55th International Writers for Peace Committee Meeting at Bled 15th - 18th May 2023
PEN International is delighted to invite its Centres to the 55th International Writers for Peace Committee Meeting of Writers in Bled, 15th - 18th May 2023.
Provisional agenda:
MONDAY, 15th May 2023
Bled Hotel Park
16.00 – 18.00 Writers for Peace Committee Advisory Board Meeting
Ljubljana – Cankarjev Dom
19.00 – 20.00 The courage of Myanmar – literary evening with Burmese writer and activist Ma Thida, Chair of Writers in Prison Committee of PEN International
TUESDAY, 16th May 2023
Bled Hotel Park
General Assembly of Writers for Peace Committee chaired by Germán Rojas (no simultaneous translation)
9:00 – Welcome and Housekeeping; Sloven PEN and PEN International board member– Tanja Tuma
9.05 -- Empty chairs #1
9.10 – Introductory words by Germán Rojas, Chair of PEN International Writers for Peace Committee
9.20 – Welcome by Romana Cacciolli, Executive Director of PEN International
9.30 – Approval of the Uppsala minutes from 27th Sept 2023
9.40 – Key note #1 Alberto Escorcia, Mexican journalist #1
10.00 – Centres’ updates (I)
Ross Holder, Head of Asia/ Pacific Region + Centres’ delegates
Aurelia Dondo, Head of Europe / Central Asia Region + Centres’ delegates
11.00 coffee break
11.30 – Centres’ updates (II)
Mina Thabet, Head of Middle East and North Africa Region + Centres’ delegates
12.00 – 12.20 – Key note #2 Salil Tripathi, board member of PEN International – Freedom of expression in the age of human evil and artificial intelligence
12.20 – 13.00 Regional action groups – Germán Rojas
13:00–14:00 – Lunch break
14.00 – Year 2022 overview, Tanja Tuma
14.10 – Strategic plan 2022-2025, Germán Rojas
14.50 - Centres’ updates (III)
N’Duko o’Matigere: Head of Africa Region + Centres’ delegates
15.10 – Ege Dundar – Why Tomorrow’s Club of PEN International
15.40 – Coffee break
16.10 – Centres’ updates (IV)
Alicia Quinones: Head of Americas Region + Centres’ delegates
17.00 – Closure of the day
18.00 – 19.30 Opening of the 55th International Writers’ Meeting Bled 2023
Welcome speech by the Mayor of Bled, Mr. Anton Mežan
Welcome speech Ministry of Culture
Welcome Speech Slovenian Book Agency
Poetry Recital with music, performed by Tajda Lekše
19.30 – Reception at the hotel
WEDNESDAY, 17th May 2023
(simultaneous translation in English, French, Spanish, and Slovenian)
9.00 Empty chairs #2:
9.05-10:00 Round table Imagine all the People: moderated by Germán Rojas with panellists: Katherine Bisquet (Cuban writer), Hanan Awwad (PEN Palestine), Antoine Spire (PEN Club Francais) and Boris Novak (PEN Slovenia).
12.00 Lunch break
13.00-14:00 Round table Literature is (which) truth and justice? Moderated by Tanja Tuma with panellists: Tone Peršak (PEN Slovenia), Alberto Escorcia (PEN Mexico), Iryna Starovoyt (PEN Ukraine), Teresa Salema (PEN Portugal) and Andrea Lešić (PEN Bosnia)
16.00 Closure of round tables
LJUBLJANA 18.00, PEN Hall, Tomšičeva 12: Festival FACES OF PEACE
18.00 – 19.00: Ukraine war – Writers speak: moderated by Olha Mukha, Congress, Committees, and New Centres Manager
Panellists: Iryna Starovoyt, Ostap Slyvynski, Halyna Kruk, Vojko Volk, in partnership with the Association of Former Slovenian Ambassadors, the Association for Foreign Relations, the Ukrainian Embassy in Slovenia, and other embassies.
20.00 Dinner with the mayor of Bled – Anton Mežan at Bled restaurant Špica
THURSDAY, 18th May 2023
9.00 – Empty chairs #3:
9.00 – The role of Writers for Peace Committee in PEN and in the world – brainstorming session led by Olha Mukha
10.30 – Coffee break
11.00 – Proposed resolutions of the WfPC for the congress and for publication,
12.00 – Conclusions and statements of the meeting
Concurrant meeting:
10.30 – 12.00 Alpe – Adria Network for Peace, moderated by Janez Stergar
13:00–14:00 – Lunch break
From 15.00 on FACES OF PEACE LITERARY FESTIVAL
18.00 Kropa – moderator Ifigenija Simonović
18.00 Trzin – moderator Tone Peršak with Germán Rojas and Ma Thida
17.00 Ljubljana, City Hall: Writing and Rapping for Peace – moderated by Pia Prezelj, Ege Dundar, rapper Trkaj, and award winning students of the competition; reception at the City Hall
19.00: Ljubljana, PEN Hall, Tomšičeva 12, Being journalist in Mexico, Alberto Escorcia and moderator, together with Slovenian Journalist Association DNS,
17.00 Kranj Public Library, Latin-American Poetry and anthology Resistir, Barbara Pogačnik with translators and Rocio Duran Barba
19.00 Public Library Bled: Poetry in the trenches, Boris A. Novak with guests from Ukraine
Please note: the meetings will be held in English, French, Spanish, and Slovenian
The programme is supported by the Slovenian Book Agency and sponsors:
Dodati Elektro Ljubljana in Zavarovalnico Sava med sponzorje