Just before he left Freetown for Nairo, Kenya via Nigeria to attend a conference of the African Publishers Network, I caught up with him to ask him about his work for Sierra Leone's PEN centre, and the developments that led to the centre's founding.

Q: Mike, you returned to Sierra Leone from the UK midway through the civil war and established a PEN centre there. (PEN is an international not-for-profit organisation aimed at supporting writers worldwide and operating as a channel between writers from across the globe. It also works for writers imprisoned for political reasons.) What drove you to do this?

A: Sierra Leone PEN was established to rekindle a lost culture of literature, writing and reading in Sierra Leone. Even before the war, it was difficult to find and read new literature, apart from that published immediately after independence. Most professional native writers were and still are abroad.

Q: So what purpose does the centre serve. How does its operation help with this cultural rekindling?

A: The centre is a public resource centre for writers, literature and the promotion of the importance of education. It is a membership outfit although open to and used by non-members. Members have special facilities and preferential treatment. We loan selected books to members. All the books at the centre have so far come through donations. We want to charge for this library service, but not yet.

Q: The Centre also produces PenPoint, a literature-focused newsletter. With no publishers and few facilities, can you explain how this is achieved?

A: PenPoint comes out every three months. It is produced in-house by PEN members. The most difficult part is sustaining it on a regular basis. Buying ink and collecting the materials involves travelling, and all facets of the production cost money. The availability of electricity is another problem. The supply of electricity sn't as regular as we could hope. Another task is distribution. We have so far been able to sustain our publication schedule. And the newsletter is well-received. As well as featuring work of local writers and more established Sierra Leoneans abroad, along with the centre's news, PenPoint reports on our schools' projects and has featured work from students.

Q: Coming up for two years on from Caryl Phillips' eye-opening article for the Guardian, how has the centre progressed?

A: We still have a three-room office space in the centre of Freetown; but this year we took a front seat role in organising the first National Book Week programme in the country in May; we launched the Book of Voices in collaboration with the publishers Flame Books. The London launch for the book was attended by me and PEN member and contributor Brian James, whose trip was sponsored by the British Council. The centre made several donations of books to Sierra Leonean schools as prizes for English and Literature. One of the five PEN school clubs organised a poetry reading session in collaboration with the centre on campus in June. 20 poets from various schools read their poems and were all given gifts from the centre. The PEN Executive Secretary was the guest speaker.

Perhaps most importantly, Sierra Leone PEN is now recognised by the government and other key institutions as a stakeholder in literary matters of national concern. We are always receiving invitations to international literary programmes.

The British Council and the U.S. embassy are among our local partners. The new British Council director, Tom Walsh and the Public Affair director of the U.S. embassy visited our centre in July.

And I am heading off to attend the African Publishers Network (APNET) General council meeting in Nairobi, Kenya July 26.

Q: How is the general feeling in Freetown with the war behind the country? Many people's perceptions of Sierra Leone will still be of a country wracked by war and drug-fed child soldiers. Can you dispel this imagery?

A: The most important development for the country is the prevalence of peace all over. The guns have been silent since 2002. This has prompted many development activities all over. There are lots of international organisations still here working both with the government and with civil society groups. Investment in the private and public sector is also on the rise. Diamond export hit £75m so far this year.

However, poverty abounds as corruption continues to flourish within government and the public sector. The cost of goods and services continue to soar, with even basic commodities like rice, the staple food here, exorbitantly high. Most families cannot afford a bag of rice. And there's this ever-present situation with electricity. This naturally affects writers, even if they are lucky enough to have access to a computer, and makes life in general more difficult than it ought to be.

Q: You mentioned the problem with government and economic corruption. Is there room for journalism within the country?

A: The are about 60 registered newspapers, eight of them come out regularly. The literacy rate is just under 30 percent. The papers are mainly 12 pages loaded with adverts and commentaries. There is extensive room for improvement regarding the quality of newspapers, both in terms of content and circulation. Due to current necessity, nearly all the papers are Freetown based. It is difficult for Sierra Leonean writers resident in the UK to make a serious impact abroad without travelling.

These problems aside, I am confident, undeterred and positive that the financial fortunes of the PEN centre will continue to improve as long as we keep making the sacrificial efforts to promote what we do and educate the government and the public about the essence of the centre.

We have made considerable impact nationally but we still have to do more. We are also hopeful that our supporters abroad can give us realistic support to get us on our feet. Eventually, we want to be independent in terms of funding, we want to be self-sustaining. We have the know-how and the operational infrastructure. All we need is a big financial push and we're there.

Sierra Leone PEN gratefully receives all contact and donations from its international cousins. You can email the centre at sierraleonepen@yahoo.co.uk or write in the more traditional manner to:

SIERRA LEONE PEN CENTRE
14a WALLACE-JOHNSON STREET
FREETOWN
SIERRA LEONE

The postal service is reliable.

Alternatively you can telephone the centre via the following numbers:

07666-5556
07665-1584
07662-8345

The Book of Voices, edited by Mike Butscher, is available from Flame Books. A proportion of proceeds from sales of the book will go directly to the centre.

Neil Ayres was born in East London in 1979. He left school with a handful of GCSEs when he was 16 and has worked at times (and in no particular order) as a warehouseman, a cattery hand, a copy-shop assistant, a barman, a professional dog trainer and a cheap alternative to a computer database. He currently works in publishing. He lives on the Surrey/Sussex border in a house without a resident cat, though if there was one it could live without fear of being swung, as there’s not enough room to do such a thing. Neil was project manager for the ‘Book of Voices,’ published by Flame Books in March 2005 in an attempt to raise awareness of the work of the Sierra Leone office of International PEN. Neil is also a member of Godisin, the first TTA writers’ workshop. To read Neil’s story, ‘Changeling’ on the Showcase section of this site, click here or for more reviews by Neil, visit The New Review index here.

© 2005 Laura Hird All rights reserved.