Award-winning journalist visits Keele to discuss Bennett and Brexit
Keele University will welcome journalist and broadcaster Samira Ahmed onto its campus in September to explore how local novelist Arnold Bennett speaks to modern Britain.
Samira, who presents Front Row on BBC Radio 4 and Newswatch on BBC1, will give a free public lecture entitled What Can Arnold Bennett Teach Brexit Britain on Friday September 1st at 7.30pm, in the Westminster Theatre at Keele University.
The free lecture is part of a two-day conference on Arnold Bennett, which is a joint venture between Keele University, Staffordshire University and the Arnold Bennett Society. The conference marks the 150th Anniversary of the birth of Bennett, a novelist, playwright, journalist and politician.
Samira has been interested in the work of Arnold Bennett since reading The Old Wives Tale in school. Her talk will explore modern Britain, and she will also be presenting the inaugural Arnold Bennett Society Book Prize.
Samira studied English at St Edmund Hall, Oxford and took a newspaper journalism diploma at City University before starting her career as BBC News Trainee. During her career at the BBC Samira has been a TV news correspondent, Los Angeles correspondent, and a reporter on both Newsnight and the Today programme. She has also presented news programmes for Deutsche Welle TV in Berlin.
John Shapcott, Vice-President of the Arnold Bennett Society, said: “Samira Ahmed was an inspired first choice to present the inaugural Arnold Bennett Book Prize at Keele. She visited Stoke to record her impressive 2014 BBC Radio 4 documentary Arnold of the Five Towns, admitting then to a lifelong admiration for Bennett's work. Add to this interest her skill as a broadcaster and journalist and I believe we are in for a treat when she speaks of Bennett in the context of today's political turmoil.”
Given the wide range of Arnold Bennett’s interests and achievements, the conference provides the opportunity to celebrate Bennett’s literary, cultural, social, and political diversity.
This lecture is free for all to attend. To register or for more information please visit Arts Keele, or contact the box office via 01782 734340 or boxoffice@keele.ac.uk.