Mumbai, Kabul, Cairo, Amman, Gdansk, The Hague and New York are some of the cities organising Music Freedom Day this year - a day that will also see the release of the Freemuse CD ‘Listen To The Banned' and a hand-over of the petition for the release of imprisoned singer Lapiro de Mbanga to the Embassy of Cameroon in Paris.

In collaboration with Mondomix and Vigier Guitars, Freemuse will visit the Embassy of Cameroon in the French capital to hand over more than three thousands protests from all corners of the world.

December 9th is a very different school day in Tuscany. Trains and buses are bringing youngsters from the entire region into Florence for a whole day's Nelson Mandela Forum. The forum is an annual event organized by the Region of Tuscany and Oxfam Italy, this the 14th forum has "Freedom of expression" as its main theme.

ICORN member region Tuscany

Having had the status as Region of Refuge since the nineties, Tuscany has emphasized its ICORN membership when preparing for the big forum. Hence, among officials, artists, musicians and film makers, the ICORN writers Mansur Rajih (Yemen/Stavanger) and Philo Ikonya (Kenya/Oslo) are invited to perform for the crowd of young Tuscans.

ICORN chapter in official "Freedom of Idea" book

ICORN has also been involved with inputs to a 300 pages "Freedom of Ideas" book all Mandela Forum participants are offered to read preparing for the big event. Former Norwegian PEN president and city of refuge pioneer Kjell Olaf Jensen presents the text "How Norway became a country of safe havens for persecuted writers" with a foreword by Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs Jonas Gahr Støre.

During the ICORN meeting the participant will be able to attend several interesting and inspiring sessions. The meeting will take place at the major KVS theatre, together with PEN International's Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC) and Halma, a network of 26 literary centres in Europe. Additional to the separate ICORN sessions, we are cooperating with WiPC and Halma on workshops and common opening event, to make the programme even more exciting and fruitful.

In addition to an exciting programme the meeting will coincide with The Passa Porta International Literature Festival (festival theme: “On the move”) and our guests will therefor have the opportunity to attend festival events.

Do you wish to attend the Network meeting and need more information? Do you have any questions regarding the meeting? Please contact ICORN. 
Please note that we need your registration by 19 January 2011.

PROGRAMME (provisional)

Thursday 24 March
19.00 ICORN Welcome dinner
21.00 Forbidden books Passa Porta festival public event

Friday 25 March

09.30 Official opening event. Halma, WiPC and ICORN.
11.00 Session 1: ICORN and Europe
Convening in the Capital of Europe, we are inviting partners like ECRE and representatives from European Parliament and the European Commission to discuss vital issues like access, immigration, emergency visa etc, and explore potentials for future support and cooperation.
13.00 Lunch
14.30 Session 2: Participation and Promotion
This will be a session dedicated to exchange of ideas and experiences between the ICORN member cities. How are the cities working with their writers, what works, what doesn’t? How are member cities cooperating, what kind of projects are in planning, which should be invented? 
17.30 Reception in the Town Hall by invitation of the Lord Mayor of Brussels (w/ WiPC and Halma)
20.00 Letters to Europe Major Passa Porta festival event at Theatre de La Monnaie.

Saturday 26 March

09:30 Session 3: Protection, future challenges and expectations
How do we receive a persecuted writer? How should the ICORN member cities be prepared for the challenges and possibilities the arrival of an ICORN guest writer is representing? How can the writers be successfully integrated in their host city, and how do writers, member cities and the organisation deal with what happens after the ICORN placement period is over?
12:00 Lunch
13:30 Workshop session
Together with Halma and WiPC we are presenting five intensive and workshops for our guests to choose among: "Visa and migration", “Translation and publication”, “Mobility and creativity”, “Working with the EU”, and “Freedom of Expression”
16:00 Plenary session, summing up, looking forward
18:30 Dinner
20:00 Major Passa Porta Festival event at the Bozar theatre.

BBW begins Sept. 25, but this event will take place on Sept. 15, 8 pm, at the Gables Store, and will also feature the unveiling of the store's display of censored books.

BBW is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment. Held during the last week of September, Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States.

Ola Larsmo, who delivered ICORN's lecture at the Kapittel Festival for Literature and Freedom of Speech in September, will participate in the first event.  The 27 October workshop also will present the anthology that developed out of the Spring workshops, called Språkets Hus, or 'The Language's House.'

Språkets Hus features writing from 62 authors in the Uppsala region. Directly following the final workshop on 1 December the Winter Literary Festival will take place. For more information, visit www.uppsala.se/bibliotek.

The event will include performances by ICORN writers Seedy Bojang, Noufel Bouzeboudja and Tendai Tagarira in addition to a number of other artists.

Fredriksberg City of Refuge celebrates their ICORN guest writer Seedy Bojang by inviting to a large event on freedom of expression. Friby, frihed og Fredriksberg will take place at the Betty Nanse Theatre in Fredriksberg Allé 57 June 21st at 8 pm. In addition to the three ICORN guest writers Seedy Bojang, Noufel Bouzeboudja and Tendai Tagarira the evening will include performance, readings, music, dance and debate. The event is free of charge and open for all.

Together with key organisations working for artists right to free speech, like PEN, Freemuse and Reporters Without Borders, ICORN guest writers are invited participate in a row of debates and discussions on the conditions of freedom of expression. Among them are current guest writers, Turkish publisher, Ragip Zarakolu, and Sedigheh Vasmaghi, poet from Iran and guest writer in Uppsala.

Invited guests will discuss the global state of freedom of speech. During the two days of the conference, presentations and panel discussions will be held that are open to the general public on topics such as:

• How free is the free word?
• Religion – a source of conflict or a path to increased dialogue and freedom of expression?
• The exile's opportunities.
• Technology – threat or opportunity?
• Initiatives that strengthen freedom of speech.

ICORN Programme Director, Elisabeth Dyvik, will have a discussion with previous ICORN guest writer in Trondheim Asieh Amini, Norway and Khaled Harara, musician and ICORN guest writer in Göteborg about “Living in Exile-New Opportunities?”

Freedom of artistic expression and creation - UN Report
During the conference, the UN report The right to freedom of artistic expression and creativity will be presented. Read more:

ICORN participates in meeting on UN special report “The rights to freedom of artistic expression and creation”

Arts–Rights–Justice Working Group presents UN special report and demands at the European Parliament 2 October

The conference
The initiative for the conference was taken by PhD Sedigheh Vasmaghi, lawyer, theologian and poet from Iran and current City of Refuge Author scholarship holder in the Municipality of Uppsala.

The freedom of speech conference is part of Peace Year 2014 - when the City of Uppsala marks Sweden’s 200 years of peace. It is organised by Cultural Board of the City of Uppsala, with support from the Swedish Arts Council, World Class Uppsala and Uppsala Konsert & Kongress.

The conference is aimed at representatives of international cities of refuge programmes for threatened artists and organisations that support work on human rights and freedom of speach and expression, as well as interested members of the public.

Uppsala City of Refuge

The municipality of Uppsala has been a member of ICORN since 2008. Uppsala City of Refuge has not only played a part in strengthening freedom of expression in the world but has also had great significance for the local cultural life, revitalizing the field of literature, says Eva Edwardsson of the Uppsala Cultural Committee.