Poetic License:

This is a facebook group, started by Rabia Spiker, of which I am co-administrator. We would like to eventually publish yearly or bi-annual anthologies of the best poetry.

Film:

I worked with Gazelle Media from July-Sept 2007, during which time I directed two short documentary films about art and spirituality as part of a planned new series. Both are currently in the editing stages. The first is about Ayesha Gamiet, a miniaturist who creates exquisite Turkish-style floral, geometric and figurative paintings using gold paint she painstakingly makes herself from gold leaf. Below are a few stills from the film. For more pictures and info about Ayesha, and details about her work and commissions, see her website www.ayeshagamiet.com.

The second film I directed was about Ian Abd al-Lateef Whiteman, a designer and calligrapher who specialises in Andalusi Arabic calligraphy, one of the most neglected styles of Arabic lettering. It is relatively quick and easy to learn, involves rudimentary tools and produces beautiful lettering which complements Kufic headings very well. A few stills are shown below. For more examples of Ian Whiteman’s work, and details on commissioning pieces, go to www.ianwhiteman.com.

Photo stories:

Fiesta de Santa Barbara in Faura, Valencia. This is a PDF of the article together with a few low-res photos, all taken with Omar Ribelles’ lovely digital camera, gratefully borrowed.

Tanzania, mainland and Zanzibar. After my four-month spell in East Africa (coastal Kenya and Zanzibar) between 6th form and university I spent another seven months living first in Zanzibar Stone Town, then Dar es Salaam, as well as travelling all over Kenya up to Kisumu on Lake Mwanza (Victoria).

India, mostly Ladakh. I went by bus from Delhi to a village near Manali, where I met up with a group of friends. we went from there by hired Jeep, foot and back of van to the beginning of the Zangskar Valley, which we trekked over the course of about ten days. We finally took buses and hitchhiked on lorry roofs and in the cabs of massive Kashmiri trucks first to Kargil, on the border of India-controlled Kashmir, then to Leh, the capital of the principally Buddhist state of Ladakh.

Tom Mboya, the primary school in Mombasa, Kenya, where I was a volunteer English teacher briefly in 2000. The resources here were unbelievably stretched (no library, exercise books which seemed to be made of newspaper, rusted bedframe in playground etc.) but the famed African respect for education was evident everywhere, in the murals painted on the outside walls, the enthusiasm of the headmaster – who was fluent in 10 languages and named his newborn baby daughter after me – and, of course, the students.