English PEN Prison Anthology launch 24 February 2014

If any of my followers live near London, I thought you may be interested in the following information from English PEN:

Running to Stand Still: stories from the inside

Monday 24 February
Free Word Centre, Farringdon
6.30pm-8pm

Join Jackie Kay, judge of English PEN’s third prison writing competition, for the launch of an anthology of the winning entries: a mix of prose, poems, memoir and book reviews from 70 different prisons across the UK. There will be performances of the prize-winning entries, copies of the anthology and a panel discussion about identity and the redemptive power of stories to change lives with writer Jake Arnott, criminologist Helen Nichols and economist Vicky Pryce.

£5 Buy tickets
Free for English PEN members. Email grace@englishpen.org to reserve your place.




Helen Nichols is investigating contemporary imprisonment and education in the prison environment as part of a PhD with the University of Hull. Her focus includes research into adult male prisoners and their experiences of education looking at themes including prisoner biography and models of education.  From March 2014 she will be Senior Lecturer in Criminology at Leeds Metropolitan University.

Jackie Kay is an award-winning poet, novelist and writer of short stories who writes for both adults and children. Her memoir about seeking out her birth parents Red Dust Road was selected for World Book Night 2013 and was described by the Independent as a 'fantastic, probing and heart-warming read'.

Jake Arnott is a bestselling author whose books include The Devil’s Paintbrush and The Long Firm. His latest book The House of Rumour is published by Sceptre.  In 2011 he judged PEN’s first Prison Writing competition, whose winners were published in the pamphlet The Book that Saved my Life.

Vicky Pryce's posts have included Senior Managing Director at FTI Consulting; Director General for Economics at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and Joint Head of the UK Government Economics Service. Her books include Greekonomics on the Eurozone crisis and Prisonomics based on her own experience having spent time in Holloway and East Sutton Park. Royalties from the book go to Working Chance, a charity involved in finding quality jobs for women offenders and ex-offenders.