Sunday the 15th of November marks the International Day of the Imprisoned Writer, in New Zealand we call it Courage Day, named after writer James Courage whose books were banned.
To mark the occasion the Otago Southland branch of the New Zealand Society of Authors is staging a "Write-in" at the Dunedin Public Library from 1.00pm to 3.00pm.
The purpose of this is to do something really quite personal and practical - to write letters to foreign governments who have imprisoned writers for expressing opinions that are contrary to the government line. The Writers in Prisons Committee reported that this year there have been around 1000 attacks against writers and there are about 200 serving long terms in prison. Also 27 have been killed since this time last year.
We have it pretty cushy in New Zealand, but there are many brave souls, journalists, writers and musicians who put it on the line every day.
So if you happen to be in Dunedin tomorrow, come along and put pen to paper with us.
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2 comments:
I'm working my non-writimg job today, sorry to miss this. I hope it goes well.
The Write-In went very well, and with a good turnout. End result we wrote and posted seventy odd letters!
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