Author of an Observer Book of the Year 2012, Ruth Waterman talked movingly about her experiences of working with musicians in Bosnia in the aftermath of war on a visit to the group this week.

‘When Swan Lake Comes to Sarajevo’ is Ruth‘s account of her visits to the country between 2002 and 2006 as guest conductor of the remarkable, multi-ethnic Mostar Sinfonietta.

The book weaves together Ruth‘s diary entries with first hand accounts of the musicians’ own war experiences. In it she describes how she begins to understand the ‘nuts and bolts of how a village can be split, how neighbours can become enemies, how people can be broken, how a society can be torn apart.
It’s so easy. It would work anywhere. You only need a handful of killers, let out of prison for the purpose, to start the ball rolling. It would gather speed of its own accord.’

Ruth is listed in the latest edition of ‘The Great Violinists’. Her concerts have taken her from Carnegie Hall to St Petersburg’s Hermitage and her first visit to Mostar was described in a documentary she presented on BBC Radio Four. She is also a poet and a painter.

It was a fascinating talk and a great honour to welcome her to the group.

Stephen Connolly’s first piece of non-fiction has been published in Issue 2 of DNA Magazine.

It’s a biographical piece, describing how he came to leave the Republic of South Africa in 1984 in something of a hurry…

Congratulations to Somewhere Else members Jim Moeller and Iris Anne Lewis for their success in the 2017 Gloucestershire Writers Network/Cheltenham Literature Festival Competition, Iris as a runner-up for her poem ‘Matryoshka’ and Jim for his prose piece ‘Benefits’.

Both will be reading their work, along with the winners and other runners-up, at the Gloucestershire Writers’ Network event L322 at The Times and Sunday Times Cheltenham Literature Festival. There will also be readings from the competition judges Roy Mcfarlane and Dr Lania Knight.

Tickets will be on sale from 6th September, book early to avoid disappointment.

May has been an eventful month for Somewhere Else writer Iris Anne Lewis with two pieces published in online magazines. ‘The Greenwood’, her retelling of the traditional Child ballad ‘The Cruel Mother was published in Issue 15 of Three Drops from a Cauldron

​Her poem ‘Song for the Yazidi Women’ was posted on 13th May on the poetry blog I am not a Silent Poet.

Stephen Connolly read his short story ‘Gustav Carlson’s Autumn Leaves’ at Burdall’s Yard, Bath on Friday 2nd June. The event More Banksy than Bonnets was organised by Stokes Croft Writers as part of the Bath Fringe.

Stephen Connolly was one of three lead writers on Gloucester Scriptorium’s latest project ‘Tapestry’, a play loosely inspired by the W.E. Henley poem ‘Invictus’, directed by Jarek Adams.
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The play was performed in the choir of Gloucester Cathedral on Thursday 11th May, at 19:00 and again at 20:30. Tickets £12 from Cathedral shop, Box Office 01452 768928 or on their website