Sentences

The concept of The Book Club is as ambitious as it is simple: a reading club where literary quotes form the starting point of discussions that help us understand ourselves and the world we live in a little better. As opposed to ordinary book clubs this one doesn’t require any prior reading. Kriticos Mwansa, the charismatic founder and host of ‘The Book Club’, builds these intimate and accessible club meetings around various topics that range from the urgent and personal to the philosophical and universal.

In 2024 he partnered up with the socio-cultural workers of De Rode Antraciet to bring his internationally lauded Book Club to two new locations: the brand new Haren Prison Village and St. Gilles Prison, the second-oldest prison in Belgium.

The posters that you can see at Passa Porta’s many partner locations are quotes from the inmates that participated in these book clubs. The Passa Porta team sat down with Kriticos to learn more about his journey with the detainees.

So, how do the workshops work?

The workshops are pretty straightforward, I don't provide too much materials. I just come with the booklet cards and that's pretty much it. All I need is a table and seats around the table.

There was never any security with us in the room, just me and the cultural coordinator. The only time a security guard joined us was because she was curious about the whole thing. At first she pretended to be a fly on the wall, but the detainees insisted that she had to join and answer the questions as well. You need to join, you're in the room with us, you have to join. It really felt like we're in a group, it felt very intimate. And so that was nice, and that breaks the mold, it breaks the ice properly.

How did the participants react to the book club?

I think some of them were just happy to be outside of their cell, but some also seemed quite nervous. There was a lot of curiosity in the room because they didn’t know what to expect. Some even asked me if it was okay that they hadn’t read something in advance.

The group would warm up to the concept after the introduction, which was always targeted on a specific topic. For the ‘masculinity’ sessions, for instance I broke the ice by asking them which trait they considered essential for a man to have. Obviously, because of the context, the answers were interesting from the start. For some you must be a leader, for others you must be flexible and adaptable. Another person said that to be a man you have to be vulnerable. These kinds of statements really broke the ice.

Were the workshops what you expected?

I never go in with expectations. So, yes and no. Obviously a lot of unexpected things can happen in the prison. One time a reading club had to be canceled because of prison-wide tensions between the inmates and the guards.

However, it did also go as I expected in the sense that people got to share things from the heart rather than just keeping things bottled up. So that's definitely something.

How do you think engaging with culture or literature can impact the lives of incarcerated people?

I think it's really, really important. Being in prison, all you have is your time. It's time to think and a lot of time to wait, but it’s also time to read and explore new ideas. As an inmate, time is all you have. It's the most valuable thing. After all, you're just there sitting with your thoughts.

You can either drive yourself crazy constantly thinking of what you did or where you are in life. Or go crazy thinking about the fact that you're stuck with other people that are also struggling. These trains of thought can drive you mad. However, the whole goal of prison is to reform people.

It’s like if someone breaks their leg and they go to the kinesitherapist. They normally leave with a better leg or a better arm than most people because they worked on it. And I hope, I think that's what prison should be like. You go inside and you're working on this thing, you're trying to figure out how to do life and work it out within the rules. When you leave, you're supposed to be able to navigate the world that we live in and the society we live in better than most people that haven't gone to prison yet. They should be given space to do that, right?

With cultural activities it allows you to have creativity, tap into your inner child, see beyond the four walls that you're in, and be reminded of their humanity and their dignity, which helps them to become better people.

Infrastructure also plays a big role. You could really feel the difference between the energy in Saint-Gilles and Haren, which has much more activities and a better infrastructure. I think it makes sense because it's one of the oldest prisons and the newest prison. It's almost a success story.

Was there a particular story that stuck with you?

Yeah man, in Haaren there was this one guy, I don't know if I can say his name, but he was a trucker and he was amazing.

I just responded to an email his brother sent me. His brother sent me some stuff because they have a radio station in Haren, almost like a podcast for the prison. He recites poetry, he writes poetry. He's really into languages and sharing and an incredible human being. And so just having had him in the sessions is so beautiful. During the last session I was so happy to see him and he was so happy to see me. But I remember he really struck me because everything he had to add to the conversations was so forward-thinking. He understood that, you know, the world is going somewhere where we have to accept change. During the second session he said he was so inspired by the previous book club that he wrote a poem and he recited it. It was such a special moment it got me emotional.

Another memory is during the last session. We were talking about masculinity. And this guy started talking about the fact that he became a man in prison because he had been in prison since he was young. He was talking about how you have no choice but to become a man. During the last session he was like, hey guys, listen, this is the last session of the book club here, and I would just like to ask one thing, let's not talk about prison at all, because this is the only moment where I feel like I'm not here, I'm not in prison, I'm just talking about life.