Christine Ongsueng – Blavatnik Family Foundation

I’ve never been an Imperial War Museum fan — this changed my mind

Posted on November 19, 2023 (November 20, 2023)

Yes, school kids love to jump in and out of its repurposed tanks or take the controls of the pretend fighter capsules, but is this a place that regrets war or glorifies it? The “Imperial” in its title ceased to feel comfortable many battles ago. If we trek out to Kennington and run the gun gauntlet, what are we learning? Those were my questions. They aren’t any more. The Blavatnik galleries have put the confusion to bed. Devoted to art, film and photography, the potent new spaces transmit their gravitas and sincerity to all the museum’s corners. Institutions, individuals, governments and nations may sometimes have misunderstood the tenor and meaning of war. But art, on this stirring evidence, never has. Art is war’s most truthful witness. […]

Read Smart Podcast: The 2023 Shortlist – Jennifer Homans

Posted on November 15, 2023 (November 15, 2023)

Tune into the latest episode of the Read Smart podcast, which is dedicated to Jennifer Homans and her #BGPrize2023 shortlisted work, Mr B: George Balanchine’s 20th Century. Recognized as the first major biography of the legendary choreographer and based on more than one hundred interviews, Jennifer’s work takes readers through the tumultuous life of the man who has been hailed by The New York Times as being the “Shakespeare of dancing.” Listen now to hear all about it. The podcast is generously supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation. […]

Read Smart Podcast: The 2023 Shortlist – Tania Branigan

Posted on November 13, 2023 (November 15, 2023)

Tune into this special shortlist edition of the Read Smart podcast, where Toby Mundy speaks to #BGPrize2023 shortlisted author Tania Branigan about her book, Red Memory: Living, Remembering and Forgetting China’s Cultural Revolution. Branigan’s book explores and uncovers forty years of rarely heard stories surrounding this Cultural Revolution, begging the question: what happens to the present when the past is repressed and buried? Listen now to hear all about it. The podcast is generously supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation. For more podcasts from The Baillie Gifford Prize, click here. […]

Blavatnik Galleries: artists’ responses to war at last given the space they deserve

Posted on November 9, 2023

Tomorrow, on the eve of Armistice Day, London’s Imperial War Museum opens its Blavatnik Galleries, displaying some of its fine collection of paintings, film and photography of war since 1914. Among the displays are screenings of documentary footage of battle, and of propaganda films. Also, a small dedicated space in the gallery is a cinema where one can sit throughout the IWM’s opening hours and watch documentaries on the two world wars and other conflicts. Such display space was badly needed: the IWM owns 12 million photographs, and 23,000 hours of film footage, which can now be properly shared with the public. […]

Read Smart Podcast: The 2023 Shortlist – Hannah Barnes

Posted on November 9, 2023 (November 15, 2023)

Tune into this special shortlist edition of the Read Smart podcast, where Razia Iqbal speaks to #BGPrize2023 shortlisted author, Hannah Barnes about Time To Think: The Inside Story of the Collapse of the Tavistock’s Gender Service for Children. Through unprecedented access to thousands of pages of documents, internal emails, unpublished reports, and personal testimony from former GIDS clinicians, Hannah’s book investigates the controversial story behind the NHS’s flagship gender service for children. Listen now to hear all about it. The podcast is generously supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation. […]

Read Smart Podcast: The 2023 Shortlist – Christopher Clark

Posted on November 7, 2023 (November 14, 2023)

Tune into this episode of The Read Smart podcast, where host Toby Mundy speaks to 2023 shortlisted author Christopher Clark. Christopher’s book, Revolutionary Spring: Fighting for New World 1848-1849, details this extraordinary year in European history, where demonstrators rebelled against societal structures, governments and armies lost control and revolutionary sparks flew across all of Europe’s cities. Listen now to hear all about it. The podcast is generously supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation. […]

Read Smart Podcast: The 2023 Shortlist – John Vaillant

Posted on November 3, 2023 (November 14, 2023)

Tune into the latest episode of the Read Smart podcast, where Toby Mundy will be speaking to another one of this year’s shortlisted authors, John Vaillant. John’s work Fire Weather explores the apocalyptic wildfire that took place in Fort McMurray in 2016, as well as the past and future of our increasingly flammable world. The shortlisted book delves into the intertwining histories of the oil industry and climate science, alongside the urgent reality that our planet currently faces. Listen now to hear all about it. The podcast is generously supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation. The winner will be announced on Thursday 16 November at an award ceremony at the Science Museum, generously supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation. The announcement will also be live-streamed across the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction social channels. […]

The Read Smart Podcast: The 2023 Shortlist – Jeremy Eichler

Posted on October 30, 2023 (November 15, 2023)

Tune into the first of the Read Smart special shortlist episodes, where all six of this year’s shortlisted authors will be interviewed in the run-up to the winner announcement. In this episode, Prize Director Toby Mundy speaks to Jeremy Eichler, author of Time’s Echo: The Second World War, the Holocaust and the Music of Remembrance about how music bears witness to history and carries forward the memory of the past. The winner will be announced on Thursday, November 16 at an award ceremony at the Science Museum in London and will also be live-streamed across the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction social channels. The podcast and the awards ceremony are generously supported by the Blavatnik Family Foundation. […]

TAU: Over 5,000 students called up for IDF reserve duty will receive an initial grant of NIS 1,000

Posted on October 30, 2023 (October 30, 2023)

Tel Aviv University announced that every student now serving as a reserve soldier in Operation Iron Swords will immediately receive a grant of NIS 1,000 ($250) from the University. According to recent data, over 5,000 TAU students have been called up since war broke out on Oct. 7. All of them will receive the grant within the next few days as a mark of TAU’s appreciation for their service and to help ease their burden when they return to studies. Tel Aviv University announced that every student now serving as a reserve soldier in Operation Iron Swords will immediately receive a grant of NIS 1,000 ($250) from the University. According to recent data, over 5,000 TAU students have been called up since war broke out on Oct. 7. All of them will receive the grant within the next few days as a mark of TAU’s appreciation for their service and to help ease their burden when they return to studies. […]

Brown University names inaugural Blavatnik Family Fellows in Biology and Medicine

Posted on October 25, 2023 (October 30, 2023)

Brown University announces the inaugural recipients of the Blavatnik Family Graduate Fellowship in Biology and Medicine, a new fellowship made possible through a generous, multi-year donation from the Blavatnik Family Foundation. The eight Blavatnik Family Fellows were selected based on outstanding academic achievement and demonstrated potential for producing original research that advances scientific knowledge and understanding in the basic and clinical life sciences. The fellows’ research is representative of a diverse array of scientific disciplines. “We are proud to establish this landmark graduate fellowship at Brown and look forward to the fellows’ future discoveries advancing human health and the life sciences,” said Len Blavatnik, head of the Blavatnik Family Foundation and chairman of Access Industries. […]

Author: Christine Ongsueng

Posts by Christine Ongsueng