Yesterday was a big, big day! The Different Moons book was launched at Haslingden Library with readings, food and good spirits. The book is a lovely 100 page hard-back, illustrated volume, containing over 60 poems by local people – mainly girls and women, and almost all from the South Asian communities.
The upstairs room in the library was full, and Shamshad Khan, who has overseen the project, compered an hour of readings by some of the participants. Lots of the young people who had been involved in the classes turned up, accompanied by parents – and we were especially pleased to see a number of the first generation family members joining us, such as Mr Mazhar Hussain and Mr Aslom Miah (below).
At the same time our entirely new Different Moons website was launched – it’s to be found at www.differentmoons.org and it’s full of interviews, photos, animations and writings that have grown out of our project.
The third big event to celebrate was the completion of the refurbishment of the Apna, down the road at 69 Deardengate in Haslingden. It’s now ready to re-open, and from Wednesday this week (16th) it will host a small exhibition reminding everyone of the many projects that have happened over the past few years under the Different Moons banner! There will also be an opportunity for anyone who didn’t make it on Saturday to come along and claim their free copy of the book.