Freedom Reads Report Nottingham Unesco City of Literature

Summer of Freedom Reads in partnership with English PEN

nottinghamcityofliterature.com

August 2021 Summer of Freedom Reads

In August 2021 Nottingham UNESCO City of Literature introduced the

Summer of Freedom Reads, organised in partnership with English PEN as part of their centenary programme Common Currency.

Creative Workshops Series

The Summer of Freedom Reads: a series of summer reading and creative writing workshops for young people inspired by protest and freedom of expression.

Bringing together renowned, emerging, and new writers, readers, and activists, the programme presents timely debates and discussions, as well as taking a deep dive into some of the most famous (and infamous) books to have sparked public outrage across time. We incorporated talks with writers, creative practitioners and artists known for their passion for youth empowerment to discuss a number of themes including free speech, censorship, protest, democracy, language and ideas.

Engaging Program For Young People

Our Key Aims • Provide an engaging and inclusive HAF programme for young people in Nottingham • Spread awareness of English PEN and the Common Currency programme • Provide new opportunities and improve NUCoL’s reach and engagement with the local community

About English PEN

English PEN is one of the world’s oldest human rights organisations, championing the freedom to write and the freedom to read around the world. They are the founding centre of PEN International, a worldwide writers’ association with 145 centres in more than 100 countries.

In 2021, to celebrate the 100th anniversary, the Common Currency programme marked this milestone in a unique programme of inperson and online events, residencies and workshops, including the Summer of Freedom Reads.

These events were designed to explore freedom of expression and showcase the world’s greatest literature, and themes included free speech and democracy, language and ideas, and a celebration of women.

“I feel like I have a much better insight into the work of English PEN, and can’t wait to get more involved with their Letters of Solidarity project”

Diverse Participants

We recruited 20 young people from Nottingham aged between 14-21 to attend the Summer of Freedom Reads. Of the 18 participants that took part in the survey...

6% identify as Trans Female

11% Preferred not to say

83% identify as Female

5% identify as Gay & 5% as Questioning

39% identify as Heterosexual 11% identify as Lesbian & 11% as Pansexual

18% identify as Bisexual

11% identify as Male

16% identify as Black British

6% identify as British & 6% as Pakistani

6% identify as White (other)

66% identify as White British

Diverse Participants

28%

considered themselves to have a disability or long-term health condition

57%

live in one of the top 30% most deprived areas in the UK

25%

of those currently in secondary education receive free school meals

We asked our 20 participants about why they chose to be a part of Summer of Freedom Reads and this is what they said...

14

participants said it was ‘Very Important’ for them ‘to develop new writing skills’

‘To find out more about other writers’ 11 said ‘Very Important’ 6 said ‘Partly Important’

Diverse Participants

‘To understand more about freedom of expression and the challenges other writers might face’

‘To understand more of other people’s ideas and points of view’

‘To be more confident in being able to share my ideas and point of view’

‘To share my work with other writers’

Very Important

Partly Important

Not Important

Diverse Participants

6 young people enjoyed...

• Being part of a community / meeting other young writers ‘To connect with new people’ and ‘To find out more about local writing communities’.

• Developing writing and analysis skills ‘To develop analysis skills and learn ways to critically analyse literature’.

• General enjoyment ‘To develop on my general learning and interests, fun over the summer’ and ‘Have fun’.

• Learning about freedom of speech ‘To incorporate freedom of speech with creative writing’ • A dedicated writing space ‘having a place and time to dedicate to writing’

Impressive Guest Speakers

Throughout the programme, we heard from an impressive lineup of speakers, including:

Professor Corinne Fowler

Panya Banjoko

Professor Sharon Monteith

When asked if they found the content of the talks interesting, 88% said definitely. t h g i r e h t t a h “I learned t a l l i t s s i n o to expressi s d e e n t a h t e l t t a b t n a t s n co .” t h g u o f e b o t

“The guest speakers w ere incredible.”

Joshua Judson’s Writing Workshops

Joshua Judson

Joshua Judson delivered three creative and interactive writing workshops on the themes of ‘Aesthetic Enthusiasm’, ‘Historical Impulse’, and ‘The Political Imagination’.

Working both in groups and independently, participants covered fundamentals and built a toolbox of skills and approaches to use in their creative practice. They discussed and unpacked their ideas on writing in general, and on the notions of justice, protest, and censorship. As the sessions progressed, the group looked at and discussed specific poems and texts, using them to express their own sense of political purpose, and taking part in creative exercises including blackout poetry, manifesto writing, and speedwriting. In the final session, the group looked at Martín Espada’s ‘Imagine the Angels of Bread’ and the speculative fiction of Octavia E Butler to look forward and explore ways to express hopes, wants, ideals, and ‘political imagination’.

Joshua Judson’s Writing Workshops

Participants agreed that the workshops helped them to...

• Gain confidence • Learn new writing skills • Meet other like-minded people • Learn about freedom of expression

Joshua Judson

Joshua Judson’s Writing Workshops

Over half of participants said the workshops definitely helped them to feel more confident in being able to share their ideas.

65%

65%

said the workshops definitely helped them to develop new writing skills

said the workshops definitely helped them to discover new writers

82%

Joshua Judson

said the workshops definitely helped them to understand more about freedom of expression and the challenges other writers might face

“They have helped me gain confidence, and understand a more nuanced definition of what a ‘writer’ is. I have greatly enjoyed it.”

Impact & Personal Growth

Personal Growth & Impact We used the Summer of Freedom Reads evaluation to track the writers’ personal progress over the course of the workshops. Between week one and week three: • The percentage of participants who were not sure about where to get support for their writing dropped from 65% to 29% • Number of participants who ‘think of themselves as a writer’ remained roughly the same at 70% • Number of participants who ‘feel confident about sharing their writing’ remained roughly the same at 70% • 12% more participants said they definitely ‘feel confident sharing their thoughts and ideas through writing’

“I really enjoyed finding different ways to write and I especially enjoyed when we shared our work.”

Recruitment and Social Media Analytics

Who’s Heard of Us?

35% had heard of NUCoL

5% heard of the events through Printed Adverts & 5% through School

13% heard of the events through the City of Literature newsletter

13% heard of the events through the UoN newsletter

65% had not heard of NUCoL prior to the programme

41% heard of the events through Facebook

13% heard of the events through Word of Mouth

5% heard of the events through a Youth Advisory Board & 5% through Instagram

Recruitment and Social Media Analytics

Social Media Engagement Posts with the highest engagement were on Instagram.

2.2k People Reached

3.5k People Reached

Images with incentives created the most buzz and speaker announcement posts received less engagement.

For future promotional campaigns we will prioritise promoting our speakers and elevating their voices through social media takeovers, blog posts, and interviews.

Recruitment and Social Media Analytics

Advertising Our Google advert only ran for 10 days. In the future we would post it earlier on in the promotional campaign.

Spend: £31.48 Reach: 550 people Received just 22 clicks.

Wonderful Testimonials

‘It was the most well-organised and exciting writing programme I’ve participated in, and I’ve been to many in the past. You did an amazing job in organising it all and I won’t forget the workshops. I was able to speak with Joshua before I left, which was incredible because he is a true inspiration. Before the project began I followed him on instagram and he now follows my poetry account! So thanks so much for the epic opportunity!!! ‘It is a great thing to see so many young people teach each other so many things. I feel like I have a much better insight into the work of English Pen, and cant wait to get more involved with their letters of solidarity project.‘’ -Nidaa, 18 I really enjoyed finding different ways to write and I especially enjoyed when we shared our work. I love sharing my work, but I also enjoy hearing others share theirs as well! I’ve learnt how difficult it is for some people with writing, and how discriminatory some people are. It was an amazing opportunity and I’m glad I was chosen. If this could be my job for the rest of my life, I would enjoy it!

-Alanna, 14

Wonderful Testimonials

‘Thank you so much for yesterday!!! I really enjoyed all the activities and social aspect, as well as the development of writing and a dive into poems. Also a huge thank you for all the books- i’m so excited to read them.’

-Jess, 16 It was great! I learned a lot, like different views about censorship and governments. Also about how writers ‘disappear’. I enjoyed all parts of freedom reads equally so I don’t really have favourite thing.

-Tymon, 14 I greatly enjoyed the experience of the Summer of Freedom Reads. The speakers each week had many interesting things to say, on a variety of topics. They were also people who some might consider controversial, and I enjoyed having my own subconscious preconceptions about the topics challenged. Yet I also found it fascinating how these topics were all linked to the power of writing and literature to effect the world, I felt like my view of writing was really put in context of broader society. The workshops led

by Joshua were also very interesting; I enjoyed the variety of writing exercises that he introduced us to. I also appreciated the links that he made to the political aspects of writing, like the political imagination, and the ideas of George Orwell.

-Caradoc, 19

Reflections and Future Work

Marketing reflections Speaker announcement posts received very little engagement on both Facebook and Instagram

Ideas for change: • Run guest speaker social media takeovers • Develop the marketing campaign to better reflect speaker personalities, not solely their work

Reflections and Future Work

Google Ads Google ads reached 550 people and received just 22 clicks.

Ideas for change: • Amend key words and use SEO research to ensure we optimise ad engagement • Post the adverts earlier on in the campaign, so they run for at least 30 days

Reflections and Future Work

Further Opportunities to Deliver Impact Over 50% of participants said it was very important to ‘develop new writing skills’, ‘find out about other writers’, and ‘learn about freedom of expression’ during the workshops, but less than 50% said they attended the workshops to ‘be more confident’ or ‘share their work with other writers’ In future, we can offer programmes that not only teach, but develop confidence and give opportunities to interact with other young creatives