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Showing posts from January, 2019

January snow in Paris

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the  author of:-  Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

Back to beef in Paris

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the  author of:-  Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

European White-Tailed Bumblebee

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the  author of:-  Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

A Woman in Arabia by Gertrude Bell: book review

A Woman in Arabia: The Writings of the Queen of the Desert (2015) is the semi-autobiographical work of archaeologist, mountaineer, linguist, traveller, adventurer, and nation-builder Gertrude Bell. Editor Georgina Howell compiles Bell’s letters, diaries, articles, reports, books, and other material to form an account of Bell’s life, particularly in the early 1900s.  British Gertrude Bell (1868-1926) is the female Lawrence of Arabia. In fact, she was colleagues with T.E. Lawrence, Lawrence of Arabia, who was 20 years her junior. She was friends with everyone, from Sir Winston Churchill to King Faisal of Iraq.  Controversial and much-maligned, she was influential in creating an independent Iraq and the Museum of Iraq. Unlucky in love, she commits herself to work and an adventurous life.  This is not a linear account. It is sectioned into periods of her life – as The Linguist, The Mountaineer, The Desert Traveller, etc. Unfortunately, it is not a travelogue, as it only

Solo Exhibition: Felix Varlamishvili – VARLA

The National Museum of Georgia in Tbilisi is hosting an exhibition of the works of Georgian Felix Varlamishvili from 23 January to 24 February 2019.  More than 60 artworks are exhibited from the artist’s private collection.  Felix Varlamishvili (Varla) was born in Kutaisi, Georgia, in 1903 and graduated from the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts. He migrated to France in the 1928.   Varla's works are very relevant to today's Georgia as a European cultural phenomenon that has emerged throughout the Georgian tradition of the arts.   For many years he was known only to a narrow circle of artists in Georgia. Gradually, Varla's art is becoming popular in his homeland. Varla died in 1986 in Paris. He is buried at the Georgian cemetery in Leuville. Leuville-sur-Orge is 31 kilometres (19 miles) south of Paris. In 1922, Leuville was the refuge of exiled Georgian leader Noe Zhordania and his government-in-exile. France handed over the exiled Georgian governme

Sunday Walk: with goats and sheep

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the  author of:-  Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).