Marina Cantacuzino

Marina Cantacuzino is an award-winning journalist who in 2003, in response to the imminent invasion of Iraq, embarked on a personal project collecting stories in words and portraits of people who had lived through violence and injustice but sought forgiveness rather than revenge. These stories formed the basis of The F Word exhibition which launched at the Oxo Gallery in London in 2004 to widespread international acclaim. As a result Marina founded The Forgiveness Project, a UK-based charity that works with the personal narratives of victims and perpetrators to explore how ideas around forgiveness, reconciliation and restorative justice can be used to impact positively on people’s lives and create positive social change. The Forgiveness Project has no religious or political associations. In 2012 Marina spoke at the UN in front of the then Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, about her work, and as a contributor in the film documentary Beyond Right and Wrong directed by Roger Spotiswoode. She has presented at numerous conferences around the world, teaches about the trauma cycle and delivers workshops exploring concepts of forgiveness, restorative storytelling and peace circles. She is the author of The Forgiveness Project: Stories for a Vengeful Age (2015) and co-author of Forgiveness is Really Strange (2018).