The wonderful Woman’s Hour on BBC Radio 4 today had a programme about Female religious calligraphers and featured two ladies, one Muslim the other Jewish. The Muslim lady is Soraya Syed Sanders, daughter-in-law of? the Shaykh of photography, Peter Abdal-Adheem Sanders. Soraya currently has an exhibition of her work at Asia House,? Cavendish Street, London until 19 September. The exhibition is entitled ?Letters Embracing?, you can see Soraya’s wonderful work at her website The Art of the Pen.

From the Woman’s Hour website:

Women calligraphers and religious texts

When it comes to holy writ, in both Islam and Judaism, it?s not only what is said in the holy books that is important, but also the form and look of the letters on the page. In both religions, the art of calligraphy has traditionally been a male preserve, but there are women who express their artistic talents and their faith by producing work of great beauty. Soraya Syed Sanders is a leading practitioner of the art of Islamic penmanship and Canadian-born Avielah Barclay is unique in being a certified woman Hebrew scribe. Both now live in London and work from home and when they came together to compare notes, Judi Herman went to join them.

You can visit the Woman’s Hour webpage and listen to the interview again through the websites “Listen Again” feature.