Nottingham Festival of Literature @NottsFoL #CrowdFund #OmarHazek

Nottingham Festival of Literature (formerly Nottingham Festival of Words) is an annual literature festival in the heart of Nottingham, now UNESCO City of Literature.

For all the up to date information

Website: nottsfol.co.uk

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Twitter: @NottsFoL

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Nottingham Festival of Literature is taking place between the 8th - 13th of November and will stage conversations that explore inclusivity, displacement, alienation and 'otherness'.

Featuring writers, speakers and activists across all genres including fiction, non-fiction, poetry and writing for performance, the Festival will be a place for the confrontation of ideas and challenges.

" With a main programme and a smaller roster of Fringe events, across a number of city venues including Lakeside Arts, Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham Writers’ Studio, the National Videogame Arcade and the Galleries of Justice Museum, there will be plenty of literature activities to choose from.

Featuring writers, speakers and activists across all genres including fiction, non-fiction, poetry and writing for performance, the Festival will be a place for the confrontation of ideas and challenges.

The Festival is funded by Arts Council England and Nottingham City Council. We are grateful for the support of all our partners, but in particular for the significant contributions of the University of Nottingham, Nottingham Trent University, Writing East Midlands, Nottingham Writers’ Studio and Nottingham, UNESCO City of Literature. "

This year's highlights include live digital events with:

• Virtual Writer in Residence, Egyptian poet Omar Hazek who is facing a travel ban; 
• Discussions and readings from internationally known historian of feminism and radical social movements Sheila Rowbotham; 
• An evening with one of India's most highly regarded literary fiction writers Amit Chaudhuri; 
• Poetry, translation, crime, game, and ghost story writing workshops; 
• Networking for writers events; 
• Book and innovative project launches; 
• Evenings of performance with John Agard, Clare Pollard, and inter-cultural and multi-lingual local collective Word Jam.

The Festival is running a crowdfunding campaign to help and secure writer and campaigner for freedom of expression Omar Hazek as their Virtual Writer in Residence:

http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/omar-hazek-virtual-writer-in-residency/

Omar has published two novels, and poetry in English and Arabic. He has used his writing and poetry
to protest against his own, but also many others’ deprivation of freedom.

After being imprisoned for peacefully protesting in solidarity with the family of a man killed in police custody, Omar was awarded the PEN International and Oxfam Novib Award for Freedom of Expression but was refused permission to travel to the Netherlands to accept the award.

In association with English PEN, Nottingham Festival of Literature want to welcome Omar as their Virtual Writer in Residence, to welcome him to the city even though he cannot travel here.




Buy a Festival Pass and get access to all of the events (excluding Festival Workshops, Nottingham City and Nottinghamshire Libraries’ 13th Annual Readers’ Day and Writer’s Den).

Available Here