Boomer Britain is transforming. Ethnic diversity, social mobility and only the remnants of empire-it’s a nation reinventing itself. Sylvia Vetta’s life mirrors the maelstrom. Sylvia’s memoir Food of Love Cooking up a life across gender, class and race has received outstanding endorsements from Rana Mitter, Professor of History, University of Oxford, journalist, Yasmin Alibhai Brown, acclaimed poet, Sudeep Sen and more. Sylvia married her Indian born husband when that was regarded with hostility. Her story is also one of a working class girl from Luton becoming middle class. She’s a campaigner for libraries because her life would have been very different without access to Luton Central Library. Her story of women in business in Oxford, 1983-1998, is one of exclusion and casual misogyny. Food of Love tells how the intersection of gender, class and race shaped her life – and how she tried to transcend them.
As a journalist Sylvia met Qu Leilei, a founder of the Stars Art Movement Beijing 1979. (See Andy Cohen’s film ‘Beijing Spring’.) Her acclaimed novel Brushstrokes in Time, set in China and the USA, is the only novel which celebrates those courageous artists (including Ai Weiwei). Sylvia is best known in Oxfordshire for her profile features of 120 inspirational people from 5 continents, of every colour and most religions. (Turned into 3 books) Her second novel Sculpting the Elephant is set in Oxford and India and the third, Not so Black and White- west Kenya and London – is inspired by the life of co-author Nancy Mudenyo Hunt. Sylvia’s aim is to make bridges to connect people. She’s been involved in community and development projects for over 40 years. She organised the Pied Piper Procession led by the illustrator, Korky Paul, which helped save 20 libraries from closure. Her latest project Cosmic Cats, is an anthology of stories written by children in her village school and Mumias in west Kenya. Sylvia believes that art, music and storytelling can connect across continents and that regardless of wealth or lack of it, we are equal in our imagination.
She’s a founder organiser of the Oxford Indie Book Fair http://www.oxfordindiebookfair.co.uk and co-founder of the Friends of Radley Large Wood and instigator of the twinning of her village of Kennington with Musanda in west Kenya.
Sylvia and Atam have three sons, Justin, Adrian and Paul. Adrian is Professor of Computer Maths at McGill University so she is a frequent visitor to Canada.
