Writing
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Upcoming Event: The Literary Conference
Writing in a Digital Age
Fri 8 Jun 2012
9:30amFree Word Lecture Theatre
An up-to-the-minute conference to make sense of the many possibilities open to writers today, with practical sessions, workshops, case studies, working examples, debates and networking. The discussions will explore the key issues facing writers, such as making and selling ebooks, choosing to self-publish or go via traditional routes, an exploration of the emerging international markets, how technology changes…
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Upcoming Event: Andrei Codrescu
The Romanian poet reads and discusses his work
Mon 16 Apr 2012
7:00pmFree Word Lecture Theatre
'One of our most prodigiously talented and magical writers.; Bruce Shlain, New York Times Celebrated Romanian poet Andrei Codrescu will read from his upcoming book So Recently Rent a World: Selected Poems, 1968-2012 and will talk about his work-in-progress 'The Archived Future (with life in footnotes)': an essay about the digital future and how to live with it. …
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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 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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Past Event: Unlocked – The Crisis in Prisons
What can writers do?
Wed 8 Feb 2012
6:30pmFree 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…
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Past Event: Livestream: Writers Bloc
Tue 17 Jan 2012
6:45pmFree Word Lecture Theatre
In a Free Word first, the launch of Writers Bloc will be livestreamed direct from the Free Word Centre to your computer. Writers Bloc is a pioneering project established by Zadie Smith, Hari Kunzru, Nick Laird, Rachel Holmes and Kamila Shamsie to investigate education and literacy around the world. In the first stage of the project, ten writers visited ten…
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Past Event: A Hint of Danger:
An Evening with Ludwig van Beethoven, Leoš Janáček, Leo Tolstoy and Ted Hughes
Mon 19 Dec 2011
5:30pmFree Word Lecture Theatre
The Literary Consultancy is delighted to invite back The Tamesis Quartet and Edie Campbell for an unforgettable evening celebrating passion and love – with a hint of danger. The Tamesis string quartet, featuring highly acclaimed violinists Nadia Myerscough and Anna de Bruin, Matthew Quernby on viola and cellist Christopher Allan, stunned us with their performance of works by Debussy and…
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Past Event: English PEN AGM and Christmas Party
Mon 5 Dec 2011
3:00pmFree Word Lecture Theatre
All English PEN members are invited to the Annual General Meeting. The AGM is immediately followed by the Christmas Party to which members are welcome to bring guests. The evening will also see the presentation of this year’s Golden PEN award for a lifetime’s service to literature. How to Book: Call 020 7324 2535 or book online. Tickets: Party…
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Past Event: TLC Charity Event for the Maya Centre
Thu 1 Dec 2011
5:30pmFree Word Hall
The Literary Consultancy presents a fundraising evening on behalf of The Maya Centre a dynamic charity providing free psychodynamic counselling and group psychotherapy for women in Islington. Novelist, journalist and campaigner Melissa Benn will host an illustrious line-up of writers who will read from their work highlighting a variety of experiences from women’s lives. The event will entertain,…
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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: Battle Satellite: The New International?
Literature in the age of 'globish'
Thu 20 Oct 2011
5:30pmFree Word Lecture Theatre
Is it ever valid to judge literature with reference to its nationality, linguistic distinctions aside? Is great national literature universal because it's great, or great because it is universal? Join a round-table rumble of writers and critics for a 'no holds barred' public discussion on the place national literature has in a globalised world. Speakers include Diran Adebayo; Michael Caines;…
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Past Event: International Translation Day 2011
Fri 30 Sep 2011
8:00amFree Word Lecture Theatre
How can we popularise literature in translation? Are we getting anywhere? What can we learn from the success of other art forms, such as music? Join English PEN and other leading translation organisations for a full day of events focused on literary translation. We will be hearing about successful initiatives that have flourished since last year’s International Translation Day;…
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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: Matteo Pistono In the Shadow of the Buddha
Fri 9 Sep 2011
2:04pmVenue TBC
Author and undercover reporter Matteo Pistono discusses his book "In the Shadow of the Buddha", the story of how he became a covert human rights monitor in Tibet. Presented in association with Tibet Society. For nearly a decade, Pistono evaded Chinese security and took photos of prisons, obtained secret documents, and smuggled out firsthand interviews of torture victims and other…
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Past Event: Chinese Fables
With Bi Feiyu and Chan Koonchung
Tue 23 Aug 2011
5:30pmFree Word Lecture Theatre
We’re delighted to bring two of China’s most respected and controversial authors together in this unique event at the Free Word Centre. Bi Feiyu won this year’s Man Asian Literary Prize for his masterful novel Three Sisters. The author was due to visit the UK last year to promote his book – an epic…
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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: To Live Outside the Law
Book launch
Wed 6 Jul 2011
5:00pmFree Word Lecture Theatre
The Literary Consultancy is proud to invite Leaf Fielding, a former TLC client, to celebrate the launch of his memoir, To Live Outside the Law, published by Serpent's Tail. 'As bold and innovative as its author, To Live Outside the Law takes the reader on a breath-taking guided tour of academic acid absorption, hitch-hiking hells, emotional whirlwinds, years in…
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Past Event: Capturing the Voice
The importance of honesty and creativity in engaging with young people
Thu 23 Jun 2011
5:30pmFree Word Lecture Theatre
The Reading Agency and Bounce! Invite you to an author panel discussion with drinks and book signing. Authors on panel: Colin Mulhern Isla Whitcroft Stephanie Burgis Chair: Anthony McGowen To Book email tricia.kings@readingagency.org.uk …
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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: 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: Lunchtime Bites
Sun 10 Apr 2011
5:30pmFree Word Hall
Always a highlight of the festival, the literary lunch returns to offer a showcase of the best that Free the Word! has to offer. Enjoy lunch whilst you savour titbits from authors including Margie Orford, Dubravka Ugresic and Russia’s German Sadulaev as well as work from some of the bright new voices coming out of English PEN&rsquo…
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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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Every Text on its Own Terms: Interview with Richard Beard
Free Word interviews Richard Beard, novelist and Director of the National Academy of Writing, about publishing, creative writing and how NAW can help writers become 'better at what they're already good at'.
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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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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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“Why write about schools and not airports?” Riz MC performs at launch of Writers Bloc
Listen to Riz MC performing a new poem speed-written in response to the launch of international writing and education project Writers Bloc at the Free Word Centre.
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Video: Free Word hosts the launch of Writers Bloc
Writers including Kamila Shamsie and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie discuss education around the world at the launch of pioneering writing and education project Writers Bloc.
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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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Deer Park by Han Dong
Steve Wasserman reads Deer Park, a short story by Chinese author Han Dong, translated into English by Nicky Harman
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Livestream: Writers Bloc
Free Word presents the launch of Writers Bloc, a new project which sends writers to report on education issues around the world. Tune in right here from 6.45pm on Tuesday 17 January to join the discussion in our first ever Free Word livestream.
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The Counterpoint of Change: Writers Bloc Afterword
Hugh McLean of Open Society Foundations highlights the importance of education in challenging conflict and exclusion.This essay is the afterword to Writers Bloc, a collection of essays by writers about education around the world.
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Interview with literary translator Rosalind Harvey
Tom Chivers interviews Rosalind Harvey, one of Free Word's two Translators in Residence and author of the acclaimed English translation of Down the Rabbit Hole by Juan Pablo Villalobos.
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Kamila Shamsie on Writers Bloc
Writers Bloc is a new writer-led initiative which explores education throughout the world. Ahead of its launch at the Free Word Centre, livestreamed at freewordonline.com, co-founder Kamila Shamsie talks to us about the project and her article on Pakistan's curriculum challenges.
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Video: Rachida Lamrabet & Neel Mukherjee in conversation
Free Word Writer in Residence Rachida Lamrabet and Neel Mukherjee in conversation at Passa Porta literature house, Brussels.
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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.
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Margaret Drabble presented with Golden PEN Award
On 6th December 2011, English PEN presented the prestigious Golden PEN award to novelist Margaret Drabble. The award was introduced by English PEN President Gillian Slovo, and presented by former PEN President Lisa Appignanesi. Past recipients include Salman Rushdie, John Berger, Doris Lessing and JG Ballard.
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Shortlisted short story authors share their favourites
Booktrust asks the shortlisted authors for this year's BBC National Short Story Award about their favourite short story collections.
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Martin Riker on Translation and “National Literature”
Martin Riker of Dalkey Archive Press explores International Literature, National Literature, Publishing Translations, and Creative Writing Programs.
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A letter from Neel Mukherjee to Rachida Lamrabet
Rachida Lamrabet is the Free Word Centre’s Writer in Residence. She has been corresponding with Neel Mukherjee, who is resident at the International House of Literature in Brussels, ‘Passa Porta’.
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A letter from Rachida Lamrabet to Neel Mukherjee
Rachida Lamrabet is the Free Word Centre’s Writer in Residence. She has been corresponding with Neel Mukherjee, who is resident at the International House of Literature in Brussels, ‘Passa Porta’.
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Books We Like - October 2011
Every year thousands of books are published in the UK. Booktrust’s monthly selection of books picks some of the great titles you might have missed. This month’s haul includes second novels by Joe Dunthorne and Ross Raisin, Rahul Bhattacharya’s “mysterious, hypnotic” The Sly Company of People Who Care and debuts by Ben…
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Sparks by Ian Duhig
Poet Ian Duhig discovers the ‘sparks’ of inspiration come from the unexpected.
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When Creativity Meets Commerce: The Day Publishing Changed
TLC Director Rebecca Swift examines the increasing commercial pressures on the publishing industry.
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Booktrust staff picks their favourite Dahl
Booktust celebrated Roald Dahl Day by polling staff about their favourite Dahl fiction. In this Booktrust blog post, Nikesh Shukla tallies the votes and shares some staff opinions about the winners.
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Free Word Translators at International Translation Day
Time: September 30th 2011, 9am- 6.30pm Place: Free Word Centre, London Themes: Translation (of course!), dialogue, new initiatives, success, sharing ideas, the importance of readers (thanks to Rachel Van Riel for a highly entertaining presentation that included telling us about the Which Book website, a site that helps you decide which book to read by theme, which has apparently been around 10…
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BBC announces short story winners
Free Word Centre hosted the 2009 BBC National Short Story Award. The winners were announced to a packed audience, and live on Radio 4, by broadcaster and chair of the judges Tom Sutcliffe. Poet and writer Kate Clanchy was the winner for her story The Not-Dead and the Saved. The runner-up was Sara Maitland for Moss Witch. …