my (political) moment in the sun
Nov. 15th, 2007 02:55 pmBelow the cut is the speech I wrote and delivered for Adelaide PEN on its Denied a Voice event today, commemorating the 27th International Day of the Imprisoned Writer.
It was a terrific dray, with a ton of school kids sitting in the shade of a beautiful tree outside the SA Library. There was African music and a cavalcade of great speakers, including Nobel laureate J M Cootzee and others. I was honoured to be among them, but a bit nervous to be coming up last. Luckily most people stuck the distance, and there was still a good crowd to hear me rant.
This is the full version of the speech. The one I gave was cut by a minute or two in order to fit. Where I've paraphrased or quoted a particular writer without crediting them, as shown by the italics, I've put a footnote which will show you the necessary details. All the quotes are taken from essays, letters and poems collected in Another Sky, edited by Lucy Popescu and Carole Seymour-Jones in association with English PEN and published this year by Profile Books.
( The Invisible Dead )
It was a terrific dray, with a ton of school kids sitting in the shade of a beautiful tree outside the SA Library. There was African music and a cavalcade of great speakers, including Nobel laureate J M Cootzee and others. I was honoured to be among them, but a bit nervous to be coming up last. Luckily most people stuck the distance, and there was still a good crowd to hear me rant.
This is the full version of the speech. The one I gave was cut by a minute or two in order to fit. Where I've paraphrased or quoted a particular writer without crediting them, as shown by the italics, I've put a footnote which will show you the necessary details. All the quotes are taken from essays, letters and poems collected in Another Sky, edited by Lucy Popescu and Carole Seymour-Jones in association with English PEN and published this year by Profile Books.
( The Invisible Dead )