1. Very short notice of tonight’s Edinburgh International Booker Prize event, which can also serve – that’s my excuse, at any rate – as a reminder of the series as a whole: tonight at 19:30 UK time sees translator Megan McDowell and Argentinian journalist, novelist and short story writer Mariana Enriquez discussing Marian’s new collection of short stories, The Dangers of Smoking in Bed, with writer, editor and translator Daniel Hahn: https://www.edbookfest.co.uk/the-festival/whats-on/mariana-enriquez-megan-mcdowell-with-daniel-hahn/player

More info on the rest of the series here https://www.edbookfest.co.uk/news/the-international-booker-prize-2021-shortlistee-events-announced

and a previous event with Mariana Enriquez here https://youtu.be/a8JG0uj-qQY

2. A National Geographic Learning webinar next Tuesday, 11^th May, Developing Confident Communicators for the Real World, with John Hughes https://webinars.eltngl.com/4-maydeveloping-confident-communicators-for-the-real-world/ Once at 09:00 UK time and again at 14:00 UK time.

John says “even learners with an intermediate or advanced level of English can sometimes struggle to get their message across in public – not because they don’t have the English they need, but because they lack the inward and outward confidence” – and the webinar is about helping them develop the confidence to do themselves justice.

3. Next Tuesday, 11^th May at 13:00 UK time sees the launch of Reforming Education and Challenging Inequalities in Southern Contexts at the REAL (Research for Equitable Access and Learning) Centre here in Cambridge. The book is a tribute to Maurice Colclough and offers in-depth analyses of education and social inequality in Southern contexts, using data from Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Pakistan and Uganda.

More info and registration here https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/book-launch-reforming-education-and-challenging-inequalities-tickets-148177989355?aff=ebdsoporgprofile and a PDF of chapter 1 below. Several other chapters are also available to download free.

4. And, finally, I’m not quite sure to expect from this one, the launch of Ilana Halperin’s There is a Volcano Behind My House exhibition at Mount Stuart on the Isle of Bute in Scotland at 15:30 UK time on Saturday, 8^th May https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/there-is-a-volcano-behind-my-house-launch-tickets-152480899475

I visited Mount Stuart some years ago and found it a beautiful place. I hope they capture some of that magic online https://www.mountstuart.com/ Here’s Mount Stuart on the map https://goo.gl/maps/UKaByLNjfDQcy54P7