Free Word

London's Young Poet Laureate, Aisling Fahey, talks to us about her favourite word, Discombobulate.

Poet Zena Edwards introduces and performs her poem 'When Earth Speaks Through Flesh', drawing on the image of a woman kneeling before armed police as inspiration to address climate change.

The piece was commissioned as part of Weatherfronts: learn more about the project and read the other commissions in full at https://freewordcentre.com/blog/2015/01/weatherfronts-climate-change-writing-commissions/

Rose Fenton chairs a discussion between writers Sai Murray, Selina Nwulu, Zena Edwards, Stevie Ronnie, Oisin McGann, Sarah Butler, Nick Hunt and Dan Simpson about the challenges they faced when writing about climate change.

You can download all the writing mentioned in this podcast for free by visiting https://freewordcentre.com/blog/2015/01/weatherfronts-climate-change-writing-commissions/

The Irish writer, cartoonist and illustrator talks to us about his favourite word, 'picture', and his involvement in the Weather Stations project.

Asymptote Journal celebrate their fourth anniversary with a lively discussion around translated literature.

Granta Best Young British Novelist Adam Thirlwell, acclaimed translators Daniel Hahn and Deborah Smith, and founder and publisher of And Other Stories Stefan Tobler form the panel.

For this months' Wordsmith podcast, poet and avant-garde performance artist Steven J Fowler talks to us about martial arts, and one of his favourite onomatopoeias, 'osu'.

Can 16-year-olds be trusted with the right to vote? We invite a panel of experts to debate the tricky question of lowering the voting age to 16.

Featuring panelists:

Mita Desai, Chair of the British Youth Council,

Rania Ramli, 16-year-old campaigner for Bite the Ballot,

Emily Thornberry, Labour MP for Islington South & Finsbury,

and Alisha Wright, Head Girl at Douglas Academy and a voter in the Independence Referendum at 17.

Chaired by Rose Dowling, who leads the SHM Foundation's work on Learning and Citizenship in the UK.

A panel of writers and activists debate offensive language and whether free speech has limits. Featuring panellists:

Duleep Allirajah, Sports columnist at Spiked;

Jo Glanville, Director of English PEN;

Adrian Hart, author of 'That's Racist! How the regulation of speech and thought divides us all';

Jacob Mchangama, Executive director of Justitia and Freedom Rights Project;

Peter Bradley, Director of the Speakers' Corner Trust

Chaired by David Bowden - Coordinator, UK Battle Satellites; columnist at Spiked.

At a time when Britain's continued membership of both the European Union and the European Convention of Human Rights is the subject of active discussion, Free Word and English PEN have invited five leading writers and thinkers to address - in a series of essays and a discussion - the question of our future relationship with Europe and what might be the new narratives for Europe in an interdependent world.

In 2013 President Barroso put out a call to citizens for a "new narrative" for Europe. The idea of Europe - born from the devastation wrought by two world wars and then later strengthened by the reunification of Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall - was, he acknowledged, in crisis.

What, he asked, is Europe's role in the world today? How can it become a genuine and effective political body able to rise to the challenges facing European citizens today, engaging in the global issues of our times, protecting commonly held values around democracy, human rights and free expression, and supporting the sciences and the arts to generate new and radical ways of thinking.

In launching the call President Barroso highlighted the role of culture and stories; "At a time when culture is perceived as optional rather than essential, It has become difficult to tell each other the simplest of stories, let alone articulate compelling narratives about the values that underpin our society. Yet now is the moment for compelling narratives rather than simple number crunching."

Following discussions in Berlin, Brussels, Milan and Warsaw, the debate now comes to London.

Join Gabriel Gbadamosi, Xiaolu Guo, A.L.Kennedy, Can Yeginsu and Rosie Goldsmith for a discussion about what Europe means to us.

The oft-censored Chinese novelist talks to us about the Chinese word for 'red', and its inescapable role in Chinese history and culture.