“Sometimes you just don’t even know where you are going to spend the night...”
Book Launch to be held at The Green Room, Manchester, Wednesday, 17th February, 7pm - Readings and Book Signing
People who have been made destitute by the asylum system belong to one of the most marginalised groups in the UK yet their stories mostly remain unheard. But a new book, to be launched at the Green Room in Manchester on February 17th, has finally given them a voice.
The 13 stories in “Small Rocks” paint a vivid picture of people who have to rely on charities and the generosity of others in order to survive. The collection describes the widespread exploitation which occurs – including people working for £2 an hour (and often not being paid at all) or having to provide sexual favours in return for accommodation.
“Small Rocks” is the result of a collaboration between the North West writers’ organisation Commonword, Community Arts North West’s Exodus project and RAPAR (Refugee and Asylum Seeker Participatory Action Research).
Lydia Besong of RAPAR, who was released from Yarl’s Wood detention centre early in January following a High Court injunction and who has herself written a play about her experience of seeking asylum, worked with Commonword and the authors to produce the collection of stories.
Peter Kalu, of Commonword, says: “The stories in this anthology are stories told in the voice of those arriving fresh to UK shores. And yet they are stories as old as the hills and, if we think about it, they are the stories of each and every one of us.”
Segun Lee-French, of Community Arts North West (CAN), said: “Writing to be published can give someone a sense that, despite the Kafkaesque machinations of the asylum system, despite all the messages telling them that they are worthless, the lives of indigent people have value and meaning.”
Dr Rhetta Moran, of RAPAR, said: “This publication is an achievement for many of those involved simply because to speak out is to reopen old wounds and traumas. We are publishing these stories to raise awareness and to clarify the reality of being made destitute by the British immigration system, to encourage and to challenge the wider communities to act, not as the law but as their consciences determine.”
For more information, please contact: Dr Rhetta Moran, RAPAR