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About this talk

An evening of candid, profoundly human, sometimes funny and always moving stories of migration in celebration of Colin Grant’s book. What do we leave behind when we move to a new place – and what do we carry with us, physically and emotionally, wherever we land? Grant has travelled the country with writers from WritersMosaic, listening to stories of migration – foundational tales of arriving in a new land, along with rarely spoken tales of love and loss. What We Leave We Carry is a chance to listen to Britain – in all its richness and complexity. Grant is joined by storytellers from this oral history sharing the secrets of their migrant songs and objects: Suzanne Harrington, an Irish writer who travelled with an ‘introductory’ sick note from her psychiatrist; Maria Jastrzębska, a Polish poet recounting partisan songs that poked fun at Hitler; Amanda Vilanova, a Puerto Rican actor gifted her mother’s jewellery to sell in an emergency; and Clementine Burnley, a Cameroonian psychotherapist who arrived as a student in 1980s Glasgow inspired by ‘Kung Fu Fighting’. The evening also features live Afro-Colombian music and dance from Akolá Tambó.

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