A really enjoyable, thought-provoking event to kick off Free the Word on Thursday evening. Four writers - three of them readers, one of them a speaker. The readers read from their own work. It was the speaker - Tariq Ali - who really brought the evening to life. I guess I still think of him as the young protest leader of the 1960s, but here he was, recognisably that man, but matured into a thinker with knowledge that was both broad and deep, with a voice that was powerful and insistent.
He also adapted best to his environment, the open air stage of the Globe. He took to the stage like a natural performer. Alongside him, Nadine Gordimer was lovely, frail, grandmotherly and wise, but she could not fill the difficult open space that is the Globe like Tariq Ali. And I'm sure Tariq Ali would say that he could not fill the open space that is a page like Nadine.
PEN is rightly preoccupied with books. So are its members who are all writers. But the evening brought out another truth - that words are treasured and safeguarded in the pages of books, but they also need to spring to life outside those pages to bring about change. PEN needs to use the whole range of media to get across its messages without ever forgetting that its reason for being remains the book.
- John Simmons
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