Pen International

On 15 November 2011 PEN International marked the 30th Annual Day of the Imprisoned Writer, a day of action to recognise and support writers who have resisted repression of the basic right to freedom of expression.

PEN’s members from around the world have commemorated the day with a huge variety of advocacy and campaigning activities, ranging from public demonstrations to press conferences, award ceremonies, poetry readings, theatre events and letter writing sessions, to name just a few.

This advocacy is part of PEN’s ongoing fight to defend writers who have been faced with harassment and persecution as a result of their work.

To find out more about the events organized by PEN centers and members to mark the Day please click here to see our report.

Estonian PEN hosts Finnish PEN for Free the Word! event

To celebrate the 90th birthday of PEN, Estonian PEN centre invited Finnish PEN to hold a joint literary event on 23 November 2011.

Leevi Lehto and Kätlin Kaldmaa (Estonian PEN). Photographs (c) Finnish PEN

Jarkko Tontti and Peeter Sauter (Finnish PEN). Photographs (c) Finnish PEN

In Tallinn, Estonian and Finnish PEN held a literary evening with readings from both sides. Freedom of expression issues were discussed. In a demonstration of solidarity, signatures were collected to support Dawit Isaak and a poem by Liu Xiaobo was read.

There were also poems by Jarkko Tontti and Leevi Lehto from Finland, Goran Simic from Canada/Bosnia and Kätlin Kaldmaa from Estonia, as well as prose pieces by Estonian writers and PEN members Asta Põldmäe and Peeter Helme. There was a lively audience, with discussions of PEN issues both before and after the event.

PEN Files UN Free Expression Reports

PEN International has submitted reports to the Universal Periodic Review on Bahrain, Ecuador (with Fundamedios and Committee to Protect Journalists), South Africa (with South Africa PEN) and Tunisia (with IFEX Tunisia Monitoring Group). See the blog post from PEN America: http://www.pen.org/blog/?p=6194

Mexico day of the Dead Campaign actions

PEN Mexico Day of the Dead altar by Paloma Diaz

On 2 November 2011 PEN International launched its Day of the Dead campaign commemorating the Mexican writers and print journalists who have been murdered, or who have disappeared, as a result of their work. PEN called on the Mexican authorities to bring to justice those responsible for these crimes, and to bring to an end the climate of impunity in which these attacks and murders take place.
As part of the campaign, writers and PEN members took part in traditional Day of the Dead activities, including the building of personalised, decorated altars. These altars were displayed alongside photographs of the murdered and missing journalists during events organised by individual centres, such as public readings, vigils, and conferences.

To see what PEN centres and members of the public did for the Day of the Dead campaign, read the Day of the Dead Campaign 2011 final report

PEN Melbourne publishes the second issue of the PEN Melbourne Quarterly

. Linking to the recent PEN International Girona Manifesto, this issue focuses on translation, featuring poetry in translation that was read in both languages at a recent PEN event in Melbourne.
Click on the image below to read the full publication or find it at http://www.melbournepen.com.au/

South African PEN Protests against the South African Goverment’s treatment of the Dalai Lama visa application

On the 10th of October, South African PEN issued a statement condemning “the shameful manner in which the South African Government has dealt with an application for a visa to attend the private birthday party of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu by the renowned Tibetan spiritual leader, Nobel peace prize laureate and author, the Dalai Lama.” A three-month delay in the processing of the request has meant that the Dalai Lama was forced to cancel his travel to South Africa.

The full statement by South Africa PEN can be viewed here.

English PEN awards the PEN Pinter Prize 2011 to Sir David Hare and Roberto Saviano

The English PEN Centre has awarded Sir David Hare the PEN Pinter Prize. The Prize is awarded annually to a British writer or a writer resident in Britain of outstanding literary merit who, in the words of Harold Pinter’s Nobel speech, casts an ‘unflinching, unswerving’ gaze upon the world, and shows a ‘fierce intellectual determination … to define the real truth of our lives and our societies’.

The PEN Pinter Prize is shared with a Writer of Courage, an author who has been persecuted for speaking out about their beliefs. Roberto Saviano, author of Gomorrah, was selected by the PEN Writers in Prison Committee and Sir David Hare himself to share the accolade.

Sir David Hare commented:

“Roberto Saviano took on the Neopolitan mafia, first in the novel Gomorrah and then in the film made from it. He did so at great risk to his own safety. My hope in sharing my prize with him is that a measure of recognition from PEN may, in however small a way, make his life easier.”

To read more click here.

German PEN awards the Hermann Kesten Prize to Egyptian publisher Mohamed Hashem

In a year that has seen widespread uprisings in the Arab world, German PEN has honoured Mohamed Hashem with the 2011 Hermann Kesten Award, an accolade that is dedicated to the spirit of the PEN International Charter. German PEN announced that, as a publisher, Mohamed Hashem has created a world of thought in which the Arab reform movement found its intellectual breeding ground. Situated close to Tahrir Square, his Dar Merit publishing house has been called a ‘Kaaba for the intellectuals’.

The Hermann Kesten prize-giving ceremony will take place on 15th November, 2011 at 7 p.m. in the Kammerspiele of Staatstheater Darmstadt. The eulogy will be delivered by Stefan Weidner, journalist and translator. Among former winners of the award are Anna Polikkovskaya and the imprisoned Chinese writer Liu Xiaobo, who became the Nobel Peace Laureate of 2010 shortly after having been announced the Hermann Kesten award holder. The prize sum of € 10.000 is donated in equal parts by the Hessian Ministry for Science and Arts and the German PEN Centre.

To read more about the award, Mohamed Hashem and German PEN follow the links below:

• Hermann Kesten Award 2011 (English)
• Prix Hermann Kesten 2011 (Francais)
• Premio Hermann Kesten 2011 (Espagnol) 

Swedish PEN: latest issue of The Dissident Blog

Read the lates issue of Swedish PEN’s online publication The Dissident Blog.  The publication acts as an open literary forum for writers who for various reasons cannot publish their work in their home countries.

“The Dissident Blog is Swedish PEN’s contribution to bring down the new digital prison bars.” Ola Larsmo, Chairman, Swedish PEN

PEN Centres to form a Balkan Network

At the 77th International PEN Congress in Belgrade (12th-18th September), participants of the Balkan meeting agreed to form a Network of Balkan PEN Centres.

The statement follows:

“Presidents of thirteen Balkan PEN Centres, gathered on the meeting today (13th September) decided unanimously to reinforce the cooperation between the centres in the spirit of tolerance and reconciliation. All tensions from the recent past should be surpassed and a new phase in mutual understanding should start instead, through common goals and programmes.

The Balkan centres unanimously supported Sarajevo’s candidature for European Cultural Capital of Culture 2014.”

Belgrade, 13th September 2011.

Signed

Turkish PEN, Bulgarian PEN, Romanian PEN, Croatian PEN, Bosnia-Herzigovina PEN, Macedonian PEN, Slovene PEN, Montenegrin PEN, Moldovan PEN, Kosovan PEN, Cypriot PEN, Serbian PEN

Please send us your updates if you are based in a PEN Centre.

This post is also available in: French, Spanish