Another Sky: voices of conscience from around the world Edited by Lucy Popescu and Carole Seymour-Jones, with a foreword by Tom Stoppard Profile Books, 276pp, £8.99 ISBN 1861978405
Another Sky offers an insight into some of the world’s darkest regimes, and the minds of those who dare to oppose them. As writers and journalists are persistently imprisoned, tortured and exiled for refusing to be censored, this collection celebrates the supportive role of the writers’ association International PEN.
The assortment of poems, essays, diaries and letters reveals the solitude that comes with imprisonment. Captives draw strength from the strangest things: a Cuban dissident is comforted by a spider, while a Peruvian recounts a visit from a stray dog. Other writers experience premonitions of their own death while in prison.
After spending 12 and a half years in jail for helping to set up the Liberal Democratic Party of China, Liu Jinsheng echoes the hope that PEN can provide: “I believe prison can only deprive our body of freedom, but it cannot help but give us more space to think freely, as well as more time to think about the meaning of life and the personal missions of our lives.” With many of the contributors murdered for their cause and others still imprisoned, this chilling collection is both relevant and urgent.
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