Art and Writing by the Unfree Welcome, dear Readers, to another issue of our
magazine, celebrating the creativity of those in custody all across the UK. As you will see flicking through its pages, something again has changed - our first full-colour issue marks five years of our partnership with the Koestler Trust, featuring award winning work from their Southbank Centre selection. Alongside amazing artwork and serious literature, we also include writing for screen and stage and song lyrics to help brighten up your days and widen your choice of art to enjoy. Some of the writing is only in shortened extract form, so you don’t get to read the whole thing, but that is
because there is so much great creativity happening behind bars and only so many pages for us to fit them into. Thanks to a generous grant from Arts Council England, we are now working on new initiatives, such as Slamming Gates (page 38), Jail Journals (page 45) and the Not Shut Up Academy (page 53). All these will give us greater reach – a new website, educational initiatives, the capacity to publish books and ebooks – to take the art and writing you are all creating and send it out into the wider world. Marek Kazmierski / Managing Editor
whAt Is InsIDE? 40
“If we can only change round some of the public perceptions of who offenders are...” Interview with Tim Robertson
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19
“I’m thinking of committing my next offence in Brazil...” Koestler Awards, Non-fiction
“I could think of cells that had been nicer. Quite a few actually.” Koestler Awards, Fiction
6
22
“Poet reluctant retreats, mirrored by the frame, dips the ink again.” Koestler Awards, Poetry
41
“They let us in as they wheeled her out: Mam already forgetting where she was.” Koestler Awards, Poetry
25
44
“Like a blood orange waiting to fall from the table, the setting sun lingers on the edge of a watery world.” Koestler Awards, Fiction
8
“Speech Debelle’s own experience makes her an authentic voice for a younger urban demographic.” An introduction from Matthew Meadows
10
“Experience of prison, addiction, love, violence, death, birth and - as they say much, much more. ” Koestler Awards, Poetry
14
“I know that the modus operandi of breaking rules is very complex.” Koestler Awards, Prose
16
“Impact Art Fair took place over a sweltering late July weekend in Brixton. ” Art Pages
17
“The big word which keeps cropping up is ‘authenticity, authenticity, authenticity...’” Interview with Chris Wilson
“Emotions move, they shift faster than a tear running down the curved surface of grief.” Prison Librarian
26 27 31
“Like being taken to an oasis once a week...” Brenda Read-Brown
Koestler Awards Gallery selected by Speech Debelle
“Burnt down my pad, life outside drove me mad, Now I’m in Walton...” Koestler Awards, Song Lyrics
32
“They were tears of joy – his story was now out in the open and he was truly free.” Buried Treasure
36
“Just the odd slap... She always was a passionate woman.” Koestler Awards, Play
38
“The 160 plus women who signed up hear the final eight stories raised the roof in support of the finalists.” Slamming Gates
“The streets outside this musty rubbish strewn pit are a long way from St Petersburg.” Koestler Awards, Journals
46
“In infamous San Quentin State Prison resides a population of prisoners shunned by the state.” From Death Row
47
“Like some Dickensian character, forever on the take, and mindless of every heart he would break.” Koestler Awards, Poetry
50
“ I am interested in art which deals with human experience rather than theory.” Souzu Outsider Art interview
52 54
Art organisations worth knowing about / Not Shut Up information Matthew Meadows’ Art Pages
www.notshutup.co.uK 3