Introducing Freedom Reads
Welcome to the Summer of Freedom Reads! Nottingham is a UNESCO City of Literature, with a rich and rebellious literary history. The city has made a remarkable contribution to literature, underpinned by the city’s tradition of civil resistance, political defiance and social justice. Now, Nottingham has been selected by English PEN, one of the world’s oldest human rights organisations, to bring you the Summer of Freedom Reads! This series of events is part of English PEN’s centenary project, Common Currency - a unique project that combines debates on freedom of expression, creative campaigning, and a celebration of diverse voices.
We are thrilled to have you join this programme!
Over the next three weeks, you will look specifically at themes of protest, free speech, and democracy, as well as taking a deep dive into some of the most famous (and infamous) books to have sparked public outrage across time. You’ll also get to discuss censorship and how it has differed over time and place, develop your writing skills, engage with our special guest writers in a series of inspiring talks, and much more. @nottmcityoflit nottinghamcityofliterature.com Remember to use the hashtag #FreedomReads on Twitter and tag us in your Instagram posts @nottmcityoflit. So, let’s get started! Turn the page to discover the Summer of Freedom Reads...
People
Joshua Judson
Panya Banjoko
WORKSHOP FACILITATOR
WRITER, POET, AND ACTIVIST
Joshua is a poet from Nottingham. He is an alumnus of the Mouthy Poets collective and a member of London’s Barbican Young Poets community. His work has been published in The North, Magma, Brittle Star, The Rialto, The White Review, Bath Magg among others, and he has delivered workshops for schools, colleges, Writing East Midlands’ Young Writers Group, and Nottingham UNESCO City of Literature. Joshua’s debut pamphlet, Gongoozler, is available now from Bad Betty Press.
Panya Banjoko is a writer, poet and PhD candidate at Nottingham Trent University. Panya has performed widely, including the 2012 Olympic Games, as part of the award winning film, Brit I Am, directed by Andi Osho, and more recently as part of a BBC Documentary based on the Olympian Jamie Baulch. In 2008, Women in the Arts awarded Panya Outstanding Achievement in poetry and in 2016 C-Hub Magazine awarded her Best Performer. She is founder of Nottingham Black Archive and coordinates a writer’s network. Her debut collection, ‘Some Things’, was published by Burning Eye Books in 2018.
Mariam Khan
WRITER, ACTIVIST, AND EDITOR OF ‘IT’S NOT ABOUT THE BURQA’ Mariam Khan is the editor of It’s Not About the Burqa, essayist in Rife Book, columnist at the i Paper, and writes for many other publications including The Guardian, Stylist, Metro, i-D, and more. She sits on an advisory board at the BBC to consult on the representation of Muslim women in media. Mariam has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Philosophy from the University of Gloucestershire and is currently studying for a Masters in Gender Studies at SOAS, London.
Professor Sharon Monteith
WRITER AND PROFESSOR OF AMERICAN LITERATURE AND CULTURAL HISTORY Professor Sharon Monteith is Distinguished Professor of American Literature and Cultural History at Nottingham Trent University. Her latest book, SNCC’s Stories: The African American Freedom Movement in the Civil Rights South (2020) is published by the University of Georgia Press in the series Print Culture of the South. She is currently recipient of a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship and is writing a literary history of the US civil rights movement.
Professor Corinne Fowler
WRITER, RESEARCH EXPERT, AND DIRECTOR OF THE ‘COLONIAL COUNTRYSIDE’ PROJECT Professor Corinne Fowler is a research expert at the University of Leicester, and is Director of Colonial Countryside: National Trust Houses Reinterpreted. She is an expert in the legacies of colonialism and postcolonialism to literature, heritage and representations of British history. Corinne also co-founded and led the Centre for New Writing for 6 years, where she brought together writers and researchers to commission over 100 creative works.
Production Team at Nottingham UNESCO City of Literature Phoebe Stafford, Lead Producer Leanne Moden Paty Bennett Matt Turpin
1 Prompts and inspiration
Contents
This pack has been put together to be used alongside your Freedom Reads writing activities, but it is also designed to be revisited in the future. We’ve got source material, writing prompts, tips and inspiration, book recommendations, and advice from English PEN on how to get involved with activism, protecting freedom of expression, and their PENWrites campaign.
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We encourage you to take the time to read about English PEN and their work, and consider how you might like to stay involved in activism, politics, and defending freedom of expression after the programme and into the future.
‘I Come From’ Using this poem as a template, write something about where you come from. What are the foundational meals, rituals, phrases, landscapes, rooms, relationships that make up who you are? Can you make them all sit in one piece of writing together, no matter how seemingly disparate and unconnected they are?
Watch Dean Atta’s poem ‘I Come From’ on Youtube
| Prompts and inspiration
2 | Getting involved with #PENWrites
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Distance
3 | Activists across the world
Simon Armitage describes writing a poem as being like ‘dissecting a rat’, and notes that you need some distance from the process to be able to do it effectively.
4 | Banned and challenged books list
Taking that idea of distance, can you write a piece in which you describe a thing without mentioning the thing directly: take a sunset for example. Without mentioning the sun directly, can you describe shadows lengthening, streetlights snapping on, people making their way home as the light dims. What effect does this have?
5 | Further guidance and resources
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Speaking up Audre Lorde famously said ‘your silence will not protect you’ in her essay ‘Sister Outsider’. Is there something you’ve been silent about out of fear? What would writing about that thing look or feel like? This isn’t a prompt to write about something you’re perhaps not ready to write about, but rather an invitation to begin thinking about it.
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Research ‘It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.’ James Baldwin It is possible, in our desire to ‘speak truth to power’, that we can rush to speak without fully understanding all the dimensions of the truth we wish to express. When writing, especially when writing about something outside your experience, can you identify aspects of your subject that you are ignorant about, and strengthen your knowledge in some way?
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‘Bedtime Stories for the End of the World’ Poet Eleanor Penny hosts a podcast series entitled ‘Bedtime Stories for the End of the World.’ In it, she asks poets to rewrite a myth that they would want to survive an apocalypse, to be passed on to those living at the end of the world. What story/ myth/legend do you carry that you would want to pass on in this way?
Letter Templates Have you found your five letter templates?
Use them by writing your responses to the prompts from Section 1. Or simply use the templates for when you write your final letter. Display one of them on your bedroom wall and send one of them to us. We want to showcase your letter at Nottingham UNESCO City of Literature.
2 Get involved with PENWrites!
So, what is PENWrites? In this section we’ll introduce you to English PEN, their campaign work in solidarity with imprisoned writers, and how you can get involved.
PENWrites is an international letter-writing campaign in solidarity with writers in prison and at risk around the world. For decades, PEN has sent letters of support to writers who are unjustly persecuted, harassed, imprisoned, and even murdered for exercising their right to freedom of expression. The impact of such a simple act cannot be underestimated. Countless writers have expressed how letters and messages they received provided much-needed moral support in extremely difficult circumstances, serving as a crucial reminder that they had not been forgotten. Others have spoken of how they received better treatment in prison as a result of cards flooding in from all over the world.
Now, PEN, are inviting all of you to join in celebrating and supporting writers of courage across the globe by sending letters of solidarity to them and their families.
“Each letter day, I get so many letters from PEN members and I am engulfed by very beautiful feelings… I can feel myself with you, always, and perhaps that is why I never feel helpless.” Zehra Doğan
Amanuel Asrat
Nedim Türfent
Poet, critic and editor-in-chief of the leading newspaper Zemen, Amanuel Asrat is credited for the Eritrean poetry resurgence of the early 2000s. In 2001, the Eritrean government began a campaign to silence its critics, arresting opposition politicians, students and many journalists. As part of this crackdown, Amanuel was arrested at his home in 2001. Nineteen years later, it is believed that he continues to be held without charge or trial in a maximum-security prison.
Kurdish poet and journalist Nedim Türfent was detained in 2016 after reporting on Turkish special police forces’ ill-treatment of Turkish and Kurdish workers. At a show trial intended to punish him for his truth-telling journalism, the court sentenced him to eight years and nine months in prison, where he remains today. While in prison Nedim Türfent has written ‘Kuş Aynası,’ a collection of poetry. Two of his poems, ‘Let My Heart Give Life’ and ‘Prisoners Roaring for Freedom’ are available in English translation.
Pham Doan Trang Pham Doan Trang is a renowned writer, publisher, and activist from Vietnam. In October 2020, Pham Doan Trang was arrested on anti-state charges following a raid on her home. She has since been charged with ‘making, storing, and spreading information, materials, and items for the purpose of opposing the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam’. Months later, she continues to be held without access to her family or legal representation. She could face up to 20 years in prison if found guilty.
Galal El-Behairy Poet and lyricist Galal El-Behairy is currently serving a three-year prison sentence in Egypt. Arrested in March 2018, Galal El-Behairy was held incommunicado for a week before appearing before the High State Security, showing signs of severe torture. In July 2018, El-Behairy was sentenced to three years in prison and a fine of 10,000 Egyptian pounds for ‘insulting the military’ and ‘spreading false news.’ The charges relate to his latest book of poetry The Finest Women on Earth, despite it not having been officially published.
KURDISH ARTIST AND WRITER
Writers in Myanmar
Featured writers PEN’s featured writers are Amanuel Asrat, Nedim Türfent, Pham Doan Trang, Galal El-Behairy, Writers in Myanmar, and the staff and members of PEN Belarus. Read their stories here.
In the wake of the military coup in February 2021, millions of people across Myanmar have taken to the streets in protest. Writers and artists have been at the forefront of these demonstrations, exercising their right to peaceful protest and calling for an end to military dictatorship. Following the coup, PEN Myanmar was forced to suspend their plans and activities for safety reasons, but writers across Myanmar have continued to protest. Tragically, many of them have been detained, forced into hiding, or killed in the months since.
PEN Belarus PEN Belarus have been at the forefront of conversations around freedom of expression in the country - often described as ‘Europe’s last dictatorship’ - for over 30 years. There have been many challenging moments throughout their history and this year has been no exception. The months since the disputed Presidential election of August 2020 have seen the violent suppression of peaceful protests calling for the presidential election to be run again and the arrests of thousands of demonstrators, including members of PEN Belarus.
3 Activists across the world
Submit your letter and make a difference! Write to all of PEN’s featured writers or focus on just one individual – it is up to you!
To celebrate the Summer of Freedom Reads, our sister Cities of Literature in Dublin, Ireland and Lviv, Ukraine, invited writers and activists from their cities to speak about their writing and activism work, as well as sharing tips and advice
You can visit the PENWrites webpages to send a virtual message of support. www.englishpen.org/pen-writes If you have the capacity to send a physical letter, you are welcome to do so where addresses are available. Contact cat@englishpen.org for more details.
Return address We recommend that you include a return address so that the writer can respond if they are able to do so. If you would prefer to use English PEN’s office address you are very welcome to do so:
PEN Writes, English PEN, Free Word Centre, 60 Farringdon Road, London, EC1R 3GA
Keep in touch and spread the word! Please let us know if you receive a reply and, if possible, share a copy with us. We’d love for as many people as possible to get involved in PENWrites. You can help by: • •
Inviting friends and colleagues to join the campaign Sharing your messages of support or photographs of any cards or letters you send with the English PEN team and on social media to encourage others to get involved. Don’t forget to tag us @englishpen @nottmcityoflit and use the hashtag #PENWrites!
Scan the QR codes to watch the videos
for aspiring writers.
The full interviews are available to watch on our YouTube channel.
We also heard from Gaele Sobott, writer and founder of Outlandish Arts, a disabled-led arts organisation based in Darug land in Western Sydney, Australia.
“I think that no-one should forget about their basic values. Freedom of expression, tolerance and transparency, and respect to those living in different worlds. If you think that these values are a given, or guaranteed in your country, you may be wrong.”
Volodymyr Beglov, Director of Educational Centre for Human Rights in Lviv
Sofia Cheliak, Program Director of Lviv Book Forum
“there is no ‘finish line’ to being a writer – there is just the experience of learning, of practising the craft, of aiming higher and better with each piece of writing. There is, too, the experience of failing, and this is where I always hold onto the words of Samuel Beckett. “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better”.”
“I’d tell my younger self, go for it, create alternative platforms, write with the flexibility and the intuitiveness that comes from not fitting the norm.”
Ostap Slyvynsky, Poet and Translator Lviv UNESCO City of Literature
Catherine Dunne, Writer Dublin UNESCO City of Literature
Gaele Sobott, Writer and activist
4 Banned and Challenged Books List
The attack on freedom of speech is a tale as old as time. For as long as we’ve had books, there has been censorship (both successful and attempted), and books are still being banned and challenged today.
Here is our recommended reading list, which has been put together to showcase some of the most controversial, thought-provoking, and frequently challenged books from the past century:
Beyond Magenta by Susan Kuklin (2014) Susan Kuklin’s award-winning book consists of six interviews with transgender or gender-neutral young adults, describing their sense of identity before, during, and after transitioning. In 2019, Beyond Magenta became the second-most banned book in the US because of its LGBTQIA+ content, “its effect on any young people who would read it,” and concerns that it was sexually explicit and biased.
Animal Farm by George Orwell (1945)
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (2017)
Orwell’s critique of the Soviet Union, and what he saw as a brutal dictatorship, was banned in the USSR up until the 1980s. In fact, as Animal Farm was written during the UK’s wartime alliance with the Soviet Union, it was rejected several times by publishers before its eventual release in 1945.
Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, The Hate U Give is a powerful YA novel about inequality, police violence, and 21st century prejudice. It was one of the top 10 challenged books in 2020, for reasons of ‘profanity and promoting an anti-police message’.
Beloved by Toni Morrison (1987)
China Dream by Ma Jian (2018)
For decades, this Pulitzer prize-winning novel has been in the American Library Association’s list of the top 10 challenged books, for a myriad of reasons including violence, sexually explicit content, and foul language. In 2012, the “Beloved Bill” was passed in Virginia to give parents the right to opt their children out of reading the book. In 2016, the bill was lifted, but it didn’t prevent Richard Black, a Virginia state senator, from condemning Beloved as “moral sewage”!
Every one of Ma Jian’s books are banned in China, and so is he. China Dream is a satirical, dystopian fable that provides a brazen criticism of the regime in China, condemning repression, violence, and stateimposed amnesia. Of his work, Jian says: “I have never allowed myself to not write something for fear of consequences; that would be the death of literature in my mind”.
5 Further Guidance & Resources
About Nottingham UNESCO City of Literature
We hope that you’ve found this activity pack interesting and are enjoying your Summer of Freedom Reads. Hopefully, you’re feeling inspired and are ready to continue your creative journey. Here are four great resources to support you along the way.
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Use The Mouthy Poets editing checklist to take your writing to the next level. Scan the QR code to download the document.
Workshop Texts •
‘The Colonel’ by Carolyn Forché
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‘+’ by Jay Bernard from Surge
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‘-’ by Jay Bernard from Surge
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‘Alabanza: In Praise of Local 100’ by Martín Espada
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‘The Missing’ by Roger Robinson
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‘what my mother (a poet) might say (I)’ by Mary Jean Chan, from Flèche
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‘Why I Write’ by George Orwell
Check out Writing East Midlands for information on local writing groups
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‘The Communist Manifesto’ by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
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‘Radical Tenderness Is…’ A living manifesto written by Dani d’Emilia and Daniel B. Chávez
Apply to the Rainbow Library, a new publishing project for LGBTQ+ young people in Nottingham
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‘Imagine the Angels of Bread’ by Martín Espada
Explore this great list of free #PENWrites resources to help you get started with political letter-writing and campaign work
Nottingham was designated a UNESCO City of Literature in 2015. Our vision is of a city where everyone is reading and writing their way to a better life. We believe literature has the power to transform the world we live in because it helps us understand each other better. We run reading and writing projects for young people and support the city’s amazing places like libraries, bookshops, theatres, museums, galleries and theatres. We also showcase amazing people and their brilliant work. That includes you! In this time of global disruption and uncertainty about the future, we are amplifying and showcasing the power of young voices. We think that being creative is one of the best things you
can do – to help you make sense of and process the moment we are living through, and to be inspired by Nottingham writers and their words.
Contact us: nottinghamcityofliterature.com contactus@nottmcityoflit.org 07495 548 448 With love, strength and solidarity from, Nottingham UNESCO City of Literature
This pack has been commissioned by Nottingham UNESCO City of Literature in collaboration with English PEN and the National Justice Museum, and with funding from Arts Council England and Nottingham City Council. We are grateful to all contributing activists, writers, and creatives who helped shape and develop the Summer of Freedom Reads programme: Joshua Judson, Dr Corinne Fowler, Panya Banjoko, Mariam Khan, Dr Sharon Monteith, and Makermet Creative. The Summer of Freedom Reads programme is supported by a generous donation from Diana Bosworth.
Notes