Jemimah Steinfeld appointed Literature Festival Manager
Jemimah Steinfeld, the newly appointed Literature Festival Manager at Asia House
Jemimah Steinfeld appointed Literature Festival Manager
21 July 2014
Asia House is pleased to announce the appointment of Jemimah Steinfeld as Literature Festival Manager in the Arts and Learning Department.
Jemimah brings to Asia House an international perspective and possesses a range of literary and publishing skills and experience. She started her career in Shanghai, where her interest in Asian culture began. Since then, she has worked at the History Channel in London, gained an MA in Chinese Studies at SOAS and spent a year in Beijing writing for a series of outlets including CNN. She has an extensive network of authors and contacts with the media from her time in Asia, and brings her own creative practice as a writer to the role. Her first book, Little Emperors and Material Girls: Sex and Youth in Modern China, will be published at the start of 2015.
In addition to her knowledge of Asia, Jemimah has worked closely with Asian communities in the UK, having assisted in organising events for the think tank British Future in Bradford, which addressed ethnic integration in the city. She is looking forward to building on these relationships.
Jemimah will be responsible for the planning and implementing of the annual Asia House Bagri Foundation Literature Festival, and will work in the Arts and Learning team, headed by Pamela Kember. “ We are delighted to have Jemimah join us at such an exciting time for our arts and learning programme. With her solid grounding in writing and publishing, coupled with her breadth and depth of knowledge of contemporary literature from Asia, Jemimah will also play a critical role in expanding the Literature Festival’s educational as well as outreach programmes, both locally and nationally,” she said.
The Festival has been running since 2007 and features an impressive array of emerging and established writers, such as Kiran Desai and Amy Tan. The Festival will also run events aimed at promoting Asian culture in the UK, including cookery and language classes, and is complimented by an ongoing educational outreach programme, which engages young people across the country. Jemimah is keen to develop the next generation of young readers through building and extending the educational and learning elements of the Festival.
Jemimah said: “I am thrilled to be able to work on the renowned Asia House Bagri Foundation Literature Festival. Asia House is a unique institution and the literature festival, which is the only UK festival devoted exclusively to Asia and Asians in a pan-Asian context, has long been a highlight of my annual calendar. I am delighted to be managing this prestigious event and look forward to being a part of the dynamic Asia House team.”
Jemimah takes up her role on 12 August 2014 and succeeds Adrienne Loftus-Parkins who has stepped down as Festival Director after eight years.
