Event Contributors 2021
Virajita Singh
Virajita Singh is Associate Vice Provost in the Office of Equity and Diversity (OED) where she brings her expertise in design thinking, and partnership studies to catalyze and support equity and diversity work of colleges and other academic units at the University of Minnesota. learn more
Ranee Ramaswamy
Ranee Ramaswamy is Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Ragamala Dance Company with her choreographic partner (and daughter) Aparna Ramaswamy. learn more
Pádraig Ó Tuama
Pádraig Ó Tuama is an Irish poet and theologian. His work has been published widely — in Harvard Review, the Academy of American Poets, Poetry Ireland and many others. learn more
Mary Ann Kennedy
Mary Ann Kennedy is a Scottish Gael brought up in the urban diaspora of Glasgow, with roots in the islands of Skye and Tiree. learn more
Tricia Imrie
Tricia Imrie is Chief Executive of Impact Funding Partners, a national fund management charity and consultancy, and has held leadership roles in Scottish and UK national charities for 13 years. learn more
Iain Macfarlane
Iain Macfarlane is the CEO of Blue Triangle a homelessness organisation who support over 400 people every day, in 35 services, across 9 local authorities in Scotland. learn more
Stefan Ivanov
Stefan Ivanov (b. 1986) is the author of four collections of poetry – “4 Seconds Violet” (2003), “Ginsbеrg vs. Bukowski in the Audience” (2004), “Lists” (2009) and “Inwards” (2014). learn more
Jim Mackintosh
Jim Mackintosh is a Perth-based poet and has authored six collections of poetry, most recently Flipstones (Tippermuire Books, 2018). learn more
Angela Rodel
Angela Rodel is an established literary translator based in Sofia with a BA from Yale University and an MA from University of California, Los Angeles in Linguistics. Her accolades include the 2016 National Translation Award for Georgi Gospodinov’s novel The Physics of Sorrow (Open Letter, 2015) from the American Literary Translators Association.
Production Manager – Pete Searle
Pete’s journey through theatre began as a young lighting specialist at the then brand new Royal Northern College of Music before moving on to being Production Manager for the Sixty Nine Theatre Company at the Manchester Royal Cotton Exchange before heading to Scotland “ for a few months .” learn more
Tamara Nadel
Tamara Nadel is a disciple of Ranee and Aparna Ramaswamy and founding member of Ragamala. She has toured extensively with the company, performing on major national and international stages. learn more
Aparna Ramaswamy
Aparna Ramaswamy is Co-Artistic Director of Ragamala Dance Company with her choreographic partner (and mother) Ranee Ramaswamy. learn more
Janis Hart
Janis Hart is an Edinburgh-based artist, designer and filmmaker who graduated in Fine Art and Theatre Design from the Slade School of Art, University of London. Her freelance artistic practice includes site-specific installations and stage designs for theatre, dance and opera productions, as well as leading contemporary art and drama workshops. learn more
Nicola Wright
Nicola combines her passion for history with a love of dressing up to bring characters vividly to life. She delivers entertaining and engaging workshops to primary and secondary schools on subjects ranging from castle life and the cursed Stewarts to Jacobites and WW1. learn more
Debra Salem
Debra’s career is diverse, dividing her time between singing, composing, arranging, leading choirs, teaching, facilitation, and the artistic direction and production of creative arts projects. learn more
Dr Anthony Hammond
Dr. Anthony Hammond is a critically acclaimed English concert organist, composer and musicologist. learn more
Robert Rae
Robert Rae is one of Scotland’s leading theatre and film director and writers. He chooses to develop his work through socially engaged practice that aligns with his own political and activist commitments. His expertise has taken him all over the world sharing and developing his methodology. His career spans over 30 years during which time he was Producer for 7:84 England, Artistic Director and CEO of Theatre Workshop Scotland for 18yrs which changed the landscape in Scotland for disabled artists in particular, International Artist in Residence for The Playhouse, Derry, Director for his own theatre company OurLand Productions and is Co-Director of Art27scotland which is part of the national Culture Collective programme focussing specifically on arts and human rights.
Shona Robison
Shona was born in Redcar in 1966. Educated at Alva Academy, she went on to graduate from Glasgow University with a Social Sciences MA and Jordanhill College with a Postgraduate Certificate in Community Education. Previously she worked for Glasgow City Council’s Social Work Department. learn more
Revd Richard Carter
Revd Richard Carter is Associate Vicar for Mission. He was ordained in 1992 and has been a full-time priest at St Martin’s since 2006. learn more
Jon Sparkes
Jon joined Crisis as Chief Executive in 2014. He is also a Trustee at the Centre for Homelessness Impact and a Non-Executive Director at South Yorkshire Housing Association as well as Chair of the Welsh Government’s Homelessness Action Group. learn more
Co-curator – Heather Kiernan
A retired epidemiologist with degrees in medicine and public health from the University of Toronto and Cambridge, Heather began a second career as a free -lance writer and editor of intellectual and cultural history. learn more
Terry Flaxton
British artist Terry Flaxton (b. 1953) has worked with sound composition, photography and film, developing a particular interest in analogue video during the 1970s. learn more
Dr Alice Tarbuck
Alice Tarbuck is an award-winning poet and writer. learn more
Leila Sinclair-Bright
Leila Sinclair-Bright is an artist and a social anthropologist. Born in the UK and raised in Zimbabwe she has always moved between cultures and places. learn more
Jini Reddy
Jini Reddy is the author of Wanderland, shortlisted for the Stanford Dolman Travel Award and for the Wainwright Prize. learn more
Peter Kennard
With a career spanning fifty years, Peter Kennard (born 1949) is without a doubt Britain’s most important political artist and its leading practitioner of photomontage. learn more
Kate Hudson
Kate Hudson (born 1958) by profession a historian, Kate has been the General Secretary of CND since 2010, having served as its chair since 2003. learn more
Damon Bridge
Damon Bridge is a Conservation Officer at the RSPB and was project Manager of the Great Crane Project from 2009-2016. learn more
Hywel Maggs
Hywel Maggs is based in Aberdeen and has worked for the RSPB since 2002. learn more
Susan Morrison
Susan Morrison is a comedy volcano, erupting with an endless flow of scorching hot gags, spewing forth at a blistering pace. learn more
Dr. Imad Faruque
Imad grew up in Dhaka, Bangladesh and has been trained as an Electrical and Electronic Engineer (EEE) during his BSc (2009) from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET). learn more
The Revd. Jarel Robinson-Brown
Jarel is a British-Born Jamaican and grew up in West London where, with his elder sister he was raised by his Grandmother. Sensing an early call to ordained ministry, Jarel began preaching in the Ealing Trinity Circuit of the Methodist Church in 2006 and later trained for ordination at Wesley House, Cambridge from 2010-2013. learn more
Dimitar Kambourov
Dimitar Kambourov is Associate Professor of literary theory at Sofia University. learn more
Georgi Gospodinov
Georgi Gospodinov (b. 1968) made his literary debut in the 1990s with the poetry collections “Lapidarium”, which won the 1992 National Prize for Best Literary Debut “Yuzhna Prolet”, and “The Cherry Tree of a Nation” (1996), which has gone through several editions. learn more
Mahmoud Al Khurd
Three years ago, Mahmoud Al Khurd was a prizewinner in a competition sponsored by the Network of Photographers for Palestine (NPP) involving over 100 entries. Now galleries across Scotland, from Edinburgh to Inverness will be hosting an exhibition of photographs by this internationally acclaimed Palestinian photographer during the months of August and September. learn more
Craig Dalzell
Join Common Weal’s Dr Craig Dalzell to discuss Resilient Scotland, a recovery plan for Scotland to rebuild after the pandemic based on good jobs; economic equality; environmental sustainability; and social cohesion, fuelled by a green reindustrialisation. learn more
Eilís Ní Dhuibhne
Eilís Ní Dhuibhne is an established and awarded Irish writer who writes fiction in both English and Gaelic; a former lecturer in Creative Writing at UCD. Her latest books are Little Red and Other Stories (2020) and Look! It’s a Woman Writer (editor) (2021). learn more
Dr Nina Morris
My research interests fall into three categories: (i) human-nature relationships, (ii) sensory perception, and, (iii) pedagogy and continuing professional development. learn more
Michael Rosen
Michael Rosen was born in 1946 in North London. One of the best-known figures in the children’s book world, he is renowned for his work as a poet, performer, broadcaster and scriptwriter. As an author and by selecting other writers’ works for anthologies he has been involved with over 140 books. He lectures and teaches in universities on children’s literature, reading and writing. learn more
Tommy Sands
Tommy Sands is an Irish songwriter and activist who has made peace building through music his purpose and career. learn more
Curator – Iliyana Nedkova
As an independent curator, producer and writer, Iliyana explores the relationship between public art, activism and creative practices. Her current research interests focus on peacebuilding and the arts, environmental humanities, artists’ moving image culture, women artists, literature in translation and artists’ residencies.
Iliyana’s current curatorial projects include We Refuse to be Scapegoats – a solo exhibition by Pam Skelton at P21 Gallery, London; Groundwork for Embedded Arts Practice – curatorial residency at Cittadellarte – Fondazione Pistoletto, Biella; Screen.dance – Scotland’s Festival of Dance on Screen at Citymoves Dance Agency, Aberdeen; Hidden Letters – poetry activism, typography and urban gardens interventions at St John’s Church, Edinburgh; Thistles, Sunflowers and Dreamscapes – a solo exhibition by Diana Savova at Scottish Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh, and Windows, Screens and Gardens – a hybrid exhibition by artists-in-residence at Abbeyhill Primary School, Edinburgh.
Recently, Iliyana undertook associate curatorships at Horsecross Arts, Perth; Moray House School of Education and Sport, the University of Edinburgh; New Media Scotland; Stills Centre for Photography, Edinburgh; ARC Projects, Edinburgh and Sofia; Foundation for Art and Creative Technology, Liverpool; Soros Centre for the Arts, Sofia; and Video Data Bank, Chicago and New York.
Iliyana holds a MPhil in Curating Contemporary Art from Liverpool John Moores University and a MLitt in English and American Studies, as well as in History and Theory of Culture from the University of Sofia. Iliyana is a board member of Colony of Artists, Friends of Pskov and Traditional Dance Forum Scotland. She has also served as the Honorary Cultural Attaché at the Consulate of the Republic of Bulgaria in Scotland.
https://iliyananedkova.wordpress.com
Nadezhda Radulova
Nadezhda Radulova (b. 1975) is a poet, writer, editor and literary translator. She is the author of six poetry books learn more
Alec Finlay
Alec Finlay (b. 1966) is a poet, publisher and artist based in Edinburgh. In recent years Finlay’s work has been primarily concerned with contemporary visions of nature and landscape. learn more
Albena Azmanova
Albena Azmanova (b. 1968) is a writer, scholar and political commentator based in Brussels, who is interested in judgment and justice, ideologies, democracy’s troubles with capitalism and capitalism’s devious talent for survival. learn more
Joyce McMillan
Joyce McMillan is theatre critic, and political social commentator for The Scotsman. She has been involved in many campaigns for democracy and human rights, both in Scotland and internationally, and has been a freelance journalist, based in Edinburgh, Scotland, for more than 30 years.
The Rt. Revd. Dr John A. Armes
The Rt Rev John Armes was consecrated as 26th Bishop of Edinburgh on 12 May 2012. Prior to this, he was rector of St John the Evangelist Church, Princes Street, Edinburgh and Dean of the Diocese of Edinburgh. learn more
The Reverend Doctor Karen Georgia Thompson
The Reverend Doctor Karen Georgia Thompson, Associate General Minister, Wider Church Ministries and Operations Co-Executive for Global Ministries. learn more
