In 2017 London based Palindrome Productions began working with Afghan women journalists in adapting their work for the theatre.  This project — Sahar Speaks: Voices of Women from Afghanistan – has six one-act plays, four performed in London and two in Columbus, Ohio. In addition to the journalists, six playwrights and six directors—all women—took part. The talk includes the rationale for the project and the impact that the plays have had on those who have seen them and those who have read them. There are future plans for further performances in London.

Speaker biographies
Lesley Ferris, Artistic Director of Palindrome Productions, is an Arts and Humanities Distinguished Professor of Theatre at The Ohio State University. Current research includes Critical Perspectives on Contemporary Playwrighting by Women: The Early Twenty-First Century co-edited by Penny Farfan (University of Calgary) and Lesley Ferris forthcoming 2021 University of Michigan Press.

The journalist Amie Ferris-Rotman has worked for Reuters, Washington Post, amongst other news outlets. She founded Sahar Speaks in 2015 to respond to the lack of Afghan women’s voices in English language foreign media. The women she trained have published in Huffington Post and the Guardian amongst other news media.