Left Field - more comments

MUNDHER ADHAMI: “A brilliant achievement. The cover, the quotes, the dedication, the arrangement and titles of chapters. The language of novels.”


 

PROF SEBASTIAN BALFOUR: (LSE) “A vivid account of a life fought for justice, full of indignation and tenderness. “

MANUELA BESTE: "I found Left Field intriguing, moving, thought-provoking and instructive."

  
BECCA BLAND: (Founder of Stand Alone) “This guy has a no bulls*** approach to life and has the strength to live by his beliefs!”

SUE BROCK: (TV Producer) “There are parts of these unique memoirs that are akin to opening the door to episodes and aspects of history that society chooses to forget.”

MATHEW CLAYTON (Head of Publishing at Unbound) “Powerful reading for David's ability to distill character and dramatic moments from his own past.”

EILEEN DAVIES: Wilson's memoir takes us on adventures through the decades and across borders. We share his sadnesss and happiness ...expressed with directness and honesty.

STEVE DAY: “History, celebrity, scandal, war and humour - Left Field is a personal report worth reading.”

  

TIFFANY DRAKE: “David's book can show us what can be hopeful and healing.”




   

HATTIE EDMONDS:  "Made me feel that anything is possible - with passion and drive and a bit of anarchy."

DARLA ENO: “Left Field is an inspiring read which will motivate anyone who wants to see change.”
 

  

ALAISTAIR FRASER: "A fascinating life journey account - warts and all - of an amazing person who has enriched all our lives with his dedication and commitment."
 

 

MELANIE FRIESEN: (Dir Vancouver Intern Film Festival) “I love the quotations that open some of the chapters … Also how many books have notes at the back that are just as interesting as the text?”





 



HARRY HARRIS: "I am the man who sat next to you on the tube and asked you what you were reading … We had a brief chat about Corbyn …. just wanted to let you know that I love the book. Thank you. You are an inspiring man."  

ALASTAIR HATCHET: “David Wilson is obviously a lifelong incorrigible optimist.”

DAVID HENCKE: (Investigative journalist) “The work of a determined guy who is prepared to expose fraud and injustice wherever he finds it.”



   

TAWNEE HILL: “Left Field is about humanity; everything he writes is from his heart. People like David need to be recognised and paid attention to. He has an incredible sense of justice, peace and hope, and that is a message the world needs today.”

 

RICHARD HORTON: (Editor of The Lancet) “You write absolutely beautifully. Thank you for your wonderful book.”

"Raw and compelling; a story well told of a vital and varied life."

 
MANDLA LANGA: (Winner of 2009 Commonwealth Writers Prize) "David Wilson is a national treasure."

MAUREEN LARKIN: “Interlaced with humour, anecdotes and with a sense of irony, even in the most destructive of situations.”

ROGER LEVY: “David is a man who lies behind a lot of contemporary events and he is an interesting part of those events."




  

SHADE MAJEKODUNMI: "Fantastic. Love it. The early childhood stories remind me so much of my own childhood … and of course I too became an activist."

ORHAN MASLO (OHA): “David steered me to who I am and what I do today. Thank you David."

 

RUSSELL MILLS: (Artist, record and book cover designer) “You’ve done so much, achieved so much, that is for the good, the right, the just.”

ELVEDIN NEZIROVIC: (Director Pavarotti Music Centre) “Thank you for everything you've done for my city and for my generation of people here.”

GRAINNE PALMER: (Founder of Drawing Down The Moon) “I couldn't put it down. It's also a page-turner peppered with passion, wit and human interest. Elegantly written too."

HEKATE PAPADAKI: “They say life is stranger than fiction and when it comes to David Wilson's life, that's definitely the case.”

DEBBI READ: “This memoir is a compelling read: the history of one man, lost battles and one war. If this doesn't inspire you nothing will."

REALTA FILMS: "A very personal account of an amazing life, and an insider perspective on the big political issues of the modern era. Enjoyed it very much indeed."

PROF TOM SANDLUND: (Helsinki University) “You see things happening through the eyes of a very intelligent person and you get a grasp of how bad things have been for many people.”

EUGENE SKEEF: “I am so elated to have read Left Field. I feel like a child at the fountain of narratives.”

SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST: "The memoirs of War Child whistleblower David Wilson are a quiet triumph."

TABITHA TROUGHTON: “Fascinating, heart-breaking, inspirational and memorably warm and kind.”

MICHAEL WALLING: (Artistic Director of Border Crossings) “Left Field is fantastic. So much I don’t know about someone I know well and so much vivid colour around the bits I did know well.”

ALEXANDER WATT: "David Wilson's memoirs are out of the ordinary, to say the least … his endeavours are at once inspiring and fantastic … Furthermore - it's a WONDERFUL read!"

PRESS articles by David on Left Field

The Guardian

Counterpunch

Kentishtowner


Buy 'Left Field' here

This Flesh is Mine

'To Agamemnon, Honour is nothing more than
a bone that he drops in the yard
when he gets a whiff of something
with more flesh to gorge on.'

'Through most cultures, through most of history, the arts – music, dance, painting, theatre – have not been done for the living at all, but for the dead. Indigenous performances, African performances, Asian performances are dances for the spirits of the dead- ways to commemorate, to atone and to heal. Their purpose is to say that love continues, and that any pain or sorrow around the death needs to be purged. That the lives of those remaining will only return to a position of balance when the enduring pain has been expunged.' Michael Walling

Border Crossings' two plays, This Flesh is Mine and When Nobody Returns come to London in October 2016.

For the Palestinians home is an absence, so in its absence, with its theft,language and poetry become all important to the preservation of their country. In The Cloud in My Hand the Palestinian poet, Mahmoud Darwish, wrote;

The place was prepared for his birth:
His grandfather's hill of sweet basil
With views to the east and the west.
God's olive trees rising with the language.

When first visiting Palestine, Michael Walling, artistic director of Border Crossings, was struck by this importance of culture in Palestinian life. 'Palestine is probably the most vibrant space I have ever encountered. Everyone is deeply informed about history and culture.' In April 2014 Michael worked with actors from the Ramallah-based Ashtar Theatre on a production of This Flesh is Mine by Brian Woolland. Using The Iliad as a starting point the play was set partly in the classical and partly in the modern world. In Almond Blossoms and Beyond Darwish drew a parallel between Ramallah and Homeric Troy and Walling has been happy to follow Darwish since, 'mythology allows you to address the present without apportioning blame … it permits a purer, more emotional identification with the experience of prolonged warfare.'

In the upcoming London production This Flesh is Mine will be joined by Brian Woolland's new play, When Nobody Returns. After The Illiad there has to be The Odyssey, after war displacement. The two plays will be performed under Westway near Ladbroke Grove, London, 20 October – 6 November. The cast will include Palestinian actors Iman Aoun and Bayan Shbib. Music by Dave Carey. Director: Michael Walling

'It is as if the people living here are themselves determined not to let it become in any real sense a home. For them, home sits beyond the wall, behind the checkpoint, in the lands from which they are now excluded, towns which most of them have never even seen. Many carry the keys to their ancestral dwellings with them wherever they go, as a reminder of their displacement and their aspiration to return.' (Michael Walling)
 

Michael directed my first play, Simple Writings, and was a major contributor to Spitting Into the Sky, a play about Dylan Thomas. You can read more about his influence on my playwrighting in 'Left Field'. Now that my memoir has been published I have offered to help Border Crossings with the promotion of these plays and with the upcoming London production.

www.davidwilson.org.uk 

The Cherokee and Left Field

Two days ago, my wife Anne Aylor and I went to the screening of 'Hidden Histories - Discovering Indigenous London' at Kings College. It is a project of the world theatre group, Border Crossings, as part of their Origins Festival. The artistic director, Michael Walling, is an old friend of ours and directed my first play in 1989. Anne had been interviewed as part of the film. It may seem surprising for those who know her to find out that she is part Cherokee – she calls herself a homeopathic Indian. On her mother's side her great grandmother was full-blooded. Her father was dark-eyed, relatively hairless, and looked like Elvis Presley. Did you know that Elvis, too, was part Cherokee? And did you know they called themselves the Aniyunwiya and that their pronounciation of Cherokee is Tslagi. They are part of the Southern Iroquois nation. Members of the northern tribe built the Empire State Building. The southern Iroquois were the only First Nation people to have an alphabet. Enough of interesting details. The important fact is that 'Left Field' would never have been written without my homeopathic Tslagi partner who, as an award-winning writer, follows in the literary tradition of her ancestors.

Anne Aylor interview with 'Origins: Heritage of First Nations

To buy Left Field - The memoir of a lifelong Activist by David Wilson, best offer to date  is at WH Smith who are selling it at £13.60.  


Also on sale at Waterstones, Amazon and Penguin Books.