Free Word

On 12 December 2016, Read Paper Republic hosted an evening of speed-book clubbing at Free Word Centre on contemporary fantasy fiction from China. We asked people to read the short stories before the event, and come along to share their thoughts and questions with translators.

Featuring translators Nicky Harman, Dave Haysom, Emily Jones and Helen Wang.

Wanderlust: Great Literature from Around the World is a monthly event series at Free Word.

To explore the Wanderlust events we’ve held so far and read about (and around) some of the books we’ve featured, click here: https://www.freewordcentre.com/explore/projects/wanderlust

How have political ideologies and crises impacted families throughout history? With new austerity measures under discussion, a refugee problem continuing, the aftermath of the Brexit vote and more to come, it is one the most relevant questions today.

How do writers reflect these pressures in characters, in their work? And how do they engage with alleged realities when creating fictional versions of their own?

On 18 October 2016 novelists Benjamin Markovits and Joanna Kavenna came together at Free Word Centre to discuss these issues with John Freeman, editor of the literary journal Freeman's.

On 10 October 2016, Danish writer Thomas Rydahl brought his extraordinary debut crime novel The Hermit - translated by K. E. Semmel - to Free Word Centre and discussed the themes of the book with Dr Jakob Stougaard-Nielsen.

Set in Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands, the novel's unlikely hero, a 67 year old ex-pat Danish taxi driver, is caught up in a dangerous web of corruption and murder.

Wanderlust: Great Literature from Around the World is a monthly event series at Free Word.

To explore the Wanderlust events we’ve held so far and read about (and around) some of the books we’ve featured, click here: https://www.freewordcentre.com/explore/projects/wanderlust

Poetry, performance and film to begin Highlight Arctic, a year-long multi-arts festival from and about the circumpolar North.

Featuring Niillas Holmberg, a Sámi poet, musician, actor and activist and Jessie Kleemann, an Inuit poet and performance artist.

The two films screened at this event were Pitaqangittuq (2010 – Dir. Guillaume Ittukssarjuat Saladin, Félix Pharand D., Nicolas Tardif) and Hollow Earth (2014 – Dir. Tanya Busse & Emilija Skarnulyte).

This event was presented by Highlight Arts (http://highlightarts.org) in partnership with Free Word on 28 November 2016.

How does a climate of censorship affect art? There are different ways of not being allowed to speak. Artists discuss how issues of censorship are reflected in their art. How does censorship affect the language of the body? Are there things we cannot say, even when not using language?

Body Politic is Dance Umbrella’s strand of discussions and debates focusing on key cultural issues affecting dance and performance.

This was a Dance Umbrella initiative, presented in partnership with Free Word, Index on Censorship and One Dance UK.

On 14 November 2016, award-winning Norwegian author Brit Bildøen joined us at Free Word Centre to read from her novel Seven Days in August - translated by Becky Crook - and share her thoughts on love, loss, relationships and climate change.

Set a few years after the deadly 2011 terror attack in Norway’s Utøya Island, Otto and Sofie are trying to put the pieces of their life back together without their beloved daughter, who was murdered alongside countless other youths on one of the worst days in Norway’s history.

Wanderlust: Great Literature from Around the World is a monthly event series at Free Word.

To explore the Wanderlust events we’ve held so far and read about (and around) some of the books we’ve featured, click here: https://www.freewordcentre.com/explore/projects/wanderlust

Acclaimed representative of the Polish school of reportage, Witold Szabłowski, and the Guardian‘s favourite reportage illustrator, George Butler, share the lessons they’ve learned about how to tell stories that hold onto the truth of another’s experience.

This event was chaired by Jo Glanville, Director of English PEN.

Paul Gravett, co-curator of the British Library’s landmark 2014 exhibition, Comics Unmasked: Art and Anarchy in the UK, explores this history, examines how comic creators and readers have fought back, and considers the current climate for freedom of expression.

Presented by the British Library in partnership with Free Word and Islington Library and Heritage Services.

Part of Banned Books Week 2016: http://www.bannedbooksweek.org

An evening of discussions on the current threat of censorship to literary works and the issues surrounding free speech, presented by the British Library in partnership with Free Word and Islington Library and Heritage Services and in association with the American Library Association.

Part of Banned Books Week 2016: http://www.bannedbooksweek.org

Multilingual writers Vanni Bianconi, Xiaolu Guo and Bohdan Piasecki discuss linguistic mixing and matching, identifying (or not)with a language and self-translation.