We brought together three performers and writers from different faiths to read poetry - their own and others - on what inter-cultural dialogue means to them.

Rabbi Mark Solomon read from the work of Yehuda Amichai considered by many to be the greatest modern Israeli poet. He was one of the first to write in colloquial Hebrew. He was born in Germany, moving to Palestine in 1935 and Jerusalem in 1936. He died in 2000. His writings are characterized by gentle irony, and the pain of damaged love. It was a love for people, for the Torah and the Land of Israel, but most of all it was a love for the city of Jerusalem.

Rana Kabbani read first from the work of the late Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish and voice of Palestinian resistance to whom she was married as she told us "not once but twice" and then from an as yet unpublished memoir of her own childhood experiences in the Middle East. Her performance electrified the audience through its passion and directness. You can read some of her work in the December issue of Vogue where in "An ode to love" she paints the story of her own romantic life with Mahmoud Darwish across continents

B H Fraser read from his own work which looked wryly on the worship of Money and the globalised world it has helped to fuel.

The evening was in aid of the charity Neve Shalom - Wahat al-Salam, the Oasis of peace: a village in Israel established jointly by Jews and Palestinian Arabs all of Israeli citizenship. We raised over £1,200 and thank everyone who took part.

http://oasisofpeaceuk.org/

Mark L Solomon was born and educated in Australia. He trained as an orthodox rabbi and received ordination from Jews' College, London, in 1991. After serving an orthodox congregation, he joined Liberal Judaism in 1992, and in 2000 was appointed Rabbi at The Liberal Jewish Synagogue, St John's Wood, where he also sings as a cantor. He is 'foster rabbi' of the Edinburgh Liberal Jewish Community, and has been lecturer in Talmud at Leo Baeck College since 1992. With a special interest in interfaith dialogue, Rabbi Solomon is Co-Chairman of the London Society of Jews and Christians and a governor of the Ammerdown Centre in Somerset. He is active in Jewish-Muslim dialogue and is a member of the steering group of the Scriptural Reasoning Society, trustee of the Interfaith Alliance UK and the London Ecumenical AIDS Trust.

Rana Kabbani is a writer, art critic and broadcaster. Born in Damascus in 1958 to a family of well-known poets (Nizar Kabbani), musicians, dramatists (Abu Khalil al-Kabbani) photographers, jurists (Fawzi al-Ghazzi) and Islamic mystics (Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulsi), she grew up in New York City and Djakarta. She is the author of Imperial Fictions, a highly-acclaimed critique of Orientalism in travel writing and art. Her second book, Letter to Christendom, was made into a BBC documentary. She has translated into English the poetry of Mahmoud Darwish, published as Sand and Other Poems.

BH Fraser published his first collection City Poems in 2004. He has given recitals in and around the City of London at locations including The Guildhall, Inner Temple, Mansion House and St Stephen Walbrook. He has spoken about his City poems on radio and television. His work has been published in magazines including PN Review and Standpoint. New work can be found at www.bhfraser.com

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