The Spring programme will be sent out in due course, meanwhile members are welcome, at the kind invitation of the Society for Arabian Studies, to attend the following event taking place in January: 

Thursday, 22nd January 2009 

Professor Dionisius Agius will talk about his new publication “Classical Ships of Islam: from Mesopotamia to the Indian Ocean” and will sign copies of the book after the talk. This is a joint lecture with the Palestine Exploration Fund and the Council for British Research in the Levant and will be held at 6.00pm in the Stevenson Lecture Theatre, British Museum.

Professor Dionisius A. Agius is best known for his work on Islamic material culture, maritime ethnography and Arabic language and linguistics. He is particularly interested in the history and provenance of traditional wooden ships, the people who built and sailed in them, resources and trade in the Mediterranean and Western Indian Ocean. He is currently the principal investigator for a MARES project (2008-2011), funded by the Golden Web Foundation, and with a team of five researchers is studying the commercial, cultural and technological exchange in the Red Sea and Arabian/Persian Gulf harbour towns from Late Antiquity to the arrival of the Portuguese in the Indian Ocean.

Society newsletter

Annual Subscriptions

Members are reminded that subscriptions for 2009 will be due in January from those Members who have not signed Banker’s Orders. Cheques for £20 should be made out to ‘The British-Yemeni Society’ and posted to the Hon. Secretary at the address below.

Essay Competition

As part of our mission to further understanding between the UK and Yemen, your Society is pleased to announce the revival of our annual essay competition. Submissions are invited on any academic study related to Yemen and prizes will be awarded to the winner and runner-up. Further details here.

Captain Roy Facey

Captain Roy Facey will not be in London this January, but the Middle East Association hopes to schedule his annual update on Aden Port for later on in March or April. More details in the next newsletter.

Book Offer

Members wishing to purchase photojournalist Tim Smith’s latest book Coal, Frankincense & Myrrh at a special discounted price. Tim’s work was exhibited earlier this year in Sheffield and Liverpool. Further details and an order form are here.

Painting by Abdulla al-Amin 

A reminder that the original painting (Oil on Canvas) which is reproduced inside the cover of The Enchanted Lake is still for sale. Interested parties should contact Pat Aithie on 02920 236879 or by e-mail at ffotograff@easynet.co.uk. The price of the painting is £550 of which Abdulla wishes to donate £50 to the Society.