Syria and Silence Collaborators
Dr Suzan Meryem Rosita Kalayci
Project lead
History Faculty, St HIlda's College
Suzan Meryem Rosita Kalayci is the Calouste Gulbenkian Fellow at the Faculty of History and College Chaplain and Director of The Sanctuary at St Hilda’s College. She lived and worked in Damascus during the years 2003-2011. At Oxford she is the co-founder of the Silence Hub and the Oxford Network for Armenian Genocide Reseach.
Lead Library Curator
Lydia Wright is the Bodleian Subject Librarian for Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies based at the Nizami Ganjavi Library, University of Oxford. Lydia has been in this role for the last 5 years previous to which she was engaged in other library, gallery and teaching work. Lydia was educated at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, where she received a BA in Arabic and an MA in Islamic Art. Her role at the Bodleian Libraries involves curating the Middle East related teaching and research collections and supporting readers across the Libraries to access them. Lydia is the secretary of the UK Middle East Librarian Committee (MELCOM UK).
Community Consultant and Coordinator
Nuha Abdo is a sociologist from Syria who worked with Danish Refugee Council in Damascus for 3 years before coming to the UK in 2016. Since arriving in Oxford she has set up a Syrian women's group (Syrian sisters) and is active in assisting recently arrived Syrian families to settle in the city. Nuha currently works as a Community Ambassador and volunteer support as part of the Multaka Oxford project at the History of Science Museum and Pitt Rivers Museum and also worked for the Refugee Studies Centre as a research assistant. Since being in the UK, Nuha has also volunteered as a community advisor for Asylum Welcome.
Community Liaison Partner
Nicola Bird is a community engagement officer for Oxford University Gardens, Libraries and Museums and project manager for Multaka Oxford. She has worked within this role for 8 years and worked within Oxford community sector previous to this. Nicola’s role supports inclusion at the museums through outreach, collaborative practice and supporting more inclusive project teams. Recently, the work she has been involved in is Multaka Oxford (History of Science Museum and the Pitt Rivers) , Identity Without Borders (GLAM), Nice Cup of Tea? (Ashmolean), supporting Community Ambassadors on project teams. She also works as a freelance Community Inclusion practitioner.
Neil Stevenson
Public Engagement Manager
Neil is the Public Engagement Manager (maternity cover) at the Bodleian Libraries. After completing a Masters degree in Landscape Archaeology at Bristol University he began my career working in the museum and heritage sector, focusing on learning and engagement. Since arriving in Oxford in 2009, Neil has had many wonderful opportunities and experiences working across a number of different GLAM sites, the Museum of Oxford and with lots of amazing communities. His roles have included Community Engagement Officer for the Museum of Oxford, Deputy Head of Education at the Ashmolean and Project Manager for GLAM's Skills for The Future project. Neil is also a museum freelancer and consultant and recently completed a 5 year contract as Project Manager for the Subject Specialist Network for Islamic Art and Material Culture.
Yasmina Jraissati,
Literary Agent
With a PhD in philosophy and cognitive sciences focusing on the interaction between culture and perception, Yasmina Jraissati also has a passion for publishing and literature. In 2004, Yasmina started agenting for Arabic literature, feeling the urgent need to help bridge the gap between the international and Arab publishing scenes. In recent years, Yasmina’s focus has also turned towards the Arab market itself. In 2013, she launched a crowd-sourced, free, information platform Mubtada wa khabar (muwak.com), using the ONIX international standards for book metadata. The purpose of this project is to increase the visibility of Arab books and authors online, by structuring the information and metadata in the right. Building on this experience, Yasmina collaborated with the Emirates Literature Foundation initiative, katebmaktub.org, the first milestone of which is to multiply the number of pages of Arab authors on Wikipedia by 10. In 2020, Yasmina also joined Storytel Arabic, the Sweden based audiobook publisher and platform, as a publishing manager.
Joy Todd
Head of Volunteering
Joy Todd is the Head of Volunteering for the Gardens, Libraries and Museums, University of Oxford. The Volunteer Service supports and advocates for volunteers across GLAM, develops new opportunities, promotes inclusive practice, and supports staff to recruit and manage volunteers. Joy has worked in the heritage sector for 17 years, working in volunteer management and public engagement.
Martha Sharp
Arts Officer and Language Café Coordinator
I’m Martha. I’m an undergraduate at the University of Oxford studying Arabic, and I’ve recently gotten to know the project. I can’t wait to begin work staffing the library, hosting sessions in which visitors can explore modern Syrian poetry, and coordinating a language cafe. I’m excited to share some of the latest Syrian poetry I’ve discovered, and especially to do so in a pressure-free environment where we can really make the most of the poetry as it’s meant to be read, and take time to reflect. Of course, I can’t wait to be around the books too!
The poetry selected will be read and discussed in English, with Arabic translations alongside where possible, giving readers with Arabic a chance to experience the rich sound of the poetry in its original language, and everyone the chance to access its deep meaning in the English. If available, some readings will be played/performed, to bring the rhythms and sounds to life; as major a channel for emotion in poetry as words are.
Angela Flynn is a historian at the History Faculty with a specialist interest in civilian conflict, social history and the Spanish Civil War. She also co-convenes a TORCH seminar series entitled Conversations on Identity, Ethnicity and Nationhood.
Mehreen Saigol is a documentary filmmaker. She also works with Community Sponsorship to support the resettlement of Syrian refugees in London.
Hamid Sulaiman
Born in Damascus in 1986, Hamid Sulaiman trained as an architect, but he decided to devote himself to painting and drawing. He was arrested in 2011 for having participated in demonstrations of the Arab Spring in Syria. Released, but called to perform his military service, he went to Jordan by taxi, then to Egypt with his mother, a lawyer close to the Syrian National Council. In June 2012, they obtained a visa for Germany, where his mother settled. He continued his way and settled in France, because “France was the country of comics.” In March 2016, he published his first graphic novel: Freedom Hospital, the story of a clandestine hospital in Syria. An exhibition is presented at the Paris Book Fair on this work. With the ingredients of a shonen, a graphic style similar to Edmond Baudoin or Frank Miller, the reader follows Hamid Sulaiman in his quest. We see him testing, documenting and carrying out his first orders, in particular for members of the Syrian community. Hamid Sulaiman had the honor of being published by the prestigious German publisher Hanser Verlag (for Freedom Hospital which was published in five languages including English by Jonathan Cape). Flagship authors like Joe Sacco and Roberto Saviano have written about his work. He has won numerous awards including the Pulp Festival Prize, Pen Voices Festival Prize, etc. Hamid started to make fine art projects between Paris and Berlin, and he presented exhibitions with institutions like the British Museum, The Institute of the Arab World, the museum of resistance in Esch in Luxembourg. Today Sulaiman lives and works in Angoulême.
Khaled Alesmael
Khaled Alesmael, Syrian author, journalist and short film maker based in London now. In his exile, he has gone on to write two queer books and poems, including Selamlik, regarded by many as one the first homoerotic perspective of the Syrian war. Selamlik, the title of which brings to mind hope for change and freedom, tells the story of Furat his childhood and journey from war-torn Syria to Sweden as a refugee. The book, which bears many parallels to Khaled’s own journey, has been widely acclaimed as a powerful account of an emergent Arab queer identity, his writing has been compared to Jean Genet's in the Swedish media, published in Swedish and German and soon in different languages. Khaled received an award for his short, Coffee with Sukkar, at the Gothenburg Film Festival in 2019 and went on to win the Swedish Radio Award 2020 for his short story A Cotton Bag Carries Damascus. In the Meantime His debut Selamlik is the shortlist of Skoutz Award in Germany.Khaled was an accomplished radio journalist before he left Syria and worked in a major cities in the MENA and Europe. He claimed asylum in Sweden and he is a Swedish citizen now. Khaled is a founder and teacher of creative writing in Arabic course at Gothenburg University. You can keep up with Khaled’s artistic output at @KhaledAlesmael and https://khaledalesmael.com
Itab Azzam
Itab Azzam is a filmmaker, author and activist. In 2016 she produced the BAFTA winning documentary series Exodus Our Journey to Europe (BBC, PBS, Canal+) documenting the journeys of refugees fleeing war. She directed the award winning feature documentary We Are Not Princesses (Amazon), a film telling the story of a group of Syrian women who came together to create a theatre piece based on Sophocles' Antigone. In 2021 she founded Makani a charity working to create therapy and empowerment for women refugees through Art and education. She is also a cofounder of Sabbara, a social enterprise helping Syria women refugees with employment and co-author of the bestselling Syria: Recipes from Home, which combined refugees stories with traditional recipes. Itab is currently working on a long form feature documentary documenting the journey of Syrian girl growing up in Germany for release in 2023.
Mamdouh Azzam
Mamdouh Azzam is a Syrian novelist. His most celebrated and controversial novel is The Palace of Rain, a powerful and daring treatment of taboos in the conservative Druze community. His first novel Ascension to Death has been translated to English, German and French. His writings tell the human stories of love, war, conflict, the struggle against foreign powers and opposition to authority even on the smallest scale. In 2020 his novel Souls of the Honey Rocks was shortlisted for Arab most prestigious The Sheikh Zayed book award.
Erkan Özgen
Erkan Özgen was born in Derik in Mardin in 1971. He graduated from the Painting Department, Çukurova University in 2000. He works on video-based installations and has participated in group exhibitions in Turkey and abroad. In 2003 he curated the “Eyes Contact” exhibition at Diyarbakır Arts Center. In 2005 Özgen participated in the International Artists Studio Program at Rooseum Center for Contemporary Art in Malmö, Sweden. In the same year, he was awarded “Prix Meuly” at Kunstmuseum Thun in Switzerland. In 2008 he participated in the Can Xalant exchange programme at the Centre for Creating and Contemporary Thought in Mataró, Barcelona. In 2016 Özgen participated in the PM/HIAP Safe Haven Helsinki residence programme in Suomenlinna. He was awarded the “Polarized! Vision is War/Peace” prize for his film “Wonderland”. Between 2016 and 2017 he curated the collection “In-Between Worlds. Kurdish Contemporary Artists” for the Imago Mundi, Luciano Benetton Collection. In 2018 he had his first European solo exhibition at the Fundació Antoni Tàpies in Barcelona produced by the Han Nefkens Foundation. The Monography Giving Voices has been edited by Hilde Teerlinck and published by Sternberg Press, Berlin. Since his work, Özgen has been presented in several museums, art institutions and biennales worldwide including Tate Modern, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Pinakothek der Moderne, Seoul Museum of Art, Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art, Manifesta Palermo, amongst others. He has also participated in many workshops in Beirut, Damascus, Diyarbakır, Enschede, Khartoum and Taipei. Özgen has given lectures on contemporary art in Turkey and abroad and has also worked as an activist in support of various ecological initiatives. He is one of the founders of Loading Independent Art Space established in Diyarbakır in 2017. He was member of the advisory board of Istanbul Biennial Production and Research Programme 2018-2019.
