Free Speech
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Upcoming Event: China Inside Out
Thu 29 Mar 2012
9:30amFree Word Lecture Theatre
9.30am - 5.30pm What is the true story of contemporary Chinese literature? What stories do Chinese writers tell about their country - and what stories remain untold? What role do poets and novelists play in representing their country to fellow citizens, and to the outside world? And how accurate are the stories that we tell about China in the West? …
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Upcoming Event: Free Speech Cafe: No Room at the Table
Making Inclusion a Reality for Black British Writers
Thu 1 Mar 2012
6:30pmFree Word Lecture Theatre
With Courttia Newland, Jonathan Heawood and Joy Francis. What are the barriers for black British writers working today? Why is it that not enough black British writers are being published? Are literature festivals celebrating the diversity of writers in the UK enough? What is the free speech issue here? What's the role English PEN can play to support all…
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Upcoming Event: Free Speech and Literature: The Night Class
Tue 28 Feb 2012
6:30pmThe Sassoon Beer Board Room
Every Tuesday, 6.30pm-8.30pm 28th February - 3rd April This six-part course, led by Dr Sophie Mayer, will consider some of the best known and most dramatic challenges to free speech: attacks on poems, plays, novels and films. You will consider how and why the idea of creative freedom operates differently in different spaces and for different audiences: the…
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Upcoming Event: Book launch: Rebecca MacKinnon’s Consent of the Networked
Mon 27 Feb 2012
6:30pmFree Word Lecture Theatre
The Institute for Human Rights and Business and Index on Censorship invite you to the UK launch of Rebecca MacKinnon’s Consent of the Networked: The Worldwide Struggle for Internet Freedom. Jo Glanville, Index on Censorship Editor, and Salil Tripathi, IHRB Director of Policy, will discuss, with the author, the challenges in ensuring that technology is structured and governed…
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Past Event: To Fight Through Cartoon
Exhibition launch
Wed 15 Feb 2012
6:30pmFree Word Hall
ARTICLE 19 cordially invites you to the launch of ‘TO FIGHT THROUGH CARTOON’, the new London print exhibition by acclaimed Malaysian political cartoonist Zunar. This series of editorial cartoons is banned in his home country and now travels to London from Bilbao, Spain, where it received warm praise for its searing exploration of state corruption, the ‘Anwar conspiracy…
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Past Event: Which Way to Techno-utopia?
Wed 23 Nov 2011
6:49pmFree Word Hall
Over the last century technology has evolved exponentially and has changed our lives in ways that are too numerous to count. But what effect does technology have on wider society? How has it changed the ways we interact and communicate? Does technology have the capacity to change fundamentally who we are as human beings? Has technology freed us, or have…
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Past Event: World Within World - Stephen Spender
Wed 23 Nov 2011
5:30pmFree Word Lecture Theatre
Acclaimed poet Stephen Spender was politically active throughout his life. Fiercely committed to artistic freedom, in 1972 he founded Index on Censorship. In the late 1970s he served as President of English PEN, campaigning for the right to freedom of expression for writers in the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact countries. Spender's biographer Professor John Sutherland and poet Alan Jenkins…
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Past Event: Free Speech Cafe
Fri 11 Nov 2011
5:30pmFree Word Hall
The latest in a series of regular events, giving members the opportunity to debate the free speech issues of the moment. Hosted by English PEN staff and trustees, we promise lively speakers and a robust discussion. This 'salon style' event is open exclusively to PEN members and their guests - please bring strong opinions and a spirit of contrariness.…
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Past Event: Free Speech: The Night Class
In association with the Bishopsgate Institute and Free Word
Mon 12 Sep 2011
5:30pmThe Astor Room
Free Speech night class hosted by English PEN in association with Bishopsgate and Free Word Centre.…
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Past Event: Lost Liberty and Silence
Thu 8 Sep 2011
5:30pmFree Word Lecture Theatre
It's ten years since the world watched as the twin towers of the World Trade Centre collapsed. Where are we looking now? The new issue of Granta magazine explores this question and how an event like 9/11 still echoes. Join journalists Janine di Giovanni and Shiv Malik, and novelist Kamila Shamsie as they examine what freedoms we've lost in…
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Past Event: Mouths Wide Shut
Music, Theatre, Literature, Cinema and Social Media in Today's Iran
Thu 18 Aug 2011
5:30pmFree Word Hall
ARTICLE 19 and Small Media cordially invite you to celebrate the launch of a new book titled Cultural Censorship in Iran and the unveiling of Azad Tribune's new online look. This will be an evening filled with surprises, including live music, theatre performances and short film screenings. For years, Iranians have resorted to non-traditional and underground channels to express themselves.…
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Past Event: Comedy in the Middle East?
Wed 20 Jul 2011
5:30pmFree Word Lecture Theatre
A live version of the popular Little Atoms radio show with cartoonist Tarek Shahin. 2011 has seen unprecedented moves for democracy across the Middle East. But what role has satire played in this? Can humour thrive under tyranny? And can dictators allow themselves to be laughed at? Is there such thing as “Arab comedy”? …
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Past Event: The Art of Resistance in Palestine
Tue 19 Jul 2011
6:00pmFree Word Lecture Theatre
Culture + Conflict present an evening of images and discussion with William Parry, author of Against the Wall: The Art of Resistance in Palestine (Pluto Press 2010). 'The artwork and graffiti on Israel's separation wall,' Parry suggests, 'can be seen in many ways: as solidarity with Palestinians, a reflection of the reality of occupation, a means of voicing frustration and resistance…
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Past Event: Youssef Chahine: A Retrospective Part Two
The Sparrow, and Alexandria, Why?
Sun 17 Jul 2011
5:30pmFree Word Lecture Theatre
Youssef Chahine was a pioneer of Egyptian cinema. The recipient of many awards, including the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival for Alexandria, Why? in 1978, and a lifetime achievement award from Cannes, his work was often controversial and brought him into conflict with the Egyptian authorities, leading to a spell in exile in Lebanon in the 1960s. This very…
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Past Event: Youssef Chahine: A Retrospective Part One
Cairo Station
Fri 15 Jul 2011
5:30pmFree Word Lecture Theatre
Youssef Chahine was a pioneer of Egyptian cinema. The recipient of many awards, including the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival for Alexandria, Why? in 1978, and a lifetime achievement award from Cannes, his work was often controversial and brought him into conflict with the Egyptian authorities, leading to a spell in exile in Lebanon in the 1960s. This…
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Past Event: Hassan Daoud in Conversation
Thu 14 Jul 2011
5:30pmFree Word Lecture Theatre
Hassan Daoud, a novelist and journalist who was born and works in Beirut, gives his perspective on culture, politics and writing in the Middle East. Daoud is the cultural editor of Al-Mustaqbal newspaper in Beirut, and an authority on contemporary writing from the Arab world. After working in Beirut as a journalist during the civil war, he subsequently wrote for…
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Past Event: The Shubbak Festival- El Problema: Testimony of the Saharawi People
Mon 11 Jul 2011
5:30pmFree Word Lecture Theatre
El Problema (The Problem, 53 mins) is a Spanish documentary, produced by Jordi Ferrer and Pablo Vidal, featuring testimonies and documents gathered over four and a half years in Western Sahara – clandestine images, given the Moroccan authorities’ prohibition of filming in the area. Using exceptional archival footage, the documentary tells the story of how hundreds of thousands of Saharawis from Western…
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Past Event: The First Free Speech Cafe
Tue 21 Jun 2011
5:30pmFree Word Hall
The first in a series of regular events, giving members the opportunity to debate the free speech issues of the moment. Hosted by English PEN staff and trustees, we promise lively speakers and a robust discussion. This 'salon' style event is open exclusively to PEN members and their guests, but anyone interested in joining the debate can come along and…
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Past Event: How Power Corrupts
IFSOFLO Friday: The Power of Local
Fri 13 May 2011
5:30pmFree Word Hall
The second of two roundtable events for literature organisations and all those interested in the future of the word. This event will bring together community activists and literature organisations. Does the Big Society mean stripping away bureaucratic impediments to communities’ creativity and self-determination, or leaving the disadvantaged to sink or swim? How does it relate to libertarian community…
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Past Event: How Power Corrupts Week
Fri 13 May 2011
1:30pmFree Word Hall
The first of two roundtable events for literature organisations and all those interested in the future of the word. An invited audience will discuss where academic publishing is today and to what extent it is in crisis. We will ask: What is the impact of the publishing process on the academic author? To what extent do publishing platforms dictate research…
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Past Event: How Power Corrupts Week
Thu 12 May 2011
5:30pmFree Word Lecture Theatre
DR RICARDO BLAUG Most agree with Lord Acton that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. It seems to apply to history’s cruel dictators, perhaps also to the behaviour of contemporary political and economic elites and even across the hierarchic organisations of our everyday lives. Yet few have looked closely at the mechanisms through which power corrupts, and how…
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Past Event: How Power Corrupts: Chronicles of Protest
How Power Corrupts week
Thu 12 May 2011
1:30pmFree Word Lecture Theatre
A film by Michael Chanan, video blogger for the New Statemen and documentary film maker, about the movement against government spending cuts in the universities and beyond with students, activists and citizens of the real big society. …
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Past Event: No Time Like the Present - Margaret Storm Jameson
Wed 11 May 2011
5:30pmFree Word Lecture Theatre
We continue our journey through PEN's ninety-year history in the company of the President of English PEN during the defining years of 1938-44. Margaret Storm Jameson was an indefatigable campaigner, a suffragette and committed pacifist, who argued for literature as a tool in post-war reconstruction and helped a number of threatened writers escape Nazi Germany. She also published over forty…
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Past Event: How Power Corrupts: Drop-in Sessions at the Power Clinic
Wed 11 May 2011
2:00pmFree Word Hall
Come to the Free Word and share stories, anecdotes and reflections, listen to poets, view art work and add to the ongoing conversation. …
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Past Event: How Power Corrupts: Online Deliberation
Wed 11 May 2011
2:00pmFree Word Lecture Theatre
Panel discussion featuring Professor David Graeber (Goldsmiths), Tim Hardy (Sukey), Dr Ricardo Blaug (Westminster)Existing internet fora suffer hierarchy and corruption by power: who can be most scathing, who can post most frequently, who has had their blog referenced by mainstream media. The panel will consider: How can we challenge online power dynamics? What structures online forums and how can…
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Past Event: How Power Corrupts: Power Dynamics
Wed 11 May 2011
10:30amFree Word Hall
Drama WorkshopThe Free Word hosts a drama workshop using physical techniques to explore corruption, power dynamics and censorship led by TripWires…
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Past Event: How Power Corrupts: Power & Hubris
Tue 10 May 2011
5:30pmFree Word Hall
Lord David Owen and Dr Ricardo Blaug on political power and the corruption of citizenry.Having served as Foreign Secretary, founded the SDP, and negotiated for peace in the former Yugoslavia, Lord Owen is a major political figure. Once a practicing neurologist, in 2008 he published In Sickness and In Power, which coined the term ‘hubris syndrome’. A revised and updated…
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Past Event: Afghan Literary Cafe
Thu 31 Mar 2011
5:30pmFree Word Lecture Theatre
Following on from the success of the Go Dutch events in 2010, we are delighted to present an Afghan Literary Cafe with two new writers from The Netherlands: poet Shakila Azizzada, and Tahmina Akefi, whose first novel will be published soon. Saira Shah, author of The Storyteller’s Daughter will be reading from her novel, and Reza Mohammadi, whose work…
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Sensitive Word Filter: A Writer’s Ordeal in China
In April, Chinese publishers, writers, agents and cultural officials will descend on the London Book Fair to promote and sell Chinese literature to the world. But what is it really like to be a writer in contemporary China? Chen Xi Wo shares some home truths.
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Even my pen has a stand! An interview with Malaysian cartoonist Zunar
Political cartoonist Zunar, whose works are banned in his native Malaysia, talks to Free Word's Tom Chivers ahead of his London exhibition To Fight Through Cartoon.
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A Shop Selling Speech
As Associate Playwright at the Bush Theatre, Sabrina Mahfouz spent January in her other motherland, Egypt, to research a theatre project inspired by the uprisings of the past year. As Sabrina discovered, so many things had changed - for better or worse - and so many things were exactly the same - for better or worse.
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Malaysian satirist takes government to court over ‘Cartoon-O-Phobia’
Ahead of his exhibition of cartoons at the Free Word Centre, ARTICLE 19 report on the ongoing legal proceedings between the Malaysian Government and political cartoonist Zunar.
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Kampfner and Heawood at the Leveson Inquiry
Yesterday, Tuesday 24 January, John Kampfner of Index on Censorship and Jonathan Heawood of English PEN appeared at the Leveson Inquiry into the culture, practice and ethics of the press. Kampfner stressed that his, and Index's, fundamental concern is that 'misplaced increase in restrictions on the media will limit the public's right to know [...] Simply ask yourself: did…
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Not a bomb. Just a book.
Controversy surrounding the 1988 novel The Satanic Verses has reignited after its author Salman Rushdie cancelled his appearance at the Jaipur Literature Festival. Rushdie pulled out of a scheduled appearance following apparent threats of assassination (reported subsequently to be fictitious). In response to his absence British Indian author Hari Kunzru and three other writers, Jeet Thayil, Ruchir Joshi and Amitava Kumar,…
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Too Much Freedom for the Land of the Free
In advance of her course on Free Speech and Literature, Dr Sophie Mayer finds out why Arizona State has banned The Tempest from its school curriculum.
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Olympic ideal puts money before democracy
In this article, Leah Borromeo of Index on Censorship explains how the 2012 games in London could damage free expression in the United Kingdom.
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International media mission condemns Hungary
An International Partnership Mission of freedom of expression and media development groups, including Article 19 and Index on Censorship, concluded that Hungary’s new model of media regulation is undermining freedom of expression.
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Day of the Dead - London Vigil
Mexico has one of the leading numbers of journalist and media casualties in the world. The drug war has silenced those who threaten its cause, and innocent people are losing their lives. On Tuesday 2 November, PEN International along with English PEN and students from Kings College PEN group held a vigil for the persecuted, murdered and missing journalists of Mexico.
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Protection of journalists highlighted before Inter-American Commission
On October 27th 2011, ARTICLE 19's Mexico and Central America made a submission before the Inter American Commission of Human Rights 143 session to highlight the ongoing cycle of violence and the government’s failure to protect journalists and media workers. The following press release describes the outline of that submission.
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ARTICLE 19 to join Arab International Media Support delegation
In the wake of a tumultuous civil war, Executive Director of ARTICLE 19, Agnes Callamard, along with twelve other Arab and international media support specialists, toured the newly liberated Libya to help citizens understand their rights to free expression. The delegation team met with media practitioners for workshops dealing with issues of media law, audio visual regulation, media safety and free media. This press release details the preceding goals of the tour and its potential implications on Libyan media.
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Imprisoned Burmese poet Zarganar released
The Burmese poet Zarganar, an honorary member of English PEN, has been released today as part of an amnesty for approximately 2,000 political prisoners.
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John Kampfner addresses the Leveson Inquiry
Index on Censorship chief executive John Kampfner addressed the Leveson Inquiry into culture, practices and ethics of the press yesterday, covering free speech, journalistic standards, and journalism regulation.
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Eynulla Fatullayev is Free
After an international free campaign led by English PEN, Azerbaijani editor Eynulla Fatullayev was pardoned by the government on 26 My 2011. Following his release, Pen said, "We no longer need to campaign for Fatullayev, but hundreds of other writers remain in prison or under threat."