Join us in collaboration with English PEN for a conversation with renowned artist and author Edmund de Waal. In this session Edmund will be sharing his family’s story of displacement, exploring their experience of returning to their homeland and answering the children’s questions. The talk will explore the themes of belonging, home, identity and welcome. During a short pre-task the children will also learn a little about the Kindertransport and who Edmund is. This webcast is ideal for pupils aged 9-11 (Yr 5-6 in England & Wales, P6-7 in Scotland).

About Edmund de Waal

An internationally acclaimed artist and writer best known for his large-scale installations of porcelain vessels, often created in response to collections and archives or the history of a particular place. His interventions have been made for diverse spaces and museums worldwide, including the Sainsbury Centre in Norwich, the Musée Nissim de Camondo in Paris, The British Museum in London, The Frick Collection in New York and Ateneo Veneto in Venice. De Waal is also renowned for his bestselling family memoirs, The Hare with Amber Eyes (2010) and The White Road (2015). He was awarded the Windham-Campbell Prize for non-fiction by Yale University in 2015 and a CBE for his services to art in 2021.

By registering to take part in the webcast, you are participating in A Day of Welcome. VNET will share your contact details with Norfolk Schools of Sanctuary who will be in touch with further activities and ideas that you could use as a complement to the webcast in order to mark A Day of Welcome.

Thanks to our partners in this event:

Young Norfolk Arts Trust provides opportunities for children and young people to create and engage with creativity and culture across Norfolk. We hold the Young Norfolk Arts Festival (YNAF) – a celebration of creativity and performance by and for young people in Norfolk every year. We work closely with schools and cultural organisations to provide creative opportunities and inspiration throughout the year and we are delighted to be part of this project. We also run the YNA Collective (YNAC), a volunteer group of 16-25 year olds with an interest in the arts and creative industries either as a hobby or as a career path.

Norfolk Schools of Sanctuary and Anglia Ruskin University – Norfolk Schools of Sanctuary is a network of Norfolk schools committed to building a culture of welcome for refugees and asylum seekers. Over the past five years, they have worked closely with Anglia Ruskin University to develop A Day of Welcome – an annual day of learning and solidarity inspired by stories of refugee migration that raises awareness of refugee history and heritage, past and present, local and global.

English PEN – English PEN is one of the world’s oldest human rights organisations, championing the freedom to write and the freedom to read around the world. We are the founding centre of PEN International, a worldwide writers’ association with 147 centres in more than 100 countries.

In collaboration with: