English PEN is raising funds to enable our annual national prison writing competition to take place in 2016 and would like to ask you to be part of this growing success story, through making a donation.
The competition was launched five years ago and has quickly become one of our flagship activities. Last year, we received more than 500 entries from 80 prisons across the UK. The competition has the potential to build on that achievement, to reach more prisoners and for their writing to reach a wider audience.
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Each year a leading author is invited to judge the prison writing competition. Past judges have included Mark Haddon, Jackie Kay, Meg Rosoff and Jake Arnott. The winning and highly commended entries are published in an anthology, launched at an annual event in London. You can read the anthologies here.
The competition is the farthest reaching and most visible part of English PEN’s programme of working with prisoners. For 12 years, we have been working with professional writers leading creative writing workshops or reading and discussing their work with prisoners and young offenders. Prisoners tell us that the PEN programme has allowed them to improve their writing skills, given space for reflection and connected them to the outside world through their encounters with well-known authors, allowing them to gain both greater self-confidence and a sense of self-worth.
The opportunity for learning is essential for any hopes of rehabilitation. This is being recognised increasingly, including by prison authorities and politicians. Prisoners in the UK can spend as much as 23 hours in their cells with little activity or stimulation.
We would be hugely grateful if you are able to make a donation or even arrange a fundraiser to support our prison writing competition. Please also help spread the word about our fundraising appeal by sharing details with friends and colleagues and on social media #PENprisoncomp
