about
the story behind my stories
biography
who is Tanvir Bush?
I am a novelist and film-maker/photographer. Born in London, I moved with my family to Zambia in the early ‘70’s. Although educated back in England from the age of ten, I returned to Zambia whenever I could, fully intending to move there permanently.
After completing a first degree in English, Theatre and Film, I received the life-changing diagnosis of retinitis pigmentosa (R.P.), a degenerative eye condition. This would eventually cause me to rethink my future. But the possibility of losing my sight did not deter me from training in film production at the Northern School of Film and TV, Leeds.
I returned to Lusaka in 1999 and set up the Willie Mwale Film Foundation, working with minority communities, street-kids and people affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. My feature documentary ‘Choka!- Get Lost!’ was nominated for Most Distinguished Film and the Pare Lorenz Award for social activism in film by the International Documentary Association in 2001.
In 2005, when I could no longer pretend that my deteriorating sight was not making my life in Zambia extremely difficult, I returned to the UK to study, write and explore photography. I completed my MA in 2010 and my PhD in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University in 2016. My first novel Witch Girl was published by Modjaji Books, Cape Town in 2015 and my second, Cull, via Unbound in January 2019.
I am currently working as an Associate Research Fellow on the D4D project. I am also the founder and currently co-chair with Prof. Maggie Gee of the Empathy and Writing Research Group at Bath Spa University.
super support systems
Becoming severely sight impaired has been tough, frustrating and occasionally frightening but I have also gained so much on this journey.
I have found insight into my own strengths and weaknesses and witnessed great kindness and unconditional support from family, friends and colleagues. I have also discovered my own unique voice and love of writing, teaching and research.
I am supported and inspired by my Buddhist practice — I am a Nicherin Buddhist — and by a network of co-travellers.
I have also had two wonderful doggy colleagues: my first guide dog, Grace, and now second whippersnapper, Mitzie (Mitzie-Bushie when she is going over 30 km/h).
Grace’s arrival in my life in 2009 was a major factor in pulling me out of the creeping isolation visual impairment can cause.
Grace's innate wisdom, steady friendship, and pure enjoyment of life are the inspiration behind the voice of Chris the guide dog in my novel Cull. As she took me through both my MA and the PhD, viva and all, she is known to many as ‘The Dogtor’!
When Grace, after a period of ill health, needed to retire to become a very relaxed and loved country dog, Mitzie stepped into my life. Already she has proved herself smart and savvy. A pure exceedingly beautiful black lab with a coat so shiny and so very black that I occasionally harness up the wrong end! Every day we are both learning and bonding.
community, creative writing and beyond
SenseAbility: I want not only to contribute to the discussion on disability, access and the arts but to bring it to our local community in Corsham. In 2014, I brought Bath Spa University and the wonderful Pound Arts Centre together to develop SenseAbility.
Initially, SenseAbility was a festival exploring the relationship between disability and the arts in the twenty-first century. Latterly, it has become a strand of the Pound Arts programme and a continuing community dialogue.
Our events have included presentations about the arts and access, discussions e.g. with Fay Weldon and neuropsychologist Alison Lee, talks e.g. Peter White MBE, and film screenings and discussions e.g. with Ken Loach, as well as writing workshops, exhibitions, performance and much more. All free and all open to the Corsham and the wider community.
SenseAbility is also an important practical strand in my ongoing post-doctoral research into the effect of creative writing on empathy and in my activism in the disability arena.
film-making
Choka! – Get Lost!
This is an original documentary shot in 2000, about a gang of street children in Lusaka, Zambia, most of them HIV/AIDS orphans. With unparalleled access and great sensitivity, the film follows the children through a typical day, as they play, scavenge, beg, survive and dream of a better future.
Shot over five months with the collaboration of the street-children and communities of Lusaka, Zambia, this film was selected by the International Documentary Association (L.A.) for Most Distinguished Film and The Pare Lorenz Award for Social Activism in Film in 2001.
Directed by Kasper Bisgaard
Cinematography: Hoyte van Hoytema
Assistant Director: Masauso Mtonga
Produced by Tanvir Naomi Bush
Copyright Ambush Productions Ltd. 2001
All rights reserved
writing
My first novel Witch Girl was published under the name Tanvi Bush by Modjaji Books, Cape Town in 2015. I published my second novel Cull as Tanvir Bush via Unbound in January 2019. Although Witch Girl and Cull have completely different settings and ethos, reflecting the two very different countries that have nurtured me, there are some clear linking themes. Strong female protagonists, for instance. Also, societal blind spots, the effects of discrimination, prejudice and stigma, resistance, resilience, commitment, loyalty and friendship against all odds. I have also tried, for both stories, to be as meticulous with my research as possible.
Witch Girl
My undergraduate thesis on Zambian traditional dance included chapters on trance and shamanistic ritual and led me to research Zambian witchcraft. I met the famous witch doctor and witch finder Dr. Sansakowa and his terrifying entourage. Later, I sourced reportage and witness accounts from journalists, doctors, traditional healers, street children, church groups and others on various claims of HIV/AIDS cures, such as sleeping with virgins, blood transfusions, and cannibalism. There was endless material to draw on for Witch Girl! For more background, see Colorado State University’s Center for Literary Publishing's Tanvir Bush Interview.
Cull
For Cull, a dark satire on the potential state-sponsored euthanasia of disabled and vulnerable people, my research was deeply personal, based in part on my own experience as a disabled “client” of the UK’s social welfare system. I supported this as much as possible with facts, figures, and wider reading on the language of dehumanisation and the escalation of prejudice with regard to the social empowerment or otherwise of the disabled and poor in contemporary England. For the rationale behind the creation of my protagonist for Cull, as well as a list of references, see my research paper on The Writing Platform: Blinding My Hero.
photography
Although I had produced and directed short films and documentaries, it wasn’t until I accepted my retinitis pigmentosa and registered as severely sight-impaired in 2007 that I began developing a photographic voice. Initially, I explored conveying ‘how’ I saw, and how losing sight made me feel. I experimented with photographing through tin foil, bubble wrap, netting and water.
Later, I joined forces with Mexican NGO Ojos que Sienten A.C / Sight of Emotion and UK-based international charity PhotoVoice. I took part in two of their joint projects, 'Beyond Sight' and 'Sights Unseen'. Gaining confidence as a sensory photographer, I began to facilitate workshops with visually impaired people and sighted enthusiasts.
In 2009, I won a bursary from Photovoice and shot the MacGyver Series in Zambia. Angus MacGyver, a resourceful secret agent, was the hero of a US TV series from the 80's. He found his way out of scrapes through ingenious use of things found, like scrap metal and string, bubble-gum and wood etc. In Zambia, the word ‘MacGyver’ has entered the lexicon. It means ‘resourcefully pulled together’, as in ‘that guy’s car windscreen was cracked, but he macGyvered it with duct tape’, or ‘the wheel came off my bike, but I macGyvered it with a rubber strap and a sweet wrapper.’ To honour the remarkable ‘make do’ attitude in Zambia, my series, MacGyver, revolved around recycled objects like kites made from plastic bags, footballs from condoms, gym kits from scrap metal, etc.
For the last few years, my photography has taken a back seat to my writing, but is still an essential part of the way I communicate and express myself.
To find out more about sensory photography and how to run your own workshop, please visit Photovoice Sensory Photography .
research
My post-doctoral research interests are informed by my own experience of developing and growing as a creative writer and, through the creative process, as a person.
I want to develop my understanding of the impact of creative writing on well-being and resilience and of the role of empathy in mitigating prejudice.
I pursue these interests as designer and facilitator of the Corsham Creative Writing Laboratory and via other research projects and involvements. These include D4D, the Empathy and Writing Research Group, the Disabled Staff Network and the Disability Action Group. Read more about them on the research page:
