Posted July 29th, 2014 by Cat Lucas & filed under Campaigns.
English PEN is delighted to be supporting fellow charity Give A Book with the establishment of dedicated Book Rooms at HMP Wormwood Scrubs
For more than a decade, English PEN has been sending writers and their books into Wormwood Scrubs and other prisons across the UK through our Readers and Writers programme. We have also worked with Oxford University Press to send free dictionaries to prisoners, and run an annual prison writing competition which receives hundreds of entries from across the UK each year. Through these initiatives, English PEN and the writers we work with witness first-hand the incredible value reading and receiving books can have for prisoners.
As a result of the restrictions on prisoners receiving books from family and friends – the focus of the ongoing Books for Prisoners campaign – our work and initiatives such as the new Book Rooms at HMP Wormwood Scrubs are, at present, some of the few ways of getting books to prisoners from the outside.
The first Book Room opened at HMP Wormwood Scrubs on 13 June 2014 and aims to complement the prison’s central library by providing a space where inmates are able to access books during association times. We were thrilled to be able to contribute an entire World Bookshelf, a special selection of titles our Writers in Translation programme has supported over the years, and to be able to help find a home for more than 500 books that had been generously donated by attendees at the Cambridge Literary Festival, at the behest of Ali Smith.
Just days after it was opened, Give a Book received this wonderful report from Scrubs about the first reactions to the new Book Room:
I went onto B Wing yesterday afternoon and into the Book Room where I found two prisoners staring at all the books slack-jawed with amazement. When one of them got himself back together he said ‘Guv, this is a most welcome development’. [Honestly !!]
I explained the situation and the generosity of donors and the other said ‘So we can just take these back to our cell and read them?’ I replied ‘yes’ – cue more amazement.
However the icing on the cake was when one said ‘So are there any history books ?’ and I was able to say ‘yes, here’s The Gunpowder Plot by Antonia Fraser and look it’s got a personal dedication from the author to the B Wing Book Room at Wormwood Scrubs.’ !!
Shortly afterwards – and no doubt in light of this amazing response – Give A Book were given the go-ahead to open a further four Book Rooms at Scrubs, meaning that there will be one on every wing in the prison. They have since received support from a range of publishers, including Silver PEN partners HarperCollins and Penguin. Meanwhile, writers and PEN members Margaret Drabble, Miriam Halahmy, Kathy Lette, Ruth Padel, Marina Warner and Sarah Waters have all donated copies of the the books they recommended sending to a prisoner – or one of their own – to the new Book Rooms.
books for prisoners downing street ruth etc
If you would be interested in donating a book to the Book Rooms at Wormwood Scrubs or in making a donation to help us continue our vital work taking writers and books into prisons, please do get in touch by emailing [email protected]