This event explores the creative writings of women who have experienced incarceration. There will be readings from the anthology release, a book of powerful and moving poetry and life-testimony by women in prison, on the theme of self-harm.

Women In Prison is an organisation that supports and campaigns for women offenders and ex-offenders. The organisation assists women with advice on housing, education, mental health, legal rights, work, benefits, debt, domestic violence, and more.

There will be a screening of excerpts from the short documentary, Beautiful Sentence, produced and directed by Suzanne Cohen. The film follows poet Leah Thorn in her work as writer-in-residence in a high security women's prison. Through her workshops we meet a variety of women striving to find a voice through creative writing. Personal histories, emotions and inner conflicts are revealed through their poems and interactions.

Leah Thorn is a spoken word poet. At the heart of her writing is the autobiographical exploration of Jewish identity.Her work is anthologised in England and the States and 'My Amulet', her award-winning short film about English Ashkenazi identity and assimilation, has been shown internationally at Film Festivals. www.leahthorn.com

Farah Damji is a member of Women Moving Forward, the campaigning group of Women in Prison, which advocates for better conditions for incarcerated women and offers post-release resettlement. Leah and Farah met in HMP Bronzefield, when Farah attended one of Leah's workshops and was stunned to find an angel and an oasis in a the innermost pit of hell. Writing about her own experience of self-harming and wanting to do it again helped Farah came to terms with deeper issues.  Farah is currently launching a scheme providing ex-offenders with accommodation and supplemental services which will be launched later this year, information can be found at http://kazuri.org.uk

Laurel is Policy & Campaigns Manager at Women in Prison where she campaigns to end the discrimination women experience in the criminal justice system and to increase understanding of women’s imprisonment as a result of wider societal discrimination.  This role brings together her feminism and her human rights activism.  Laurel previously worked in Geneva lobbying the UN to develop international protection of the rights of women in prison.

Suzanne Cohen originally studied animation production. She wrote/directed 'Ice Cream and Jelly and a Punch in the Belly' for CH4s Formations series, and worked on commercials, short films and title sequences including the BBC programme 'What makes us tick?'. She currently devotes her time to documentaries and was recently based at the British Museum’s Digital Discovery Centre making films with young people. For more info, visit Suzanne's website.

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