FREE THE BLOG!

Books that have been banned

A table of banned books on display at The Insulting Cabaret on Friday night. (Photo by Rishi Dastidar. More photos here.)

The Insulting Cabaret - Live blog

And fingers crossed, you should see me live and direct in the Southwark Playhouse now. Don't forget to hit F5 or refresh:

If you can't, try following the action at twitter.com/betarish, or here. And feel free to drop me a note, comments there.

A heads up: later on this evening, I'll be taking life and various communicative devices into a state of discomfort, as I try and live blog from The Insulting Cabaret at the Southwark Playhouse.

In case you haven't memorized all your Free The World festival guide, the Cabaret is "a secret world where the strangest things are banned and preconceptions are blurred.  Expect fast paced laughter, wise words and music from around the world as writers and performers share their most intimate thoughts, challenge your thinking and make you smile." 

Not quite sure how they'll take to a blogger scribing everything down in their midst.

If you're coming down, swing by and say hello (not sure where I'll be; look for someone hunched over a laptop or iPod touch). And for those of you elsewhere in the world, check back here from about 9.45pm, to join the show.

Island mentality?

Which country has “one of the smallest volumes of literature in translation (just 2% of books published)”? The UK. PEN’s events organiser Sarah Ardizzone expands on why we need the Free the Word! Festival in The Guardian today.