The Free Word Centre is an international centre promoting literature, literacy and free expression, based in Farringdon, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. It is funded by the Arts council

Arts council

An arts council is a government or private, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the arts mainly by funding local artists, awarding prizes, and organizing events at home and abroad...

 and its director is Rose Fenton. It opened in June 2009 and hosts ten resident organisations including ARTICLE 19

ARTICLE 19

ARTICLE 19 is a London-based human rights organisation with a specific mandate and focus on the defence and promotion of freedom of expression and freedom of information worldwide...

, English PEN and Index on Censorship

Index on Censorship

Index on Censorship is a campaigning publishing organisation for freedom of expression, which produces an award-winning quarterly magazine of the same name from London. The present chief executive of Index on Censorship, since 2008, is the author, broadcaster and commentator John Kampfner, former...

. The was officially launched on 16 September 2009.

History

The idea for Free Word emerged in 2004, when literature and free expression organisations met to discuss ways of working together. Eight founder organisations, the project director Ursula Owen

Ursula Owen

Ursula Margaret Sachs is a publisher, editor and campaigner for free expression.-Early life:She was born Ursula Margaret Sachs in Oxford, England, to Emma Boehm and Werner Sachs, a chemical engineer who became managing director of a multinational company dealing with non ferrous metals...

 and project managers Virginia Barry and Penny Mayes worked together over several years. In 2007 Fritt Ord, a Norwegian foundation, was persuaded by their vision and purchased the former newsroom and archive building of The Guardian

The Guardian

The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

 newspaper in Farringdon Road

Farringdon Road

Farringdon Road is a road in Clerkenwell, Central London. Its construction, which took almost 20 years between the 1840s and the 1860s, is considered one of the greatest urban engineering achievements of the nineteenth century...

 for Free Word.

Residents

The following ten organisations have a residence in the Free Word Centre:

• Apples & Snakes
• ARTICLE 19
  ARTICLE 19
  ARTICLE 19 is a London-based human rights organisation with a specific mandate and focus on the defence and promotion of freedom of expression and freedom of information worldwide...
  
  
• The Arvon Foundation
  Arvon Foundation
  The Arvon Foundation is a charitable organisation in the United Kingdom which promotes creative writing. It is based in the Free Word Centre for literature, literacy and free expression in London.-History:...
  
  
• Booktrust
• Dalkey Archive Press
  Dalkey Archive Press
  Dalkey Archive Press is a publisher of fiction, poetry, and literary criticism in Illinois in the United States, specializing in the publication or republication of lesser known, often avant-garde works...
  
  
• English PEN
• Free Word
• Index on Censorship
  Index on Censorship
  Index on Censorship is a campaigning publishing organisation for freedom of expression, which produces an award-winning quarterly magazine of the same name from London. The present chief executive of Index on Censorship, since 2008, is the author, broadcaster and commentator John Kampfner, former...
  
  
• The Literary Consultancy
• The Reading Agency
  The Reading Agency
  The Reading Agency is an independent charity in the United Kingdom. Registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales, its purpose is to help children, young people and adults across the UK feel inspired and confident about reading. It is a library development agency that creates greater...
  
  
• JNews