Sylvia Vetta, the author of the critically acclaimed Brushstrokes in Time, married an Indian academic in 1966 in the Midlands, when that was not just unusual but was met with hostility and fear. As the migration crisis continues and our present Prime Minister extolls people who come from somewhere versus nowhere, Sylvia sees fiction as the means to walk in another person's shoes and empathise with a character from a completely different background to the reader. In her latest novel, Sculpting the Elephant, she explores the stresses and delights of relationships that cross cultures. Given that mixed race relationships are now common, Sylvia is concerned at the alienating side effects of the rise in 'identity politics' on the children of those relationships. Given the diversity of her own family, her extended family and her friends from all over the world, Sylvia is uniquely placed to talk on the subject of creating empathy and not division in society. As author of three volumes of Oxford Castaways she has interviewed 120 inspirational people from 5 continents who happen to connect in Oxford. Similarly she curated Poems in an Exhibition. The youngest poet was 18 and the oldest 94. They were born in 5 continents and the poets and artists involved are of many shades of skin and religion. Sylvia strongly believes that genetically we are each of us unique and that is what she wishes to show in her writing and speaking. www.sylviavetta.co.uk https://madrascourier.com/opinion/on-mixed-race-relationships/ http://madrascourier.com/opinion/can-india-and-pakistan-overcome-partition/