Here I Stand
Page 21
In the Western world many of us take our human rights for granted. But our rights are as much part of our proud heritage as our books, music, art and ancient monuments, and they need defending. They are part of our ever-evolving culture and have been crucial to our development beyond the violence and oppression of the Middle Ages.
At the end of WWII, the European Declaration of Human Rights set out a list of basic protections to prevent the horrors of that war from happening again. They were meant to be enduring and timeless, but even now some politicians threaten to take them away.
Human rights come about only through long, hard battles (e.g. “Deeds not Words”, shows the struggle of the suffragettes to gain equal rights for women). There are always individuals, corporations and governments who think they would be better off if we enjoyed fewer rights. Discrimination and bullying happens at home, in schools and in the workplace and it’s all too easy for some rights to be cast aside. Writers and artists are often the first to be thrown into prison by dictatorial regimes, probably because those leaders are afraid of the power of stories and pictures to provoke new ideas and inspire action.
Most of the content of Here I Stand is fiction, but it is rooted in truth. Frances Hardinge’s story about the child accused of being a witch is inspired by the case of Kevani Kanda, who was similarly tortured by her family and church minister and grew up to become a campaigner for children suffering abuse of this kind. Ryan Gattis’s story, “Redemption”, came about after his real-life correspondence with a man on death row. Jackie Kay wrote her three poems after talking to refugees in Scotland.
We hope that at least one of the contributions to this anthology talks directly to you. We hope you’ll feel inspired to stand up and make a difference in your community, school or the wider world. Peaceful protest is, after all, your right.
Nicky Parker, Amnesty International UK
Take Action for Chelsea Manning and Others at Risk
Every day, Amnesty supporters send messages of hope to individuals at risk, as well as appeals to authorities. It works. All these actions can help free a prisoner, stop an execution or help a bereaved family receive justice.
Since Amnesty was founded, in 1961, it has sent millions of letters, emails and faxes. Chelsea Manning is just one of the recipients. This simple action gives people hope and inspiration, letting them know that they have not been forgotten. It also sends a message to the authorities that people around the world are watching what they do.
You can take action on behalf of individuals whose human rights are being violated. Your support really can change someone’s life. Your solidarity can help make the world a better place. For more information, go to:
www.amnesty.org.uk/actions
And do remember that situations change – please check our website for up-to-date information before you take action.
Acknowledgements
Enormous thanks are due to Bindmans LLC in London, especially to Jules Carey and Saimo Chahal, also Tamsin Allen, Gwendolen Morgan, Jamie Potter and Mike Schwarz, who entered into planning this book with such enthusiasm and have been exceptionally generous with their time and advice.
Many of the authors who contributed to this anthology undertook research and sought advice in writing their pieces, and we are very grateful to all who helped them. We thank Daniel Phelps at Carers Trust for his insights into the experience of child carers and also Farhana Yamin Yule for help with the Urdu references in Sita Brahmachari’s story; for generously sharing their knowledge of child sex trafficking we thank Rebecca Clarke, Gareth Russell and Philippa Roberts at Hope for Justice; for their invaluable insights about children accused of being witches we are extremely grateful to Kevani Kanda and Ronke Phillips.
We are, as ever, grateful to our wonderful publisher Walker Books, especially Gill Evans and Emma Lidbury for editorial expertise and for caring about human rights.
Finally, our immense gratitude to all the writers and artists who are part of Here I Stand and have collectively created such an important book. We at Amnesty cannot thank you enough.
Tony Birch was born in Australia into a large family of Aboriginal, West Indian and Irish descent. His upbringing was challenging, and much of this is captured in his adult debut, the semi-autobiographical Shadowboxing. His other novels for adults are Father’s Day, Blood, The Promise and Ghost River. He is currently a Research Fellow in the Moondani Balluk Academic Unit at Victoria University, Melbourne.
John Boyne is the author of fourteen novels and a collection of short stories. His novel The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas has sold more than six million copies worldwide and been made into a feature film. He has won three Irish Book Awards and numerous international literary prizes, and is published in over 45 languages. His most recent book is The Boy at the Top of the Mountain.
Sita Brahmachari’s creative projects with diverse communities are at the heart of her writing. She has been Writer in Residence for Book Trust and Islington Centre for Refugees and Migrants. Her books for young people include Artichoke Hearts, winner of the Waterstone’s Children’s Book Prize, Jasmine Skies, Red Leaves and Kite Spirit, which was selected by Reading Agency as a Book on Prescription.
Kevin Brooks’ first novel, Martyn Pig, was published in 2002, and since then he has gone on to publish a further nineteen novels for children and young adults, and a crime fiction trilogy for adults. His books are published worldwide and have won numerous literary prizes, including the Branford Boase Award and the CILIP Carnegie Medal. A feature film is currently being made of his YA novel iBoy.
Kate Charlesworth has drawn cartoons, strips and illustrations for many publications, including the Guardian, Independent and New Scientist, and more recently has contributed to graphic novels and collections that include Nelson: To End All Wars and IDP: 2043. She co-collaborated with Bryan and Mary Talbot on Sally Heathcote, Suffragette and is currently working on her own graphic memoir.
Sarah Crossan was an English and drama teacher before writing her first novel, The Weight of Water, which was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal and won the Eilís Dillon and UKLA book awards. Her novel Apple and Rain was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal and the FCBG Children’s Book Award and her latest novel, One, won the YA Book Prize and is currently shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal.
Neil Gaiman writes books. Some of them are for adults, like American Gods, and some of them are comics, like the Sandman series, and some of them have pictures, like Fortunately, the Milk or the Chu series. He was awarded the Newbery Medal and the Carnegie Medal for The Graveyard Book, the first novel to ever receive both. Most recently, Neil has written The View from the Cheap Seats, a collection of non-fiction.
Jack Gantos is the author of 49 books for children, ranging from picture books to young adult novels, which include The Love Curse of the Rumbaughs, Desire Lines and Dead End in Norvelt. His works have received a Newbery Medal, a Scott O’Dell Award, a Newbery Honor, a Printz Honor and a Sibert Honor, and he has been a US National Book Award Finalist.
Ryan Gattis is a writer and educator whose most recent book, All Involved, is grounded in two and a half years of research with former Latino gang members, firefighters, nurses and other LA citizens who lived through the 1992 LA riots. Translated into eleven languages, it has been called “a high-octane speedball of a read” by the New York Times and its film rights have been acquired by HBO.
Matt Haig has written novels for adults and children, including The Humans and A Boy Called Christmas, as well as the number one bestselling memoir Reasons to Stay Alive.
Frances Hardinge started writing her first children’s novel, Fly by Night, while working for a software company, and it went on to win the Branford Boase Award. She has now written seven books for children and young adults. Cuckoo Song won the Robert Holdstock Award and was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal; The Lie Tree won Costa Book of the Year and is currently shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal.
Jackie Kay’s critically acclaimed poems and novels
for adults have won a variety of awards, and her children’s book, Red, Cherry Red, won the CLPE Poetry Award. She was awarded an MBE in 2006 for services to literature. She is Chancellor of the University of Salford and Professor of Creative Writing at Newcastle University, and has recently been named Scots Makar – National Poet for Scotland.
A.L. Kennedy is the author of three works of non-fiction and five short story collections, including All the Rage. She won Costa Book of the Year for her novel Day, has twice been selected as one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. She is also a dramatist and broadcaster and has a regular blog with Guardian online.
Liz Kessler worked as a teacher and journalist before writing full time, and has since written sixteen novels for children and young adults. Her Emily Windsnap books have sold over four million copies worldwide, appeared on the New York Times Bestsellers list and been translated into 25 languages. Her first young adult novel, Read Me Like a Book, features a teenage girl coming out as gay.
Elizabeth Laird was born in New Zealand to Scottish parents. She has since lived in Ethiopia, Malaysia, Iraq, Lebanon and Austria, and is now resident in Britain. Elizabeth’s work has been widely translated and won many awards, and she has been shortlisted six times for the Carnegie Medal. Some of her children’s novels are set in Britain, while others tackle modern issues in the Middle East and Africa.
Amy Leon is an actor, poet, singer and Harlem native. She fuses music and poetry through powerfully transparent performances, focusing on social inequalities while simultaneously celebrating love, blackness and what it is to be a woman.
Sabrina Mahfouz has been a Sky Academy Arts Scholar for poetry and a poet in residence for Cape Farewell and is currently writing plays, librettos and for TV. Her creative work has attracted a number of awards, including an Old Vic New Voices Underbelly Edinburgh Award and a Westminster Prize for New Playwrights. Sabrina has published a book of poems and plays entitled The Clean Collection.
Chelsea Manning is an American soldier and whistleblower. She is serving a 35-year sentence in military prison for leaking classified US government documents to the WikiLeaks website, publicly revealing that the US Army, the CIA and Iraqi and Afghan forces committed human rights violations. Amnesty International is campaigning for her release.
Born in 1991 in Lagos, Nigeria, Chibundu Onuzo started writing novels and short stories at the age of ten, and less than a decade later became the youngest woman ever to be signed by Faber and Faber. Her debut novel, The Spider King’s Daughter, won a Betty Trask Award and was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Prize. Her second novel, Welcome to Lagos, will be out in 2017.
Bali Rai is the multi-award-winning author of over 30 young adult, teen and children’s books. His writing pushes boundaries and has made him extremely popular on the school events circuit across the world, and two of his books are recommended reads for KS3 and GCSE. He wrote his first novel, (un)arranged marriage, while managing a city centre bar in his native Leicester.
Chris Riddell has collaborated with a number of authors, including Paul Stewart, Neil Gaiman and Michael Rosen, and won many illustration awards, including the Kate Greenaway Medal (twice). He wrote and illustrated the highly acclaimed Ottoline titles and the award-winning Goth Girl, and in 2015 he was appointed Children’s Laureate in recognition of his outstanding achievements in children’s books.
Dr Mary Talbot is an internationally acclaimed scholar of gender and language who now writes graphic novels. Her first, Dotter of Her Father’s Eyes (with Bryan Talbot), won the 2012 Costa Biography Award. Her second, Sally Heathcote, Suffragette, came out in 2014 and her third, The Red Virgin and the Vision of Utopia, was published in 2016.
Bryan Talbot has written and drawn comics and graphic novels for over 30 years, including Judge Dredd, Batman, Sandman, The Adventures of Luther Arkwright, The Tale of One Bad Rat, Heart of Empire, Alice in Sunderland, Dotter of Her Father’s Eyes (written by Mary Talbot) and his current series of steampunk detective thrillers, Grandville.
Christie Watson won the Costa First Novel Award for Tiny Sunbirds Far Away, which, along with her second novel, Where Women Are Kings, was widely translated and received international critical acclaim. She is currently working on a novel for young adults about a future with no NHS.
Tim Wynne-Jones is the author of numerous YA novels, most recently The Emperor of Any Place. He also wrote Blink & Caution, winner of a Boston Globe–Horn Book Award and the Arthur Ellis Award; and The Uninvited, shortlisted for the Arthur Ellis Award. In 2012 he was named an Officer of the Order of Canada for his services to literature.
Stand Up for Human Rights
Every one of us can make a difference by standing up for ourselves and others. If you’re under 18, live in the UK and are keen to take action on human rights, you can find out how to join our network of Amnesty youth groups – or how to start a youth group – at www.amnesty.org.uk/youth
If you are a teacher, take a look at Amnesty’s many free resources for schools, including our “Using Fiction to Teach About Human Rights” classroom notes on Here I Stand and other novels, at www.amnesty.org.uk/education
Amnesty International UK, The Human Rights Action Centre, 17–15 New Inn Yard, London EC2A 3EA
Tel: 020 7033 1500; Email: hre@amnesty.org.uk
www.amnesty.org.uk
Wherever you are in the world, you can stand up for human rights:
Amnesty International Australia (www.amnesty.org.au)
Amnesty International New Zealand (www.amnesty.org.nz)
Join the conversation online:
#HereIStand
@AmnestyUK
@WalkerBooksUK
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or, if real, are used fictitiously. All statements, activities, stunts, descriptions, information and material of any other kind contained herein are included for entertainment purposes only and should not be relied on for accuracy or replicated, as they may result in injury.
This collection first published 2016 by Walker Books Ltd
87 Vauxhall Walk, London SE11 5HJ
Compilation © 2016 Amnesty International UK
“Harmless Joe” © 2016 Tony Birch; “Harvester Road” © 2016 John Boyne “Stay Home” © 2016 Sita Brahmachari; “Barley Wine” © 2016 Kevin Brooks “Deeds Not Words” © 2016 Bryan Talbot, Mary Talbot, Kate Charlesworth “Sludge” © 2016 Sarah Crossan; “I Believe…” © 2015 Neil Gaiman, Chris Riddell“A Suicide Bomber Sits in the Library” © 2016 Jack Gantos “Redemption” © 2016 Ryan Gattis; “The Invention of Peanut Butter (And Why It Caused Problems)” © 2016 Matt Haig; “Bystander” © 2016 Frances Hardinge “Glasgow Snow”, “Push the Week”, “Constant” © 2015 Jackie Kay “What I Remember About Her” © 2016 A.L. Kennedy; “Love Is a Word, Not a Sentence” © 2016 Liz Kessler; “School of Life” © 2016 Elizabeth Laird “Darling”, “Black/White” © 2016 Amy Leon; “When the Corridors Echo” © 2016 Sabrina Mahfouz; “Speaking Out for Freedom” © 2016 Chelsea Manning “Dulce et Decorum Est” © 2016 Chibundu Onuzo; “The Colour of Humanity” © 2016 Bali Rai; “The Importance of Screams” © 2016 Christie Watson “Robot Killers” © 2016 Tim Wynne-Jones
Cover art and in
terior typography © 2016 Chris Riddell
The right of the above listed to be identified as authors of this work has
been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, taping and recording, without prior written permission from the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data:
a catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-4063-7058-4 (ePub)
www.walker.co.uk