2002 - 2003

2002
January - March
> Ran a linked series of workshops, sponsored by Consignia, in Maryhill, Glasgow.

Feburary
> Recorded some of the stories The Burning Mirror in 'poeticised' form with backing music, in conjunction with the innovative audio-visual company, '55 Degrees'.

> Worked with poets Adel Karasholi and Dragica Ragcic via the Goethe-Institut and the Scottish Poetry Library on the M/other Tongues creative translation project.

March
> Saadi was the adjudicator for the General Short Story section of the Association of Scottish Writers Competition.

> Judge in West of Scotland Community Relations Council's annual poetry competition for schools.

> Read at Borders bookshop with writers from Glasgow's refugee communities in an event organised with Scottish PEN, which campaigns internationally for imprisoned and oppressed writers.

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April
> Wrote and delivered monologue on Anna Magnusson’s BBC Radio Scotland programme, ‘Still Lives’.

> Proposed for a place on the Scottish Arts Council’s Literature Committee and for the position of Chair of the New Writers’ Bursaries Committee.

May
> Read in Edinburgh with Bernard MacLaverty at the Scottish Writers’ Festival at the ‘Hills of Home’ event.

> Short story, ‘The Long Man’, set in the south of England, commissioned by the charity, ‘Writability’.

June
> Poem by Saadi used in Glasgow Art School graduation show booklet called 'And then we all went home'.

> Essay, ‘Behind the Donkey’s Mask’ written for London-based independent think-tank, ‘The Foreign Policy Centre’ on the theme of the post-Trade Towers attack mood in relation to Muslims in the West.

July
> ‘The Burning Mirror’ featured in ‘Asian Culture Club’ magazine.

August
> ‘Ninety-Nine Kiss-o-grams’ broadcast UK-wide on BBC Radio 3 during the Edinburgh Promenade concerts.

> The essay, ‘Being Scottish’ published in book of the same name (eds. Tom Devine and Paddy Logue).

> Ghost story, ‘The Gless Hoose’ (aimed at 11-14 year-olds) commissioned by Itchy-coo Publishers.

> Read at annual Citizens’ Advice Bureau Conference in Dundee.

> Read from forthcoming novel, ‘Kings of the Dark House’, to a full house at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

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October
> Saadi’s essay, ‘Dance of the Albatross: A Modulation on Art and Politics’ to be published in booklet accompanying visual art/dance exhibition Talacchanda: The Rhythm of the Plan’ at Glasgow’s Tramway theatre. This exhibition was organised by, and featured the work of, Glasgow School of Art artist, Ranjana Thapalyal.

November
> Delivered lecture at British Council-organised 'Whose History is it Anyway?' Conference in Brussels.

> Saadi edited 'Shorts 5' which was launched at the awards ceremony of the annual Macallan/Scotland-on-Sunday Short Story Competition.

December
> Poem, set to music by composer Tommy Fowler to be sung by Dunedin Consort on their scheduled tour of Britain.

> Launch of football fiction book, sponsored by the Hampden Museum and design company, ‘Freight Design’, and containing Saadi’s story, ‘Sufisticated Football’.

> Commissioned to write two pieces for the Paradise Garden Carpets project/exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.

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2003
January
> Broadcast of a radio programme on BBC Radio Scotland from Rosslyn Chapel near Edinburgh. Saadi had picked this place as being of special significance, spiritually, architecturally and poetically, in Scotland

February
> Anthology of Scottish football fiction, The Hope That Kills Us, published by Freight Design and launched at the Scottish National Stadium at Hampden Park, Glasgow.

> Slovenian publisher brought out a compilation of Scottish short stories in Slovenian, which will include Ninety-Nine Kiss-o-grams.

> Read with Anne Donovan at the MacRobert Arts Centre, Stirling.

March
> Short story, Extra Time in Paradise, commissioned and published by Celtic View magazine (official weekly glossy magazine of Celtic Football Club).

> Guest reader at the Cromarty Book Festival.

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April-May
> Guest reader in Lerwick, Shetland at launch of book by Raman Mundair (see link).

> San Diego-based web magazine, Storyglossia published short story, The Pier, set during high summer on the south coast of England (www.storyglossia.com).

> Traveled to New York City, USA, at the invitation of Hanging Loose Press and with the kind help of the Scottish Arts Council, via their Professional Development (Lottery) Fund. Read at the Bowery Poetry Club and facilitated several workshops in Manhattan at the invitation of the NYC-based Teachers’ and Writers’ Collaborative.

> New York-based ‘Hanging Loose Press’ published an excerpt from Saadi’s forthcoming novel, Psychoraag in their anthology of contemporary Scottish fiction, Word Jig.

> Guest on a BBC Scotland Arts programme about flamenco.

June
> Read at Radical Book Fair, Edinburgh.

> As one of the editors (along with Meaghan Delahunt and Elizabeth Reeder) of forthcoming prose anthology, A Fictional Guide to Scotland (Open Ink), read at the West End Festival in Glasgow.

> Read at the opening of the Hidden Gardens, Pollokshields, Glasgow.

> San Diego-based web magazine, Storyglossia published short story, Braga, a tale of the fin-folk, set in the Orkney Isles (www.storyglossia.com).

July
> Guest reader at the Scottish Universities International Summer School in Edinburgh.

> Appeared on the Colin MacKay Show, discussing, among other things, the nature of evil.

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August
> Appeared with Anne Donovan at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

> Excerpt from forthcoming novel, Psychoraag, broadcast on BBC Radio 3.

> Article on the Hidden Gardens Project to appear in Indobrit (London-based, British South Asian cultural/arts) magazine.

November
> Invited by the British Council to attend and produce a written report on the forum on Creativity and Creative Entrepreneurs in Brussels.

December
> Commissioned to write a stage-play, 'Saame Sita', to run throughout December at the Theatre Workshop, Edinburgh. The play, aimed at both adults and children, is based around the folktales of the Saami people of northern Scandinavia. Find out more on: www.theatre-workshop.com

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