Authors on Refugee Rights: Imagining a Fair and Just UK System

English PEN and The Conduit bring together a panel of authors to explore how we can imagine and enact fair and just structures for refugees in the UK.

‘Imagine that you could create the systems and structures of the world, and allocate all its resources, before you knew which body you’d be born into. What kind of a world would you create?’

During the Illegal Migration Act’s passage through the UK parliament in 2023, author Dina Nayeri asked this question, using Rawls’s ‘original position’, in a piece commissioned by English PEN and Counterpoints Arts, as part of a series in which writers who had come to the UK as refugees responded to the draft legislation.

Two years on from the passing of the Act, and with anti-immigration rhetoric, policy and violence increasing in the UK, this event invites authors and audience members to explore collaboratively how we can imagine – and enact – fair and just structures for refugees in the UK.

Event Schedule

6:00pm: Pre-event socialising and networking

A cash bar will be available for refreshments.

6:30pm: Event begins

8:00pm: Event ends

Attendance is restricted to Conduit members

Please note that this event will be recorded and photographed. By attending this event, you consent to being photographed, filmed and recorded (“Recordings”). You further consent to The Conduit, and its assigns’ use of your name and your appearance and voice as captured by these Recordings, in any and all media, worldwide, for any purpose in connection with this event, including promotion of this event.

Conduit Member registration

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