Tagged: Free Word Local
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Islington Word Festival 2013 Programme Announced
Last year's Islington Word Festival was a great success, and we're delighted it's returned for another year. Spanning all of next month, the festival is packed with events exploring reading, writing, and free expression all across our local London borough, including contributions from our Translators in Residence showcasing their work with local schools. There'll also be…
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Home Improvements at Free Word
We’re delighted to announce our plans for some major redevelopment work at the Free Word Centre, which will mean big improvements to the public spaces at the front of our building. 60 Farringdon Road has gone through many incarnations since it was first built in 1875 to house a wheelwright’s workshop, including time as a film studio and…
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Writers’ Room: Poems on the Underground
Poems on the Underground have been spreading great poetry around the tube for twenty-seven years. Next week they launch their latest selection of poems to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Underground. Nii Parkes, regular contributor to Free Word's activities, is among the six poets featured. We spoke to Laura Chernaik, manager of Poems on the Underground, about London's love affair with poetry.
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The Olympics, My Grandmothers and Me
Our Politics & Olympics season from the summer featured contributions from, among others, young Hackney resident Joe Mason. As our memories of the Games fade into the past, Joe speaks to his grandmothers about their experiences of the London Olympics from 1948, and contrasts their stories to what we've seen of London 2012.
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Writers’ Room: Fin Kennedy
Every week we speak to someone close to Free Word with a story to tell. Playwright and teacher-of-playwriting Fin Kennedy joins us this Saturday to chair a panel discussion on new writing in the theatre today. We caught up with him to ask about risk-taking, why the EBacc is bad news for artists, and why he doesn't read novels anymore.
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How to Turn Litter into Litterature
Today sees the launch of Throwaway Lines, a playful new exhibition at Free Word that creates new writing and designs around scraps of litter found on the streets of London. We sat down with the team behind the show to discover how - and why - they made their work from things other people had thrown away.
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Preview: In the Shadow of the Games
Empty seats at the Olympics matter because they give the impression that the Olympic Movement and LOCOG don’t care about ordinary people. Whether the fault lies with sponsors not distributing their tickets, the Olympic family for not taking up their allocated seats or possibly more likely, a straight cock-up with selling tickets, we’re left with the…
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Politics & Olympics: A Scrapbook of Ideas
Visit our new Politics & Olympics blog Throughout the summer, our Politics & Olympics programme will be bringing to light the personal and political stories of the Games' history, challenging the official narrative of London 2012. But the story of the Olympics is still unfolding, and new stories are emerging all the time. As the country becomes gripped with Olympic fever…
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“The black stage” Fagin, Jewishness and the Prison Cell
In his third and final film about Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist, Professor Robert L. Patten explores the role of Fagin and the Jewish experience in Victorian England.
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“Stop Thief!” Oliver & Fagin’s Gang
Professor Robert L. Patten continues his exploration of the social and political resonances of Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist in the second of our three exlusive short films.
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“Twist, I named him”
In the first of three exclusive short films, Professor Robert L. Patten introduces our new exhibition Conversations with a Twist and explores the political and social resonances of Dickens' seminal novel.
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Conversations with a Twist
Here at Free Word we are celebrating Charles Dickens' 200th birthday with a special exhibition in conjunction with the Charles Dickens Museum, Conversations with a Twist: Dickens, Oliver and Social Justice. This exhibition explores the relationship of Oliver Twist to wider social issues, including poverty, child labour, class and education. Much of the novel takes place in Clerkenwell, a stone'…
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Pull up a Chair with Rachel Buchanan
Rachel Buchanan has been Free Word’s General Manager since the Free Word Centre opened in 2009. Next month we say goodbye as Rachel moves on to an exciting new job in Shropshire, so before she starts her new life in the country, Tom Chivers caught up with the woman who knows everything there is to know about Free Word.
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Islington to host Word2012 Festival
From 11 to 31 May, Free Word's local borough of Islington will be transformed by poetry slams, reading flash mobs, author events and even a tea dance with a difference.
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Literary Translation Centre at the London Book Fair
Literary translation is a powerful tool for bridging the gap between cultures and gaining insight into different ways of life and ideals. Find out more about the Literary Translation Centre's busy programme of events, talks and seminars at this year's London Book Fair.
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Free Word People: Siobhan McGrath
Free Word's newest staff member on fixing printers, the importance of cake and playing Dick Whittington in the Christmas panto.
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Free Word People: Emma Cleave
Free Word interviews English PEN's Emma Cleave about writing in translation, overflowing inboxes and falafel for £2.50
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Meet the Neighbours - Clerkenwell Tales
Free Word’s friendly neighbourhood bookshop Clerkenwell Tales has been open since 2009 under the stewardship of Peter Ho. We caught up with this local bookseller, who can often be spotted manning the bookstall at Free Word’s events, to talk books, Clerkenwell and what reading means to him. Interview by Tom Chivers.