READING FOR PEACE (PEACE READING NUMBER 6)

“I heard Richard Perle say: ‘Next year at about this time, I expect there will be a really thriving trade in the region, and we will see rapid economic development. And a year from now, I’ll be very surprised if there is not some grand square in Baghdad named after President Bush.” – From Eliot Weinberger’s ‘What I heard about Iraq’

On Monday 20th March 2006, at 7.30pm, a special Reading for Peace marked the third anniversary of the outbreak of war in Iraq. The now famous text by Eliot Weinberger titled ‘What I heard about Iraq’ was read aloud, as part of a worldwide reading event initiated by the Peter Weiss Foundation for Art and Politics, and the Berlin International Literature Festival.

Readers included, amongst others, La Mama’s Maureen Hartley; actor and writer Margaret Cameron; poet Judith Rodriguez, and writer and historian Judith Buckrich; writer Amanda Johnson; performer Caroline Lee.

Coordinated by Cynthia Troup, Mary Helen Pirola and Catherine Hill.

Supported by PEN Melbourne and Aphids.