Drawing on the success of our Writing on the Inside workshops, panelists Femi Keeling (writer and workshop leader), Jon Crane (researcher), Louisa Steel (Essex Libraries) discuss the importance of providing writing opportunities in prison, and the transformative nature of creative writing. The panel, chaired by Antonia Byatt, Interim Director at English PEN, will open with a reading of the prisoners’ work, which includes a poem read by Neil Chatterjee, who took part in our workshop at HMP Chelmsford, and who’s work won the Koestler Gold Award.

CRIME & PUNISHMENT SYMPOSIUM
FRIDAY 9 MARCH

This event is part of Essex Book Festival’s Crime & Punishment Symposium, taking place at the University of Essex. The symposium is a collaboration between Essex Book Festival, the Department of Literature, Theatre, and Film Studies (LiFTS) and the Centre for Criminology.

Over the last three years Essex Book Festival, Essex Libraries, University of Essex and English PEN have collaborated on a series of creative writing workshops, Writing on the Inside, for prisoners in HMP/YOI Chelmsford. It was a hugely valuable experience for all concerned. We are hosting a Crime and Punishment Symposium to share this experience with a wider audience, and to debate a variety of issues and challenges for offenders and their families.

Full Programme:

1.30 -2.30pm
Opening the Archives: Margery Allingham
Free, booking essential

2.45 – 4.00pm: Panel 1
Writing on the Inside
Free, booking essential

4.15 – 5.30pm: Panel 2
Transitions and Integrations: Inside and ‘the Out’
Free, booking essential

7.30pm: Author Talk
Erwin James: Redeemable – A Memoir of Darkness and Hope
£7 / £5 (27yrs and under)