Free Word was an international centre for literature, literacy and free expression based at 60

Farringdon Road Farringdon Road is a road in Clerkenwell, London. Route Farringdon Road is part of the A201 route connecting King's Cross to Elephant and Castle. It goes southeast from King's Cross, crossing Rosebery Avenue, then turns south, crossing C ...

Clerkenwell, London Clerkenwell () is an area of central London, England. Clerkenwell was an ancient parish from the mediaeval period onwards, and now forms the south-western part of the London Borough of Islington. The well after which it was named was redisco ...

. It developed local, national and international collaborations that explored the transformative power of words. Free Word was a charity. It relied on the generosity of supporters and its core funders

Arts Council England Arts Council England is an arm's length non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is also a registered charity. It was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council of Great Britain was divided into three s ...

and Fritt Ord, as well as income from hiring out its space. Following the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

in April 2021, Fritt Ord confirmed its intention to sell the Farringdon building. The building was closed and its resident organisations vacated by May 2021. Following the loss of its venue, the organisation announced its closure on 27 May 2021.

History

The idea for Free Word emerged in 2004, when literature and free expression organisations met to discuss ways of working together. Eight founder organisations, the project director

Ursula Owen Ursula Margaret Owen Hon FRSL (born 21 January 1937) is an English publisher, editor and campaigner for free expression. Early life She was born Ursula Margaret Sachs in Oxford, England, to Emma Boehm and Werner Sachs, a chemical engineer wh ...

and project managers Virginia Barry and Penny Mayes worked together over several years. In 2007 Fritt Ord, a Norwegian foundation, was persuaded by their vision and purchased the former newsroom and archive building of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' newspaper in

for Free Word. Free Word Centre opened in June 2009 and hosted seve
Resident organisations
including ARTICLE 19,

English PEN Founded in 1921, English PEN is one of the world's first non-governmental organisations and among the first international bodies advocating for human rights. English PEN was the founding centre of PEN International, a worldwide writers' associati ...

, Arvon, Apples and Snakes, The Literary Consultancy and The Reading Agency. As well as providing office space for its residents, it hosted a programme of public events.

Former Residents

The following seven organisations were residents at Free Word Centre prior to its closure: *

Apples & Snakes Apples and Snakes, based at the Albany Theatre in Deptford, south-east London, is an organisation for performance poetry and the spoken word in England. It has been described as the main organisation promoting performance poetry in Britain. Se ...

* ARTICLE 19 * The Arvon Foundation * Booktrust *

The Literary Consultancy The Literary Consultancy (TLC) is a UK-based editorial consultancy service that was founded in 1996, becoming the first service of its kind to offer "professional, in-depth editorial advice and assessment to anyone writing in the English languag ...

The Reading Agency The Reading Agency is a charity registered in England and Wales which promotes the benefits of reading among children and adults in UK, working with partners including public libraries, colleges and prisons. Operations Sue Wilkinson served as t ...

References

External links

Free Word Centre's homepage
* {{Authority control Cultural charities based in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 2009 2009 establishments in England