In prison, access to books, the library and cultural activities is often inadequate. At the National Literacy Trust, we believe that everyone should have access to reading for pleasure, which is why, in partnership with the Booker Prize Foundation, we run the project, Books Unlocked, now nearing its 15th year.
The Books Unlocked author visit to HMP Send in January of this year was a brilliant example of how reading can help people to connect with one another even in a challenging environment. Rachel Seiffert, author of The Dark Room, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2001, ran a wonderful workshop that left staff and participants alike moved for weeks after.
Rachel said:
"It was inspiring to be in the company of such passionate readers, all so open to ideas, and to times and places beyond their own experiences. Books open worlds and minds; they allow us to connect with one another - I felt this very powerfully at Send."
The visit
On a sunny January day at the beginning of 2025, members of the criminal justice team, colleagues from the Booker Prize Foundation and acclaimed author Rachel Seiffert travelled to visit the women currently serving sentences in HMP Send, a closed women’s prison in Surrey. The visit was a great success, with more than thirty women taking part.
The criminal justice team supplied the prison with copies of the book for the women to read in the lead up to the event, so each participant brought a personal copy of the book to the session to be signed by the author.
Seiffert read short excerpts from the book and then moved on to a wider discussion that was calm and welcoming, with participants asking her brilliant in-depth questions about family, identity, and the role of place and history in shaping lives, especially in contexts of violence and trauma. She spoke openly about the difficulty of growing up as a half-German child in London and on the importance of acknowledging the mistakes of the past to move on from them.
The session sparked conversations not just between the women and Rachel, but among the participants themselves. One woman shared that she had never picked up a book in prison until her cellmate recommended The Dark Room. She read it in a matter of days, and it reignited her interest in reading; not only was the book encouraging participants to read, but also to connect to one another.
Some quotes from participants at HMP Send:
"A wonderful insight into a wonderful author, so approachable, so interesting"
"Any dialogue about 'books' is so welcome. It is a bleak place made better by books or reading"
"It was so nice to do something that you can do at home - as in 'attend a book signing'"
Hannah Davies, Director of Prizes, Booker Prize Foundation, said:
"This was my first Books Unlocked visit and it was a privilege to see first-hand how great fiction has the power to change the way we think about the world and to enable people to find a point of connection. Rachel Seiffert's visit brought her Booker Prize-shortlisted book The Dark Room alive for the residents of HMP Send. Her warmth and her candidness when talking about how her personal history contributed to the writing of the story enabled a real connection with the women, which was evident in both the group discussion and during the book signing after. Huge thanks to the NLT team who deliver Books Unlocked each year, to Rachel for taking the time to visit, and to her publisher Virago for their support."
About The Dark Room
Rachel Seiffert’s novel was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2001. The novel is an exploration of the legacy of Nazi Germany through the eyes of three ordinary German children and young adults as they struggle to survive or make lives for themselves, while also coming to terms with the guilt and trauma of the holocaust, at varying stages of its aftermath.
The Dark Room is about the people who are left behind when a war is over, and what they can make of the ruins. It proved an extremely rich book for the readers, prompting questions about history and society – a testament to being such a propulsive, enticing read. The Dark Room was made into the film, Lore, in 2012.
About Books Unlocked
Books Unlocked, run by the National Literacy Trust in partnership with the Booker Prize Foundation, donates Booker Prize winning titles to prisons across the country, supporting reading groups in prisons, individual readers and prison librarians. Last year, we reached more than 119 prisons across the country and donated 4,374 books.
We also work with National Prison Radio to broadcast an instalment of a Booker Prize novel every evening, along with facilitating author interviews, with listeners across the country able to request a copy of the book in the post, which we send out personally.
We also arrange author visits to prisons each year, like Rachel's, which demonstrate the impact fiction can have in custodial settings.
More recently, Rachel was also invited to HMP Bronzefield, a women’s prison in Ashford, to discuss The Dark Room. Rachel was an expert in managing the room – letting each participant feel respected and listened to, encouraging a lively discussion around writing, reading as self-care, which books are good or bad, and how to get published.