Articles

Posted by Rose Fenton on 17/12/11

Welcome to the new Free Word website!

Featuring Free Word's programme of events, articles, regular blogs and multimedia, the site is also a gateway to the literature, literacy and free expression communities we represent. We hope it will draw you into the issues we engage with and the stories we are exploring.

I have just taken up my post as Director of Free Word,  and since I arrived in September have been meeting all the Free Word Founder Member organisations and discovering what an incredible wealth of ideas and projects -  happening here and internationally  - exist under this roof. I hope the website will help you to discover this too and invite you in as participants, either by attending our events at Free Word or engaging with them online through reviews, livestreams and multimedia. To find out more about the website and how you can interact with Free Word online, read our Digital Editor Tom Chivers' introduction.

This Autumn has been a very busy one. We launched two new programmes: the Translators in Residence and the Free Word International Writers Exchange. For our first International Writers Exchange Programme, we teamed up with the Brussels literature house Passa Porta, who hosted Neel Mukherjee from London for 6 weeks, whilst we welcomed to Free Word Rachida Lambrabet from Antwerp.  You can read their letters and blogs as they exchanged views and asked questions about each other's cities.

Meanwhile, our translators in residence, Nicky Harman and Rosalind Harvey, rolled out an eclectic and fascinating series of talks and events around translation, involving everything from treasure hunts, international diplomacy and the environment, through to food tasting and Wittgenstein!  Read more about their experiences on this website.



Translation was very much a theme for the Autumn and the International Translation Day symposium brought together literary professionals from across the country and internationally for a fascinating series of debates and workshops, including a powerful discussion with Ahdaf Soueif about her new book My Cairo Our Revolution, which interweaves Soueif's long relationship with Cairo with the events of January and February of this year.

2011 has been an extraordinary year. Mass demonstrations against autocracy and injustice in the Middle East and North Africa have inspired people globally to expect more of their governments and to hold them to account when they do not deliver. More than ever blogs, video and social networking sites have become key forums for political debate and organisation. As a recent Council of Europe publication, Human Rights and Changing Media Landscape, launched by ARTICLE 19 at Free Word ahead of human rights day on December 10th, stresses, 'there is a need for stronger protection of media freedom and freedom of expression in Europe today'. The report highlights the role the media plays in exposing human rights violations and in offering an arena for different voices to be heard in public discourse.

Artists too have a vital role to play. In one of his last public acts, the much mourned dissident, playwright and President, Vaclav Havel (right), signed a letter calling for free speech in Belarus, along with other prominent artists including Ai Wei Wei and Tom Stoppard. 'As a class, artists have no executive powers but time and time again in countries all over the globe it is our voices that have reminded statesmen and politicians of their moral duty to act for the redress of injustices. In the case of Belarus, 19th December 2011 is such a moment, and we call upon the power of art to disturb the sleep on conscience.'

These and many other questions will be explored at Free Word in 2012, starting on January 17th when we celebrate the writer with the launch of a pioneering project, Writers Bloc, publishing a series of from-the-ground essays exploring the current challenges confronting education around the globe. A panel discussion between the contributing writers including Chimamanda  Ngozi Adichie and Kamila Shamsie, will be live streamed on the Free Word website.  Please do join us online with your views and questions.

And, finally, let's not forget that in London 2012 is Olympic Year. In the Spring we are mounting a photographic exhibition Politics and Olympics that, together with a series of talks and debates from urbanists, historians and writers, will examine the on-going relationship between successive Olympic games and the primary social and political issues of the day.

Watch this space as our programme evolves.

We look forward to welcoming you to Free Word in 2012.


A Very Happy New Year


Rose Fenton and the Free Word Team