We Still Have A Chance
12 Stories for 12 Days of COP27
We’re proud to be partnering with the University of Exeter to support their project for COP27.
We Still Have A Chance is an international collaboration between Egypt and the UK, culminating in the creation of an anthology of powerful stories, live theatre performances, and a range of other programming.
The anthology
A series of virtual creative writing workshops, led by writer and editor Dr Sally Flint, took place in May, using the themes of ‘water’, ‘food’, and ‘adaptation’ - characters were created and narrative threads emerged. In a unique editorial process these were woven into 12 short stories to represent everyone who took part.
Among those stories are Mermaids’ Tears, a magical realist melding of microplastics in the Nile with Arabic folklore; Déjà Vu, a tense tale of a city running out of water; and Aish Baladi, in which a catastrophic flood and mudslide have life-changing consequences for a remote Egyptian community.
Each of the stories within the We Still Have a Chance anthology has been written in English, Arabic and Egyptian Arabic and will be available to download free of charge from the University of Exeter’s Green Futures website, and made available to the public via a series of downloadable recordings, each narrated by prominent figures from Egypt and the UK.
Events
The Earth Turns - Cairo
The Earth Turns is a bilingual (Arabic and English) performance adapted from We Still Have a Chance- 12 Stories for 12 Days of COP27, which premiered Thur 3 Nov 7:30pm at The Falaki Theatre in Tahrir Square, with an international live stream!
The Earth Turns - Exeter
Cygnet Theatre brings to life stories from We Still Have a Chance, set against the backdrop of a contemporary Egyptian tapestry from RAMM’s collection, on Weds 2 Nov 6:30pm.
Reading for Change
A live polylingual reading of We Still Have a Chance and translations by students of the University of Exeter, at MakeTank on Weds 9 Nov 5:30pm.
We Still Have A Chance at Exeter College
Harula Ladd, Corinna Wagner, and John Bruun met with with Exeter College's Earth Matters club and Creative Writing EXtra club for readings by Harula from the We Still Have A Chance anthology, alongside a rich conversation about the making of the anthology and using literature and storytelling to talk about crucial socio-political issues such as climate change.
We Are The Ocean - COP28
In 2023, the University of Exeter twinned 14 coastal schools in the UK and UAE as part of the Schools Across The Ocean programme. Over 400 children aged 10-12 worked with marine scientists, teachers, writers, translators, and artists to find out about and share how all living things on the planet rely on a healthy Ocean.
The ‘We Are The Ocean’ anthology, in English and Arabic, is a jigsaw of all 400 children’s words, thoughts, worries, discoveries, pictures, conversations, and hopes. Because of what they have learnt together, they have taken and will continue to take action to heal and save our one and only ocean. The anthology was launched at COP28 Climate Change Conference in Dubai in 2023 and presented to world leaders.
As legacy for We Are the Ocean display and celebration in Exeter, is the co-creation of a legacy poem titled ‘Earth to Exeter’.