Maud Blair is a local writer although, contrastingly, her evocative memoir In Between draws richly on a life lived across continents, cultures, and generations. Maud spent her childhood in Rhodesia, modern-day Zimbabwe, before moving to the UK to pursue her academic and professional career.
Born to a Zimbabwean mother and English father, Maud was sent to a ‘coloured’ boarding school run by Christian nuns when only four years old. She was discouraged from speaking her native language and was only permitted two weeks at Christmas to see her family.
Labelled as neither African nor European, Maud offers a deeply personal lens on identity, family, colonial history, and belonging in her memoir. Described as ‘vivid [and] significant in its detail’ by Carnegie Medal winner Beverley Naidoo, In Between spans themes of heritage, migration, and womanhood.
Maud earned a master’s degree in Race and Ethnicity from the University of Warwick, followed by a PhD in the Sociology of Education at the Open University. Maud has lead pioneering courses in Race and Education and Gender and Education, before bringing her expertise to the Department for Education and later to The Learning Trust in Hackney.
A proud mother of three and grandmother of eight, Maud is now retired and lives and writes in Cambridge.
Members of Cambridge Writers may attend this event for FREE as part of your membership.
Our events start at 7.30pm and are held at:
Hartington Grove Meeting House
91-93 Hartington Grove
Cambridge
CB1 7UB
Non-members are welcome to attend this event, at a charge of £3. Please contact our chairman Harry Goode if you would like to come along.
Alternatively, you can always join Cambridge Writers!
It only costs £20 for an entire year of fantastic writer events, as well as supportive monthly Writing Group meetings to help you progress your work, be that prose or poetry, long form or short, fiction or non-fiction.
Hope to see lots of you there!