Refugee Week 2021 is 14-20 June, and anyone can get involved, Just visit the Refugee Week website to find out more. To find out what we can learn from each other, and what we can build together. Whoever and wherever you are, we hope you’ll join us in making Refugee Week 2021 a bold, collective act of reaching out a space for us all to listen, to exchange and connect. Someone who is outside your current circle, has had an experience you haven’t, or is fighting for a cause you aren’t yet involved in.

The theme of Refugee Week 2021, ‘We Cannot Walk Alone’, is an invitation to extend your hand to someone new. Its mission is to support and produce the arts by and about migrants and refugees, seeking to ensure that their contributions are recognized and welcomed within British arts, history and culture. Refugee Week is coordinated by Counterpoints Arts, a leading national organisation in the field of arts, migration and cultural change. The Good Immigrant – edited by Nikesh Shukla. The crossing : my journey to the shattered heart of Syria- Samar Yazbek In the Sea There are Crocodiles- Fabio Geda Sea Prayer and The Kite Runner- Khalid Husseini The Whispering Cloth- A Refugees Story- Pegi Deitz Shea

Refuge : transforming a broken refugee system / Alexander Betts and Paul Collier. The Strange Death of Europe- Douglas Murray I am Malala and We Are Displaced- Malala Yousafzai The Optician of Lampedusa- Emma Jane Kirby

This year Refugee Week runs from 14- 20 June ad the theme is “We cannot walk alone” Here are some book recommendations which reflect some of the themes of refugee week, available from our libraries to borrow or reserve at An established part of the UK’s cultural calendar, Refugee Week is now one of the leading national initiatives working to counter this negative climate, defending the importance of sanctuary and the benefits it can bring to both refugees and host communities. Refugee Week started in 1998 as a direct reaction to hostility in the media and society in general towards refugees and asylum seekers. In the UK, Refugee Week is a nationwide programme of arts, cultural and educational events that celebrate the contribution of refugees to the UK, and encourages a better understanding between communities. Refugee Week takes place every year across the world in the week around World Refugee Day on the 20 June.

Amina's Blanket by Helen Dunmore