About the Event
Pigeonholed: Creative Freedom as an Act of Resistance
‘Responsible but not beholden; substantial as well as symbolic; sympathetic but not pandering; political but not proscriptive: there’s not an awful lot of wiggle room there but it’s the space in which I feel I need to both operate and expand.’
In this incisive and moving personal lecture, one of the nation’s leading political voices explores what has been termed as the ‘burden of representation’. Younge analyses the pressures exerted upon the relatively small group of people from underrepresented communities who break through into elite spaces and the expectations that may come from above, below, within and outwith, from those with power and those without. These are issues that have framed, frustrated, inspired and inflected his entire working life as a writer. Sharing his experiences, Younge offers reflections on how to navigate representation, power and responsibility whilst keeping your job, your sanity and your freedom both as a human being and as a writer. Gary Younge will be introduced by broadcaster, historian, and bestselling author Emma Dabiri.
Launched in 2025 to mark the tenth anniversary of the Faber Members programme, the Faber Lecture provides an invited author with a platform to explore essential ideas that are at the intersection of creativity and culture. The Lecture will be published in booklet form on the day it is delivered and will be available for purchase at the event and via the Faber website. A second reading of the lecture will take place in Manchester in the autumn. Details will be announced in due course.
Copies of Pigeonholed can be pre-ordered with a ticket here.
Emma Dabiri FRSL is a broadcaster, historian, and bestselling author. Her work often delves in to the complexities of identity, culture, and race through art, history, current affairs. Emma’s latest book Disobedient Bodies: Reclaim Your Unruly Beauty, has been praised as ‘an incisive, radical essay offering empowering alternatives to the pressures of pervasive beauty standards’.
In 2021 Emma released What White People Can Do Next: From Allyship to Coalition which was an immediate Times and Sunday Times bestseller. It followed on from her debut work Don’t Touch My Hair which was an Irish Times bestseller, inspiring a national conversation about race and hair and has led to changing regulations in schools and in the British army. Emma is also a trustee of The Hugh Lane Gallery.
What to Expect
- This event is taking place at Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion St, London WC1R 4RL.
- Please note that tickets must be booked in advance - we are not able to sell tickets on the door.
- The nearest underground station is Holborn (Central and Piccadilly lines).
- Age guidance: this event is suitable for ages 16+.
- The ground floor of Conway Hall is fully accessible by wheelchair and has step-free street access. Due to the age and Grade II listing of the building, there is no lift access to rooms above the ground floor. Please let us know in advance if you have specific access needs for this event by emailing [email protected]
- Ticket buyers requiring assistance at the event can get a free ticket for a carer by emailing [email protected]
- Conway Hall has unallocated seating.
- Doors will open at 6.45 p.m.
- Drinks will be available to purchase by card payment only.
- There will be a bookshop open with signed books available by card payment only.
- A concessionary rate of £5 off tickets is available for anyone who is a student, unemployed, low-waged, low-pensioned or who considers the cost of the event a barrier to attending. Use code Concession5 in the promo box in the checkout.
- This is a ticketless event - there will be a guest list with your name and the number of tickets you have bought.
About the Author
Gary Younge is an award-winning author, broadcaster and professor of sociology at the University of Manchester. Formerly a columnist and an editor-at-large at the Guardian, he is an editorial board member of The Nation magazine. He is the author of five books, including Another Day in the Death of America (shortlisted for the Orwell Prize and the Jhalak Prize); his writing has appeared in Granta, the New York Times, the Financial Times, GQ, the New Statesman and beyond, and he has made several radio and television documentaries on subjects ranging from gay marriage to Brexit. Younge received the 2024 Orwell Prize for Journalism. In 2025 he received the prestigious Robert B. Silvers Award in recognition of his exceptional contribution to the field of journalism. He lives in London.
@garyyounge
www.garyyounge.com
About the Author
