Professor of Modern Literature, David Herd, recites passage from Refugee Tales in recent podcast episode of ‘On the road with Penguin Classics‘, hosted by host, Henry Eliot.
On the Road with Penguin Classics shares: “The poet and performer Patience Agbabi, author of Telling Tales (2014), makes a pilgrimage from Southwark to Canterbury with Henry. They discuss The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer as they travel by train, stopping off at Dartford and Rochester, covering Chaucer’s life and times, poetry and pilgrims, including the Knight, the Miller, the Wife of Bath and the Pardoner. In Canterbury they meet David Herd, co-founder of Refugee Tales, an annual public walk that raises awareness around indefinite immigration detention.”
On reciting a passage as part of this episode, David notes, “It says a lot about Canterbury as a literary centre that Penguin Classic Podcasts should visit. Obviously it was also very pleasing to be invited to read from The Prologue to Refugee Tales as part of the broadcast.”
With books, walks and gatherings, Refugee Tales gives a voice to asylum seekers and refugees in the UK. Refugee Tales is an unusual project that has been challenging the UK policy of indefinite immigration detention. Drawing on Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales for inspiration, each year the project organises ‘walks of solidarity’ through the English countryside – several days of trekking and telling stories along the way.