Writer and performer Yang-May Ooi explores what led women to do the unimaginable in breaking and binding their daughters’ feet for the sake of beauty – and why the ancient Chinese practice of footbinding is still relevant in modern times.

Ooi draws from the themes of love and courage in her one-woman show, ‘Bound Feet Blues – A Life Told in Shoes’, inspired by her great-grandmother who had bound feet, and discusses what it means to do the unimaginable today. She will also perform a short extract from her show of the same name.

Ooi is a bestselling author, TEDx speaker and acclaimed writer and performer of Chinese-Malaysian heritage. She is author of novels ‘The Flame Tree’ and ‘Mindgame’, and of a memoir, ‘Bound Street Blues’. The show, ‘Bound Feet Blues – A Life told in Shoes’, performed in Malaysian English and Standard English, interweaves the story of her great-grandmother and Ooi’s own search for her sexual identity.

Ooi is a graduate of St Hilda’s College, University of Oxford, and this event is part of St Hilda’s Day at the festival.