Writer and explorer EmmaLucy Cole is giving a talk next week at Brazier Coffee Roasters about her two years spent living with a Bedouin tribe in the Sinai desert near the Red Sea. “I went over in 2011 to do six weeks of research for my MA and just didn’t leave. One year became two years and in the end coming home became more difficult than staying out there,” said EmmaLucy, who now lives near Wellington.
“Some of the tribes are nomadic but I was staying with the Tarrabin. They let me rent a house in the village and I spent the first six months living with the womenfolk, learning Arabic and trying to absorb the culture. It was very intense.”
EmmaLucy is now researching a PHD on the representation of the Bedouin people in literature and film – before and after Lawrence of Arabia. “I go back pretty much every year now,” she added. “It’s very different but not as isolated as you might think. I get better internet at an oasis in the desert than in Oake.”
Coffee and Camels is at Brazier Coffee Roasters, Unit 10, Tonedale, Wellington TA21 0AW 6.30pm (doors open at 6pm) with tickets £20 to include antipasto and a soft drink. Tkts in advance from Brazier or contact emmalucycole@hotmail.com