Independent (Andy Pring)

I have over twenty years of experience of active dialogue between religions and cultures, promoting shared values and facilitating difficult conversations. This vocation began as a Theology undergraduate in 2002 when my department merged with the Islamic Studies department. I signed up for every module I could on Islam; Tafsir (interpretation) of the Qu’ran, A History of Islamic Philosophy, Islam and the West, A History of Christian-Muslim relations, etc. In the post-9/11 atmosphere there was a terrible level of Islamophobia on campus and in the wider community. And it was then that another watershed moment in my life occurred. The professor of the Tafsir of the Qu’ran module was an Egyptian scholar who took pity on me as the only non-Muslim in her class. She invited me to meet in her office so that she could give me a crash course in the basics of Islam. In that meeting we also spoke about the tension between Muslims and non-Muslims on campus. We agreed that fear of the Other was the problem; that fear was borne out of ignorance and prejudice, which in turn came from neither group knowing each other. So we decided that if we wanted to reduce the fear we needed to facilitate meaningful interaction and mutual learning. And so the next week we became co-chairs of the university’s first Christian-Muslim dialogue group that met every week for the next two years. That experience taught me the power of forming deep and trusting relationships through the process of sharing and listening to each other’s stories. My journey since then has taken me across the Middle East and beyond, listening to people’s stories from Beirut to Baghdad, from Gaza to Quetta. I have earned a Masters degree in Islamic Studies and spent eight-years working in counter-radicalisation in London, where I worked particularly closely with the incredible Somali community. In 2015 I stopped working professionally to become a stay-at-home-dad to look after my wonderful daughter and work on my novel, and have volunteered as a virtual exchange facilitator for Soliya since 2019. Now that my two children are less dependent on me I am able to bring to fruition the culmination of all my skills, experience and passion in the form of Creative Writing for Social Change which I launched in September 2024. Creative Writing for Social Change is for adults of any age and any background to dialogue and write creatively about the social issues that are most important to them, whether that is Islamophobia or Antisemitism, Patriarchy or Neurodiversity, Nationalism or Climate Change, Sexuality or Democracy. Using virtual exchange methodology myself and my trainers facilitate groups of six participants from all over the world and up-skill them to tell their stories impactfully. We then give these stories a platform on our website and across our social media platforms. Alumni are able to stay engaged and make new connections through joining alumni Reading Circles.