7-9pm, Friday 6 October
Housmans Bookshop, 5 Caledonian Rd, London N1 9DX (nearest tube: Kings X)
Jo Wilding's new book "Don't Shoot the Clowns: Taking a Circus to the Children of Iraq" will be having its official launch next Friday (3 Oct) at Housmans Bookshop in London.
Jo Wilding was in Baghdad during the 2003 invasion and in Fallujah during the April 2004 US siege (during which at least 600 Iraqi civilians were killed) and spent many months in occupued Iraq touring with her children's circus. "Don't Shoot the Clowns" is her account of living alongside ordinary Iraqis in extraordinary times.
"When I first heard that clowns were going to Iraq, my feeling was, "That's all they need." But reading Jo's blogs and watching the film A Letter to the Prime Minister, I suspended my prejudices. The therapeutic value of Circus2Iraq is beyond question; and Jo's involvement with the situation, and her ability to illuminate it for the outside world, offer us priceless access. She goes further than most in introducing us to the people our taxes are killing. But, to be more positive, she also shows us the courage, resourcefulness and cheerfulness of which human beings are capable. This book is not about missionary zeal, but about being human" - Jeremy Hardy
"Jo was the only one of us foreigners in Iraq who I was absolutely sure was doing something useful. She made thousands of children happy" - Naomi Klein
For mor info on Jo's book see www.jowilding.net
This book launch is part of the "No More Fallujahs" month of action against war and occupation - see www.rememberfallujah.org