Koestler Voices: New Poetry from Prisons – Vol. 5
£12.00
Poetry is one of the biggest categories in the annual Koestler Awards for arts in the criminal justice system, receiving nearly 1000 entries a year. While art materials can be difficult to get hold of in prison, everyone is entitled to paper and something to write with.
Koestler Voices: New Poetry from Prisons Vol. 5 presents some of the top award-winning poetry from the 2024 and 2025 Koestler Awards written by people in the criminal justice system, edited for the first time by a poet with lived experience of the criminal justice system, Lady Unchained. Lady Unchained is a poet, facilitator and mentor, award-winning broadcaster and host for National Prison Radio, founder and creative director of Becoming Unchained, an artistic mentoring programme for artists with lived experience of the criminal justice system.
The fifth volume features a foreword by poet, performer and playwright Inua Ellams; author of numerous plays including Barber Shop Chronicles, recipient of an MBE for Services To The Arts in 2023, and curator of Night Owls and Abstractions, the 2025 Koestler Arts National Exhibition at the Southbank Centre, London.
‘Read where they lead you and feel where they take you.’
– Inua Ellams
‘Poetry has changed my life in the most incredible way … Being asked to edit this anthology is another chance to show what creativity can help you achieve after prison.’
– Lady Unchained, editor
Paperback, 96 pages
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In stock
Description
Poetry is one of the biggest categories in the annual Koestler Awards for arts in the criminal justice system, receiving nearly 1000 entries a year. While art materials can be difficult to get hold of in prison, everyone is entitled to paper and something to write with.
Koestler Voices: New Poetry from Prisons Vol. 5 presents some of the top award-winning poetry from the 2024 and 2025 Koestler Awards written by people in the criminal justice system, edited for the first time by a poet with lived experience of the criminal justice system, Lady Unchained. Lady Unchained is a poet, facilitator and mentor, award-winning broadcaster and host for National Prison Radio, founder and creative director of Becoming Unchained, an artistic mentoring programme for artists with lived experience of the criminal justice system.
The fifth volume features a foreword by poet, performer and playwright Inua Ellams; author of numerous plays including Barber Shop Chronicles, recipient of an MBE for Services To The Arts in 2023, and curator of Night Owls and Abstractions, the 2025 Koestler Arts National Exhibition at the Southbank Centre, London.
We are grateful to all the generous donors who supported the crowdfunder to bring the fifth volume of Koestler Voices to life. We also extend our sincere thanks to the T. S. Eliot Foundation for their continued support, which has been instrumental in sustaining this important anthology series.
Paperback, 96 pages
Price
£12.00
