English PEN Events May 2011

Just a quick reminder of some of the events English PEN has coming up over the next few weeks. Full details of our Writers in Public programme can be found on the English PEN website.

Writing Freedom: The English PEN Roadshow

Various Dates

Venues: Brighton Festival; How The Light Gets In

For ninety years, English PEN has been fighting for the freedom to write and the freedom to read at home and abroad. In this special birthday performance, devised in partnership with Jonathan Holmes, today's authors draw on the words of those who have led PEN's fight over the last century, from HG Wells to Monica Ali. How do the free speech battles of the past affect writers and readers today? Join us as we take English PEN on the road to literary festivals around the country.

Brighton Festival

Sunday 22 May, 6pm

Readers at this performance will be Bidisha, Deborah Moggach, Jake Arnott, William Fiennes and Lemn Sissay.

How The Light Gets In, Hay

Monday 30 May, 2.30pm

Readers at this performance will include Anita Sethi and Zaiba Malik.

The Swan in the Evening: Rosamond Lehmann

Tuesday 7 June, 6.30pm

Venue: The Free Word Centre, 60 Farringdon Road, London EC1R 3GA

Beautiful, intelligent, scandalous, Rosamond Lehmann occupied a central position in the London literary scene of the thirties, penning a series of successful novels that interrogated relations between the sexes and analysed the conflict between the individual and society. She was also a tireless campaigner against fascism and President of English PEN from 1962-1966. Join Jonathan Coe, passionate Lehmann fan and author of novels including What a Carve Up! and The Rotters' Club, Lehmann's biographer, Selena Hastings, and publisher Carmen Callil, founder of Virago Press, as they discuss Lehmann's lasting appeal in an evening chaired by Lennie Goodings, publisher of Virago.

Tickets for this event cost £5 for English PEN members and £8 for non-members. To book, please call the Free Word Centre on 020 7324 2570.

We are very grateful to HW Fisher for their sponsorship of our Writers in Public programme. The Authors and Journalists team have many years’ experience in helping clients minimise their tax liability. If you have a tax query then do call our free tax help line for English PEN members on +44 (0) 20 7874 7876 and quote ‘PEN’ alternatively, email your query (please quote ‘PEN’ in the subject line) to Andrew Subramaniam (asubs@hwfisher.co.uk) or Barry Kernon (bkernon@hwfisher.co.uk). Visit the HW Fisher website for more information.