04 Oct 08

Job & Reading

I just returned from Harley Street, London where I met the owner of a counselling and education services company. He offered me a job travelling around England speaking to thousands of young people about my life experiences in the hope of alerting them to the dangers of drug use. This is a good karma thing to do, so I am going for it.
He said the average age of the audience is 17 (almost at the age when I popped my first Ecstasy pill), and the average audience size is 150. I will be speaking for an hour total per presentation, divided into 40 minutes about my life, and then a 20-minute question and answer session. He wants the 40 minutes about my life divided into three sections: the events that led up to my crimes, what I actually did, and what the consequences were.
So if all goes well, the youth of England will soon be hearing about Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s red death, green bologna, pink boxer shorts, and las cucarachas. Having this blog will help because they’ll be able to check out Jon’s Jail Journal for themselves, which should further hammer the message home.

I shall be returning to London on the 20th of October to do my first reading. I am a guest at the Koestler Exhibition in the Southbank Centre Royal Festival Hall. I shall be reading some of my story “Amazing Grace,” which won first prize in the Koestler/Hamish Hamilton awards short story fiction category.
Admission is free. Here’s the specific information:


Monday 20 October 7:30 – 9:30pm
Blue Room, Spirit Level
Southbank Centre Royal Festival Hall
Belvedere Road
London SE1 8XX
Switchboard: +44 (0)871 663 2501
Ticket Office: +44 (0)871 663 2500

Poetry and fiction by offenders. Reading by Koestler Award judges and Not Shut Up, a magazine of writing from London prisons. Admission free. No ticket required.

I don’t yet know the exact time I’ll be doing my reading, but I will post further information when it becomes available.

Email comments to writeinside@hotmail.com or post them below

Shaun P. Attwood