The Brontë Festival of Women’s Writing 2021
Arifa Akbar: Consumed, a Sister's Story
Sunday 1 August, 11:30 - 12:30
Tickets: £6 (£4 concessions)
Arifa Akbar’s Consumed, a Sister’s Story has been described as ‘one of this year’s must-read memoirs’. When Arifa discovered that her sister had fallen seriously ill, she assumed there would be a brief spell in hospital and then she'd be home. This was not to be. It was not until the day before she died that the family discovered she was suffering from tuberculosis.
Consumed is a story of sisterhood, grief, the redemptive power of art and the strange mythologies that surround tuberculosis. It takes us from Keats's deathbed and the tubercular women of opera to the resurgence of TB in modern Britain today. Join Arifa in conversation with writer, academic and broadcaster Shahidha Bari, as they discuss this eloquent and moving excavation of a family's secrets and a sister's detective story to understand her sibling.
Arifa Akbar is the Guardian’s chief theatre critic. A journalist for over twenty years, she is the former literary editor of the Independent, where she also worked as arts correspondent and news reporter. She has previously contributed to the Observer and the Financial Times. She is on the board of trustees for the Orwell Foundation and English PEN. Short pieces of her nonfiction have appeared in several anthologies. Consumed is her first full length book.
Shahidha Bari is a writer, academic and broadcaster. She is Professor of Fashion Cultures and Histories at London College of Fashion (University of the Arts London). She is one of the presenters of BBC Radio 3's Arts and Ideas programme, Free Thinking, and an occasional presenter of BBC Radio 4's Front Row.
This event will take place via Zoom Webinar. You can watch the event live and it will also be recorded and made available to Ticket Holders on our Vimeo channel from Tuesday 3 August 2021 for 7 days (you will be emailed after the event with a link).
Full details of how to join the event will be sent once you have booked your place.
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