WiPC 50th Anniversary: Exhibition

6 December: ‘WORD!’, The Y Theatre, Leicester
The Y Theatre, 7 East Street, Leicester, LE1 6EY

14 November – 2 December: Newcastle University
The Foyer, Percy Building, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU.

17-23 October: Durham Cathedral
The Cloisters, Durham Cathedral, The College, Durham, DH1 3EH

13 June – 8 July: Lewisham Library
199-201 Lewisham High Street, London SE13 6LG

8 June: University of Surrey
Guildford, Surrey GU2 7XH

15 – 17 April: Cambridge Wordfest
http://www.cambridgewordfest.co.uk/

11 – 13 April: The London Book Fair
The English PEN Literary Cafe, Earls Court Exhibition Centre, Warwick Road, Kensington, London, SW5 9TA

7 – 10 April: Free the Word!
60 Farringdon Road, London, EC1R 3GA

1 – 31 March: Finsbury Library
245 St John Street, London, EC1V 4NB

1 – 28 February: The Free Word Centre
60 Farringdon Road, London, EC1R 3GA

Last year, English PEN celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC), one of the world’s longest running campaigns for freedom of expression. Since it was founded in July 1960, the committee has stood tirelessly in solidarity with imprisoned and persecuted writers worldwide.
To mark the 50th anniversary of the WiPC, English PEN produced ‘Beyond Bars’, a mobile exhibition highlighting ten of the most significant cases we have worked on since 1960. Featured writers include 2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo who is currently serving an eleven year sentence for his writings, Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was shot dead in her Moscow apartment in 2006, and Burmese poet and comedian Zargana who is serving 35 years in prison for his involvement in the Cyclone Nargis relief effort in 2008.

The exhibition, comprised of ten pull-up banners (800mm x 2000mm), provides a short biography of the persecuted writers, a sample of their work and photographs of each of them. The aim of the exhibition is to bring these writers, and our work as a whole, to a wider audience than PEN might normally reach. We are particularly keen for the exhibition to be hosted at venues outside London, as part of English PEN’s continued efforts to bring our work to audiences across the UK.

We plan to display the exhibition at venues across the UK throughout
2011, primarily in universities, where we are developing a network of
student PEN groups, and in schools and colleges as part of our
educational programme.

How can you help?

We are currently looking for venues across the UK that
would be willing to host the exhibition. We
would be happy to provide you with copies of ‘Beyond Bars: 50 Years of the PEN Writers in Prison Committee’, a special issue of Index on Censorship, for your visitors or audience
members. The magazine features biographies of and writing samples by 50
key WiPC cases from the last 50 years (including the ten featured in the
exhibition) alongside essays and memoirs by some of the world’s leading
authors and commentators on half a century of censorship, including
Margaret Atwood, William Boyd, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, and Sir Tom Stoppard. We are also able to supply letters, cards and petitions
for guests to write and sign on behalf of current cases of concern, and
may be able to arrange for a representative of English PEN to
give a talk on PEN’s work if that is of interest.   

If you require any further information, please contact Cat Lucas on cat@englishpen.org or 020 7324 2535.

To view a PDF of the exhibition please click here.

Cultural industries placement students Rebecca Markham and Juliet Armstrong who helped set up the exhibition at Newcastle University in November.