I Am the Egg Man, I Am the Walrus

Hello World!

It's Egg Day for some - myself I don't celebrate anything other than birthdays and Life in general - but whatever turns you on (albeit non harmful to others) I hope you're having a groovy time ;)

So.. what of today? Well, it's a fresh and lovely day here in Cairo and I am trying to work my way through my list of tasks but keep avoiding the biggest one which is to create a new website for Creative Writing online; so that people can follow my tutorials from anywhere and have a forum to share ideas. Across the work table is Ismail who has just returned from Libya and is editing his photographs (war photojournalism) and I had one peppermint tea and one coffee so far and am now thinking about pasta and aubergine/pepper/tomato sauce.. yes you can see how productive things are today at ARC :))

BUT - actually things are happening - upcoming events are:

Up On The Roof - Open Stage Night at Darb 1718 May 5th 7.30pm
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=103173313102828

The Hothouse - a new multi discipline artistic initiative - a cooperative company (much more on this soon!)

New Creative Writing courses at Diwan and Darb 1718

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I didn't get the funding to go to Romania :( but I am thinking of either going to Siwa and hanging in the alchemy of the desert oasis or swimming with Dugongs in Sinai.. hmmmmmm..

Bye for now! Xs

(Definite) Article

Tings are BUSY!!!! But here is an article on me and what's happening, out today!!!

http://www.thedailynewsegypt.com/art/linda-cleary-speaking-truth-in-poetry.html#

Birthday Teas

Dear World

Well, well, well - there are many developments taking place here in Egypt (please read the personal ARC blog for details - link to the left) but we continue to be here and shine as we can.

It was a joy having Monika Nguyen stay for the week and now we are preparing for:

4 new creative writing courses starting next week at Diwan and Darb 1718
the next Up On the Roof open stage night on April 7th at Darb 1718 (the last one on March 3rd was a fabulous success and received a great review in one of the notable papers here)
working with several private students on novels
collaborating with film maker Marouan Omara and creating poetry films
a birthday tea with two octogenarian writers from Cornwall who will revisit Cairo sixty five years after they celebrated their 21st birthdays here!!!

I am also waiting to hear about funding for my trip to Romania in May for an International Poetry Festival - here's hoping!

New Resident Artist

Dear World

Well, ARC is currently listening to some Linton Kwesi Johnson and taking in that strong upright spirit as there are more fun and games with the post-revolution situation here and an ongoing massacre in Libya.

However.. creativity happens and we are looking forward to our next resident artist arriving in a few days; Monika Nguyen - a stage designer and artist from Austria working in the fields of spatial installation and photography.

More soon!!!

Revolution & Rabbits

Mabrook Masr!!!!! Aiwa, Masr Horreya!!!!!!

Congratulations Egypt, yes free Egypt!!!

And hello World :-)

Well here I am, still here in Cairo and watching the post Mubarak events unfold.

Friday night (after Mubarak was ousted by the military coup) was one of the most amazingly happy occasions of my life! I have never been amongst so much happiness. It was insane downtown due to the crowds and celebration but a remarkable event.

Well here I am, still here in Cairo and watching the events unfold. For more of a personal account of the revolution please go to my personal ARC page on:
http://arc-theroadtoithaca.blogspot.com/

So, we are awaking each day to a new Egypt; unfortunately the events here meant that several artists could not come; Madeleine Aleman and Florin Dan Prodan will hopefully join us later in the year. Florin has kindly invited me to the Borsec arts residency in the Carpathian Mountains in Romania to take part in their arts festival in May; so I shall be applying for funding and hopefully stepping foot in that amazing country.

Everyday life here seems to be returning to a reasonable normality; we can move around the city, curfew is greatly lifted and many venues are opening again. This means arts events can begin once more; my creative writing classes are now fully back on track and I will be staging the postponed open stage night 'Up On the Roof' soon at Darb 1718; Revolution Roof & Rabbits!!! :-))

Talking Bout a Revolution

Dear World

Hopefully Egypt is on the point of change as huge numbers of people are marching for political and social freedom. Yesterday took maybe even Egyptians by surprise at the volume of protesters out there and it goes on, in spite of severe attacks by police and intimidation tactics. This is a country where 'worra el shams' /'behind the sun'has a sinister meaning; where there is still a list of 'the disappeared' growing. Listen to this audio clip by Jack Shenker, a journalist for the Guardian living here in Cairo and a friend of mine. It is chilling stuff.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/26/egypt-protests?intcmp=239

More New Residents at ARC

The novelist Sherry Jones and the classical composer Robert Spittal left early this morning after a stay of 12 days. We didn't see much of them in their time here as they were out and about so much but I held a literary salon for Sherry with a host of Egyptian writers and we also had a trip down to the Zar at MAKAN.

The next guests will be:

Zsofia Balogh - a dancer from Hungary
www.sayedastudio.blogspot.com

Christina Stjernholm Nygaard - a dancer from Norway
www.magedanserinne.no

Madeleine Aleman - an artist from Sweden
www.aleman.se

Monika Nguyen - a stage designer and artist from Austria working in the fields of spatial installation and photography.

Please also see links at the side of this page and stay tuned for further news!!!!