A one-day forum to launch Refugee Tales 2016 will take place at the University's Canterbury campus on Sunday 3 July, 10am-8pm.
Organised by Gatwick Detainees Welfare Group and Kent’s School of English, the forum will explore how the issue of detention touches on wider human themes and the ways in which the practice of indefinite detention can be brought to an end.
Speakers will include those who have experienced indefinite immigration detention in the UK, support workers, campaigners, writers, academics, journalists and policy makers.
Confirmed speakers include: writers Ali Smith, David Herd, Marina Warner and Ben Okri; journalist Patrick Kingsley; and Shami Chakrabarti, Director of Liberty 2003-16.
Titled ‘Being Detained Indefinitely: A Day of Thought, Performance and Action’, the forum will also explore the human and political implications of indefinite immigration detention, and will show how the act of storytelling and listening to stories is crucial to a change of view.
The ideas articulated during the day will become the basis for discussion as Refugee Tales 2016 moves north from Kent towards Westminster, making the event the first stage of a travelling forum.
Refugee Tales 2016 (3-8 July) will involve a five day walk (Monday to Friday) from Canterbury to Westminster, during which some of the UK’s leading writers will reflect on the long and perilous journeys that many refugees make fleeing war and persecution, and in seeking a safe place to live. At every stop on the journey the writers will help tell the tales of refugees, asylum seekers and former immigration detainees, as well as the stories of those who work with them.
The walk will conclude with a special guest event at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) on The Mall in London on Friday 8 July (tickets will be available from the ICA soon).
Further information and booking details on the one-day forum can be found on the Refugee Tales website.