On May 2, 2008, an enormous tropical cyclone made landfall in Burma. The cyclone wreaked untold havoc, but the regime, in an unfathomable decision of near-genocidal proportions, blocked international aid from entering the country, and provided little relief themselves. Emma Larkin, who has been travelling to and secretly reporting on Burma for years, managed to arrange for a tourist visa in those frenzied days and arrived to chaos. Hundreds of thousands of Burmese citizens lacked food, drinking water, and basic shelter. In her book Everything is Broken, Larkin not only exposes the extent of the damage, but provides a singular portrait of the generals responsible for compounding the tragedy, examining in revealing detail the historical, religious, and superstitious setting that created Burma's tenacious and brutal dictatorship.

Emma Larkin is the pseudonym for an American who was born and raised in Asia, and studied the Burmese language at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. She has been visiting Burma for close to 15 years. A Festival of Ideas event presented with Watershed.

Fee: £4.50 full / £3.50 concessions. Special offer of £8.00 / £6.50 when booking together tickets for Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country. This discount is not available online - please call Watershed Box Office on 0117 927 5100 or visit in person.