Literary giants Olga Tokarczuk, Margaret Atwood and Burhan Sonmez to open PEN International’s 91st Congress in Kraków
“This rare and timely public conversation between Tokarczuk and Sonmez comes at a moment of urgent global reckoning. Together, they will speak to PEN members and literature lovers with reflections on the pressing challenges of our time — joined by Margaret Atwood, who will bring an unflinching voice on freedom of expression to the Congress stage.” Romana Cacchioli, Executive Director of PEN International
12 August 2025: PEN International proudly announces the opening ceremony of its 91st Congress on 2 September, with a powerful keynote conversation between Nobel Prize-winning Polish writer and activist Olga Tokarczuk — a fearless voice known for confronting political repression and chronicling the human cost of war and authoritarianism — and PEN International President Burhan Sonmez.
Titled Memory, Migration and Myth in Contemporary Fiction, the ceremony will also feature PEN International Vice President Margaret Atwood, a visionary writer and long-time advocate for free expression and ecological justice, who will join and address the audience remotely.
Guests will also hear from Marek Radziwon, President of Polish PEN Club.
The keynote address will be delivered in partnership with Polish PEN Club and the Krakow Festival Office, at the Kijów Cinema, from 17:30 to 19:00. Tickets will be available to the general public via the Krakow Festival Office.
REGISTER
Admission to the events is possible with free tickets. Tickets are available at the following link: https://kbfbilety.krakow.pl/kategorie/pen
Freedom of Words – Words of the Free
The Opening Ceremony marks the official launch of PEN International's 91st Congress held under the banner "Freedom of Words - Words of the Free", hosted in partnership with Polish PEN Club in Kraków, Poland.
Note to Editors:
To schedule an interview or for comments and media queries, please contact:
● Sabrina Tucci, PEN International Communications and Campaigns Manager, [email protected]
● Justyna Czechowska, Polish PEN Club Board Member, [email protected]
● Marcelina Karcz, KBF Literary Officer, [email protected]
● Anna Szczygieł, KBF Press Officer, [email protected]
Olga Tokarczuk is a Polish writer, activist, and public intellectual. Widely regarded as one of the most acclaimed and influential authors of her generation in Poland, in 2018 she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for "a narrative imagination that with encyclopaedic passion represents the crossing of boundaries as a form of life". She is the author of Primeval and Other Times (1996), Flights (2007), Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead (2009) and The Books of Jacob (2014) among others.
Margaret Atwood is one of the world's most influential literary figures, renowned for her sharp feminist vision and genre-defying storytelling. A Booker Prize winner and author of more than 50 books across fiction, poetry, and essays, she is best known for her chilling dystopian classic The Handmaid’s Tale (1985). Her other celebrated works include Alias Grace (1996), Oryx and Crake (2003), and The Testaments (2019).
Burhan Sonmez is an award-winning Kurdish novelist and lawyer from Türkiye. He was elected President of PEN International on the 24th of September 2021, during PEN International’s Centenary Congress. Sonmez is the author of six novels, North (2009), Sins & Innocents (2011), Istanbul Istanbul (2015), Labyrinth (2018), Stone and Shadow (2021), Lovers of Franz K. (2024), and has written for various papers including The Guardian, Der Spiegel, La Repubblica.
About PEN International
PEN International is the foremost and largest association of writers, standing at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect freedom of expression around the world. Founded in London in 1921, PEN International – PEN’s Secretariat – connects an international community of writers. Operating across five continents through more than 130 Centres in over 100 countries, PEN International is a forum where writers meet freely to discuss their work, and a powerful voice speaking out for writers silenced in their own countries.
About Polish PEN Club
Polish PEN Club was founded in Warsaw in 1925. Its founder, Stefan Żeromski, was a writer committed to creating in Poland a strong democratic culture based on freedom of expression, pluralism and liberty. For a hundred years now, Polish PEN Club has worked to promote these values, celebrating the role of literature in fostering democracy and acting as a powerful voice on behalf of writers. Polish PEN Club is a place of free intellectual debate and a vibrant literary community, supporting creativity, literary translation and exchange of ideas.