the following anthologies;
Currently I have been
appointed Lecturer in South Asian Literature in English, at Loughborough
University. On the behalf of Alternative Art's Spitlit festival, I am facilitating a series of creative writing workshops with Bengali women in Whitechapel, looking at collective memory, identity and hidden histories. I have been invited by the British Council this year, to read and give lectures at the University of Stockholm, Sweden, and read and give workshops at the National English Language Conference in Venice. I am currently working on a collection of poems and my first novel. Comments
She is constantly sensual… tempered by a delicate care for
detail, a quality of consideration that engages in the philosophical
in sometimes complex ways…
Beautiful! True, and from the heart… Collective
and individual pain is sung out in varying pitch and personae;
joy is to be felt, poignantly, through expression. The high points
of the book are most frequently, in particular Raman Mundair. Her
poems grow with her, spilling out on the streets, in her food,
in her bed, and across the landscapes she inhibits… As she expands
her own sense of the world, these poems, with their elastic mutability,
have found a way to assume her shape and to beautifully capture
the sensibilities of Raman Mundair. This is why I look forward
to reading more of her work: I want to see where she will take
her poems in the future. …Power dynamics and political events such as the Stephen Lawrence case, dramatized in an excellent poem by Mundair…some of the most exciting poetry being written in England today… Lauri Ramey, 'Conch Magazine', University of Luton …An
extremely talented Asian woman…. We celebrated
National Poetry Day by inviting Raman Mundair into Clapton to
perform some of her own work to students and to lead some poetry
writing workshops. She performed her poems in English and in Urdu.
The students and teachers who watched her perform were enthralled
and visibly moved by Raman's powerful use of language and the
quality of her work. Many were inspired to write moving poetry
themselves. Students comments included: "She made me realise how
important the words we use are. Her presented strong emotions
and you could feel what the person in the poem was experiencing,"
Natalie Millar 9a; "Her poetry was beautiful, thoughtful and touched
my heart", Hira Siddiqui 11c; "Raman Mundair is a very inspiring
poet and her poems are very emotional", Cyreta Edwards 11L; "She
showed how you can be anything you want to be," Sameena Desai
9a Absolutely
brilliant! The trust and commitment portrayed (by the workshop
facilitator) was breathtaking. I fully enjoyed the course…Please
come back! Thank you
for your beautiful, warm, supportive energy…I am impressed with
the journey you took us on these past 2 days, I feel like we covered
a lot. You really convey a strong impression of respecting everyone
and their stories, which encourages us as participants to do the
same. I also thought your pushing of the group continuing was
forward thinking and will contribute to really making a difference… Loved the
workshop! Very freeing, gentle approach....very well thought out.
You are the
voice of the voiceless… I have thoroughly
enjoyed this workshop. I am quite shy, but I have today managed
to create and perform and that is thanks to Raman and her encouraging
patience. It is good to share...Thank you very much for this opportunity.
The course
was brilliant…I enjoyed it 101%…(I hope) every kid my age gets
an opportunity to be this productive…every student gained a great
deal out of this course I have learned
many things, I can't name them all …but I am trying to say that
you inspired me a lot and gave me courage to go on. The workshop
was interesting, stimulating and enjoyable...as well as being
relaxing and de-stressing. Jenny Shaw , a participant at The Word
literature festival workshop Totally excellent! So inspiring....
I now want to write Ellie Jacobs a participant at the Amnesty
International workshop and performance A note of appreciation
for sharing your energy and giving dignity to a creative process
often discarded from it's rightful place in the arts. Your comments
on my work were constructive and will be put to practice. I gained a
lot of confidence…I hope you return again next year… The workshop
gave me the opportunity to see poetry in a different light. It
gave me the freedom to express myself, take risks artistically
and creatively restructure the staid poetry I have been writing…we
need poetry, we need creativity and of course dialogue across
cultures is a great beginning… Really good, enjoyable, very inspirational and moving.…Thank You Lauren Elliot a participant at the Amnesty International workshop and performance I would like to thank you for a very good poetry session. I really do like poetry and I enjoyed your poetry a lot. Asma Momla a participant at the Amnesty International workshop and performance It was a great
gift to work with someone as gifted and as outspoken as you…I
learnt that I have a voice that should be heard no matter what
people say and that it is good to take risks. Everyone was
pushed to achieve their maximum potential…Had loads of fun! Arefa
Siddiqua Tower Hamlets Summer University The Workshop was great
fun…3 days was too short a period! Thank you
so much for the experience, it was really moving for me to turn
the hate inside of me (towards racism) and use it as a tool. I love the
incorporation of music, visualisation and the 'exercises'…you
started us off really well by creating that 'safe space', the
results of it's benefits are evident through the truths and risk
taking that occurred. Thank you
for a special hour. I've never had a poetry experience that has
so freely opened my mind....Thank you. Louisa Really Cool! Everyone
seemed really comfy and open...It was easy to relax and feel at
home. A truly inspirational
lesson. It made the thoughts go far beyond the mind. This has been
such a moving experience, a different way of expressing my feelings,
opinions and what I think. I'm so honored and pleased to have
taken part in this, I never thought it could be such a valuable
experience which would affect me so much. Thank you. I enjoyed
it loads. I overcame a degree of self consciousness, Cheers! Your
singing is great! I had many
fears about joining the workshop, and some of them were expiated
in the process of listening, speaking, writing with you and the
other participants. I feel I have discovered a lot about the reasons
for my 'block' and while I still lack confidence in myself a writer,
as a person even, I feel affirmed and can see a way of 'taking
the risk' that you promoted so well. I benefited from the practical
activities we did as the creative writing work. I was mesmerised
by your work and found myself admiring the transformations you
worked in yourself and in us…I may just find my voice… Thank you
for the experience, it helped very much and I enjoyed it. Amina
Omar Thank you so much for this session. I really loved it and
it really made me explore my feelings of the day and that was
very important to me, thank you. Through professionalism
and experience, your way of imparting knowledge to others proved
very fruitful…Thank you… Excellent,
made me think and apply my thoughts. Certainly an effective medium
for expressing feelings. Really, really
enjoyed your workshop and had a brilliant time, thanks for everything.
Naaila Ahmed Keep fighting and opening people's eyes...your poems
made me think...reminded me to care and I really think will make
me more active in the fight for human rights. I liked it
last year, but LOVED it this year! I enjoyed the course entirely
and wanted it to be longer…. Thank you
for your spirit and openness- wish we had more human beings like
you in Namibia as this is a country of contrast and wide open
spaces- both environmentally and culturally…Please come back!
To
Book Raman for a performance in your school... Jubilee Books
t: (020) 8265 4645 Our office is open Monday to Friday 9.30am to 5.30pm. |
The
following is taken from Raman's own press release
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