This event, organised by Letters With Wings, was dedicated to the women artists Chimengul Awut (award-winning Uyghur poet) and Nûdem Durak (a folk-musician of Kurdish origin who is a political prisoner in Turkey).
Participants included: Lia Mills (Chair of Irish PEN/PEN na hÉireann), Catherine Dunne, Celia de Fréine, Kate Ennals, Moyra Donaldson, Evgeny Shtorn, Gianluca Costantini (activist, cartoonist and visual artist), Antje Stehn (Rucksack, A Global Poetry Patchwork), Simone Theiss (Westminster and Bayswater Amnesty International Group) and Letters with wings’ poet members Nandi Jola, Csilla Toldy and Viviana Fiorentino. It was a powerful, inspirational evening and a great privilege to be involved at all.
My contribution was quasi-introductory and was followed by a long line of brilliant insights, ideas and reflections from the other contributors. Look them up and follow them.
There is an account of what I said and read on the Irish PEN/PEN nahÉireann website
(With thanks to the Imagine! Belfast Festival & its production staff: Richard, Emma, Gillian)
Details/Useful sites
Irish PEN/PEN na hÉireann: www.irishpen.com (Website under revision, please be patient. Current campaigns are listed under “News”)
PENWrites: https://www.englishpen.org/pen-writes/
PEN International: https://pen-international.org/
Free the Poet (Ilhan Sami Çomak) https://ilhancomak.com/
Ahmet Altan I Will Never See the World Again (Granta, 2019)
https://pen-international.org/news/turkey-free-ahmet-altan
Eva Gore Booth poem: “Comrades” from Broken Glory. Maunsel, 1918.
Libran Writer (Lia Mills) 
The event yesterday evening was quite stunning – from the wonderful readings, the sense of solidarity to the great work of various campaigns. Thank you for posting your inspiring contribution, Lia. It is great to read it again.
It was great to ‘see’ you there, Shauna. Thanks for supporting us all as you do.