EVENT LIVESTREAMED www.ihrc.tv
A special event with award-winning poet Pat Winslow – Talha Ahsan’s poetry tutor at HMP Long Lartin & poetry mentor and Mark Marquesee.
Pat unveils a new poem about Talha & speech about the value of writing poetry in prison & prison-teaching. Hosted by Hamja Ahsan – Talha’s brother with Q & A – Talha poetry collection & translations written with her support & mentorship.
The event will provide an insight into the creative process of writing under detention. New poems & translations written by Talha will be read for the first time, composed in solitary confinement.
Pat Winslow
Pat works as a writer in residence at prison HMP Long Lartin where Talha Ahsan & Babar Ahmad were detained without trial (for the longest period in British legal history). Pat Winslow is part of the Writers in prisons Foundation (www.writersinprison.org.uk). Her poetry collections include Kissing Bones, Unpredictable Geometry, Dreaming of Walls Repeating Themselves, Skin & Dust, The Girl in the Iron Lung, The Fact of an Eye and Harvest. She is an occasional fiction reviewer for Iota and have written for the Warwick Review. Pat has won a number of prizes including Rialto 2012 & Keats-Shelley Competition 2012. http://thepatwinslow.blogspot.co.uk/
If you want to be part of the audience at the venue, it is FREE – no booking required. Donations to family campaign & IHRC welcome
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www.freetalha.org
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Talha Ahsan is an award-winning poet & translator. Winner of the Platinum, Gold & Bronze Koestler Prize – projected on the Royal Festival Hall whilst in solitary confinement. 1st Prizes in UPs literary competition. Publishing in The Huffington Post, OOMK, Atemis (Italy). Broadcast on TV (IQRA TV, Press TV) & Radio (Resonance FM, WBAI (New York), KPAI Radio (Texas), Radio Free Brighton, Radio Ramadan, Unity FM.) Ahsan’s poetry has been translated into Italian and German. Described as “Hauntingly Beautiful” in The Independent. Talha brother Hamja Ahsan was shortlisted for a LIBERTY Human Rights Award for Free Talha Ahsan campaign use of creative arts with Human Rights. A new poetry book will be published soon with an introduction by his UK solicitor Gareth Peirce.
An IHRC film Extradition (2012) was made framed around Talha Ahsan Poetry and can be viewed here.