Unlocked – The Crisis in Prisons
What can writers do?
Presented by English PEN
Wed 8 Feb 2012, 6:30pm
Free Word Lecture Theatre
There’s a literacy crisis in the UK prison system and we need to do something about it. English PEN will be asking what role literature can play in our criminal justice system: What’s being done? What more can we do? Focusing on practical steps forward with a panel of leading experts and writers, this special English PEN action event is for everyone concerned with literature and justice and will involve people from across the charity and prison sectors.
Speakers on the panel include:
Mark Haddon, author of over 20 books for children, including the Whitbread award-winning The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. Mark has also taken part in a number of English PEN Readers & Writers prison workshops.
John Podmore, a member of the Prison Service for 25 years, he governed three prisons – Belmarsh, Swaleside and Brixton. He has worked in a number of roles in the prison service, latterly as the Head of the Anti-Corruption Unit. He left the service in March 2011, receiving an award from the High Sheriff of Greater London for outstanding work in criminal justice in London. John has recently published Out of Sight, Out of Mind.
Nina Champion is a Learning Matters Project Manager at the Prisoners’ Education Trust. She started her career as a criminal defence solicitor before moving to the voluntary sector to work for Rainer (now Catch 22), Prison Advice and Care Trust (PACT) and Women in Prison, managing various prevention, rehabilitation and resettlement projects.
Lindsay Mackie set up Reading for Pleasure clubs in secondary schools and Reading for Pleasure seminars for schools at The Guardian Newsroom. She is currently chair of English PEN’s Readers & Writers committee.
To book tickets, telephone 020 7324 2570 or book online below.