90th Anniversary

Case Histories: Wole Soyinka

April 16, 2012 | PEN American

“Books and all forms of writing are terror to those who wish to suppress the truth.”

                                                   —Wole Soyinka

Defending writers and advocating for free expression both at home and abroad has been a linchpin of PEN American Center since its founding in 1922. PEN American Center members often voiced their concerns in speeches, in diplomatic pressure, or in letters of support for persecuted writers and colleagues facing exile, imprisonment, torture, or execution for exercising their right to free expression. As we celebrate our 90th anniversary, we’ll look back at emblematic free expression cases that trace the evolution and growing importance of our work.

Wole Soyinka is a Nigerian writer whose prolific career includes more than 20 publications of plays, novels, and poetry. In 1986, he was the first African writer to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Last year, Soyinka delivered PEN’s Sixth Annual Arthur Miller Freedom to Write Lecture. With this speech, he offered a thoughtful examination of censorship—and a writer’s purpose in a climate of forced silence and intolerance. No stranger to censorship himself, Soyinka helped launch PEN’s innagural World Voices Festival with the event Banned Voices, in which he read from the work of Tahar Djaout, the accomplished Algerian writer who was murdered in 1993.
We continue our 90th anniversary celebration with the details of Wole Soyinka’s inspiring life.

Wole Soyinka © 2011 Beowulf Sheehan/PEN American Center

Wole Soyinka was born on 13 July 1934 in Nigeria. He studied at University College Ibadan and the University of Leeds in the UK, graduating in 1957 before working for the Royal Court Theatre in London. A year later he wrote The Lion and the Jewell.
In 1960 he was awarded a Rockefeller Research Fellowship and returned to Nigeria where he established an amateur acting company, the Nineteen-Sixty Masks. Wole Soyinka continued to write essays about current affairs and Nigerian politics and his novel The Interpreter was published in 1964.
The following year Soyinka was arrested after taking over a radio station at gunpoint and broadcasting a message denouncing electoral fraud in Western Nigeria. His detention sparked international protests, and the next year he was acquitted on a technicality.
In 1966 there were two military coups and Nigeria appeared to be heading for a civil war after Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu declared south-east Nigeria to be the independent Republic of Biafra. The following year Soyinka attempted to negotiate between the federal government and the Biafra separatists. This resulted in his arrest, accused of siding with the rebels.
In 1969 the civil war ended and Soyinka was released under an amnesty which followed. His experiences as a prisoner were chronicled in his book The Man Died: Prison Notes. After his release he left Nigeria for six years before returning and then in 1983 went into exile again. The following year, The Man Died: Prison Notes was banned in Nigeria.
In 1986 Soyinka was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature; the first African writer to win the prize. He returned to Nigeria once again and continued to write plays and essays; however, in 1994 yet again he was forced to flee Nigeria and go into exile. In 1997 he was charged in absentia with treason by the regime of General Sani Abacha. These charges were lifted following Abacha’s death in 1998.

 Soyinka continues to live and work in both Nigeria and California.

90th Anniversary

Mayor Bloomberg Declares Next Week PEN American Center Week

April 27, 2012 | PEN American

WHEREAS:
The literary arts have always been a crucial part of New York’s cultural life. Our city is home to a thriving publishing industry, and just this past week, we hosted the first-ever New York City literary honors in recognition of accomplished writers for whom New York has been a consistent source of inspiration. We’re always pleased to recognize the work of individuals and organizations who commit themselves to the improvement of society and the advancement of the arts, and that’s why we’re glad to join the PEN American Center as they celebrate the organization’s 90th anniversary.
WHEREAS:
For the past nine decades, PEN has been an international advocate of freedom of expression and the support of literature. Of the 140 branches the organization has established around the world, the PEN American Center is teh most active and vibrant, providing community and fellowship to the writers who constitute its membership. We’re glad that this organization calls New York City its home, and are pleased to join these literary leaders in celebrating such a distinguished legacy of advocacy.
WHEREAS:
This year, the PEN American Center honors Ethiopian Journalist Eskinder Nega with the PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award. PEN’s Freedom to Write Program recognizes imprisoned, persecuted, or supressed writers whose work demonstrates a commitment to freedom. New Yorkers are world-renowned for their creative and open-minded spirit, and it’s only fitting that an organization so dedicated to preserving and perpetuating these values both here and abroad is based in our city. Together, we can look forward to a society that values the literary arts and personal freedoms in equal measure.
Now therefore, I , Michael R. Bloomberg, Mayor of the City of New York, in recognition of this important event, do hereby proclaim April 30th-May 6th, 2012 in the City of New York as: “PEN American Center Week.”

90th Anniversary

The 1920s: PEN’s Founding and Early Years

March 6, 2012 | PEN American

Throughout the year, we’ll be celebrating PEN’s 90th anniversary by looking at the key events, cases, and characters from the organization’s history. As part of our online retrospective, we’ll be placing those benchmark moments in a monthly series of interactive timelines, broken down by decade. First up: the ’20s and the founding of both PEN International and PEN American Center.

PEN Club dinner photo sent to Sinclair Lewis

1921
Founding of International PEN Club
Catharine Amy Dawson-Scott, a British poet, playwright, and peace activist, founds the International PEN Club (poets, playwrights, editors, essayists, and novelists) to foster international literary fellowship among writers that would transcend the ethnic and national divides that contributed to World War I and endured after the war’s end.

Guests at Dawson-Scott’s first PEN Club dinner party in London included John Masefield, Arnold Bennet, Joseph Conrad, George Bernard Shaw, and PEN’s first president, John Galsworthy, who spoke of an international literary movement that could serve as a “League of Nations for Men and Women of Letters.”

1922
Global Intentions
Soon PEN clubs are established in Paris, Beijing, and other culture capitals of the world. Dinner gatherings provide the free forum where writers can share ideas irrespective of their culture, language, or political standing.
John Galsworthy approaches Kate Douglas Wiggin and Joseph Anthony, an American writer and Managing Editor of Century magazine, to start an American PEN Club in New York City. Anthony, living in London at the time, writes to Alexander Black and Maxwell Aley asking that they organize the club.
American PEN Club Founded
The American PEN Club holds its first meeting for 40 members at the Coffee Club House in New York City. Among the first members are Booth Tarkington (the first President), Robert Benchley, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Walter Lippmann, Eugene O’Neil, Robert Frost, Sidney Howard, Willa Cather, Kate Douglas Wiggin, Joseph Anthony, and Alexander Black.

1923
A Question of Politics
International PEN holds its first international Congress in London bringing together writers from 11 Centers. Attendees envision an international organization standing for free expression, peace, and friendship, that rises above the fray of national politics.
Money Talks
International PEN asks American PEN to host the second international Congress in New York City. Unable to raise the money necessary to pay for the gathering, American PEN asks members to begin paying dues. Initial cost of annual membership: $5.

1926
International PEN Congress in Berlin
PEN’s fourth international Congress is held in Berlin, the first such international gathering hosted in Germany since the end of WWI. In a meeting with Galsworthy, several young German writers, Bertolt Brecht, Alfred Döblin, and Robert Musil among others express concern that the German PEN Center did not represent the true face of German literature. Playwright Ernst Toller insists that PEN can not ignore politics, saying, “it is everywhere and influences everything.”

Galsworthy presents three resolutions that form the foundation of PEN’s future charter:

1. Literature, national though it should be in origin, knows no frontiers, and should remain common currency between nations in spite of political or international upheavals.

2. In all circumstances, and particularly in time of war, works of art, the patrimony of humanity at large, should be left untouched by national or political passion.

3. Members of the PEN will at all times use what influence they have in favor of good understanding and mutual respect between nations.

1927
Lost in Translation
At the PEN International Congress in Brussels, Henry Seidel Canby, the American PEN president, presents his idea of an “international clearing house” for translation to “make more efficient the flow of literary expression across language frontiers.” While the idea is enthusiastically received, funding and organization fall short.
 Source : PEN American Center

Executive Director Steven Isenberg to Leave PEN at the Close of 2012‏

Executive Director Steven Isenberg to Leave PEN at the Close of 2012‏

Dear Friends, Steven L. Isenberg, who has served as executive director of PEN American Center since 2009, announced today in a letter to PEN’s president and Board of Trustees that he will end his tenure at the close of 2012. “I wish to inform the Board that I will be leaving at the end of this year. I write to you now to give ample time for the search for my successor and to ensure a smooth, effective transition. By year’s end, PEN American Center will have finished celebrating its 90th anniversary, and I will be 72. Taking that together with the strength of our accomplishments, the course that we have set, and our staff’s readiness for the future, I am confident that my decision is right not only for me, but also for PEN. We can look back over these last three years with great satisfaction, especially in how we met the times with energy and resolve.” The letter in its entirety can be found here. In response to Steve’s announcement, PEN President Peter Godwin said: “Steve has been an extraordinary executive director of PEN American Center. Under his watch, over the last three years, the workings of the organization have been streamlined and modernized. I think he leaves PEN in a much better state for all this. Steve’s commitment to our core values of freedom of expression has been steadfast. His energy is infectious and his love of literature shines through everything he does. His experience and wisdom in matters administrative have been crucial to the way we work. He has helped me enormously in my first few months as president of PEN, and I know he will continue to do so for the rest of the year, until his very last day. PEN has been very fortunate to have him. The Board will take up planning a search for Steve’s successor when we meet next week.” Former PEN President Anthony Appiah said:  “Steven Isenberg arrived when PEN was under incredibly difficult financial circumstances and has brought us through to new levels of achievement with many new sources of funding. He has established us in the world of the great foundations—Mellon, Ford, Open Society Foundations and Carnegie, and given us the credibility to develop our relationships with them and with their peers. Time and again he has spoken for us, here and abroad, with just the right tone. He will be leaving an office of talented people, a good number of whom he has hired, and all of whom he has helped to work together congenially as an effective team. And, speaking as the last president, I can say that he has worked wonderfully well with PEN’s leadership to chart our path through challenging times. In short, Steve Isenberg has been a terrific executive director, and he will be sorely missed. We are grateful for all his fine work and I would like personally to wish him all the best in his new life after PEN.”   PEN American Center | 588 Broadway, Suite 303 | New York, NY 10012 | (212) 334-1660

 Steven L. Isenberg: Executive Director, PEN American Center

Steven L. Isenberg is Executive Director of the PEN American Center, the largest chapter of International PEN, the world’s oldest international literary and human rights organization. He has been a university overseer and media executive, and has held important posts in journalism, government, law, and academia. He was publisher of New York Newsday, The Stamford Advocate, Greenwich Time, and the Executive Vice President of The Los Angeles Times. He served since 2003 on the Board of Directors of the Committee to Protect the Journalists (CPJ) and became an advisory board member in February 2008.
Isenberg is now Chairman of the Board Emeritus of Adelphi University on Long Island, New York, where he was initially appointed by the New York State Regents as interim chair of a new Board and was later elected as chairman and President ad interim.
He taught for several years at the University of Texas at Austin as a visiting professor of the humanities in the liberal arts honors program; at the University of California-Berkeley as a visiting professor of English and journalism; visiting lecturer at Yale; the James K. Batten Professor of Public Policy at Davidson College; and visiting scholar in media studies at The New School University and Polytechnic in New York. He is also an honorary Fellow of Worcester College, Oxford University, England, and holds an Honorary Doctorate from Adelphi University.
Prior to working in newspapers, Isenberg had been chief of staff to New York City Mayor John V. Lindsay and a litigator at the firm of Breed, Abbott and Morgan. He served as president of the executive advisory board of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of California at Berkeley.
Isenberg obtained his undergraduate degree in English Literature from the University of California at Berkeley in 1962; a second bachelor's degree and a master's degree (also in English Literature) from Worcester College, Oxford University, England, in 1966; and a JD from Yale Law School in 1975.
He has published: “Lunching on Olympus”, on four memorable lunches with Auden, Empson, Larkin and E.M. Forster, published by The American Scholar and chosen for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s Best Essays of 2010 and published in Resurgent Adventures with Britannia: Personalities, Politics and Culture in Britain; “Another Sage of Baltimore: Murray Kempton”, published by the Literary House Press, Washington College, originally the Harwood Lecture in American Journalism, and “Being There”, a review of war poetry, in Oxford Journals’ Essays in Criticism.
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May 30, 2012:
Steven Isenberg's Letter to PEN President Peter Godwin
On May 30, 2012, PEN American Center's Executive Director Steven Isenberg sent the following letter to Board President Peter Godwin.

---

May 30, 2012

To: Peter Godwin
cc: The Board of Trustees


Dear Peter,

I wish to inform the Board that I will be leaving at the end of this year. I write to you now to give ample time for the search for my successor and to ensure a smooth, effective transition.

By year’s end, PEN American Center will have finished celebrating its 90th anniversary, and I will be 72. Taking that together with the strength of our accomplishments, the course that we have set, and our staff's readiness for the future, I am confident that my decision is right not only for me, but also for PEN.

We can look back over these last three years with great satisfaction, having taken on challenges with energy and resolve, including the economic uncertainty which continues.

•    We have had exceptional success in winning support for our Freedom to Write Program from the Open Society Foundations, the Ford Foundation and most recently from the Jerome L. Greene Foundation. Our travels to China, Russia, Mexico, Haiti—and soon, South Africa—have come at moments of significance for the cause of freedom of expression, as did our appearance at the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, and our role in advocating for the Nobel Prize for Liu Xiaobo, a campaign that was praised by Chinese political prisoner and friend of Liu Xiaobo, Yang Jianli: “Your outstanding work has inspired many Chinese freedom fighters like Mr. Liu and myself. Your brilliant efforts in ‘Free Liu Xiaobo’ are truly admirable and indispensible to our cause.”

•    We brought research, testimony and conviction to our nation's conscience by calling attention to the instances of torture that stained our response to the attacks of September 11th.  Bill Moyers’ show Sunday night amplified the reach of our Reckoning With Torture program and highlighted the work that is yet to be done.

•    We face an exciting prospect in the new capabilities and content on our web site when it is upgraded this fall; it is the way of the future and of importance to all we do. The redesigned web site will be a center of communication, publishing, and archival resources that will enhance all our programs. Just last week we received a planning grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to aid in the preservation and digitization of PEN’s archival materials. This is a tremendous opportunity to understand the reach and content of PEN’s archives and begin the planning process to make available on our web site the extraordinary materials accumulated over PEN’s 90-year history. Adding in new activity in social media, our electronic presence will foster greater involvement for our members and all who are interested in PEN’s calling, thereby enlarging our community and connections, here and internationally. This investment in our web site upgrade has been made possible by generous grants from the Carnegie Foundation, Google, and two loyal and generous Board members.

•    Our literary identity, devotion to literature, and close ties to PEN centers around the world make us distinctive in the human rights community. Our unique and vibrant World Voices Festival, Translation Fund, Literary Awards, Prison Writing, Readers and Writers Program in partnership with schools, and the PEN Journal each play their part, as do many member-driven committees, which continue to thrive on the imagination and goodwill of writers who give of their time in sustaining the literary tradition that makes possible all we do.

•    Every single PEN program has its generous and kind friends and supporters— individuals, families, companies, and foundations. From the Gala to the annual appeal to Authors’ Evenings, our benefactors have carried us to new achievements. And every program at PEN has benefited from the extraordinary support of the Kaplen Foundation, for whom special praise and gratitude is deserved in the largest measure.

•    By redefining our membership qualifications and reinvigorating our membership efforts, by the establishment of new bylaws and improved governance, and in the fostering of the kind of managerial agility non profits must strive for, we have made our mark and provided balance and focus for PEN as we head toward PEN’s 100th anniversary.

All of this comes of a staff wonderfully committed to PEN’s purposes and to their work as professionals in its cause. They distinguish themselves and PEN’s reputation by their character, idealism, and industry.

So too, among our present and former Board of Trustees, Advisory Council, ex-presidents, and membership, there are so many whose dedication, participation, and generosity help PEN maintain its special place.

And from all my working years and these last three, there are friends old and new, who have given me encouraging and kind support.

I have served with two presidents, Anthony Appiah and you, and I know that PEN is all the better for your presence and involvement. We have several months more together, and I know we will continue to reach new achievements and position PEN for the future.

I am grateful for what PEN has taught me.  I will always be at its side, as will all who know PEN's special qualities, and what it stands for, especially in the times in which we now live.

Yours,

Steve

Source: American PEN

Translation

Hsia Yü: Four Poems from Salsa

September 23, 2011 | PEN American Steve Bradbury is the recipient of a 2011 PEN Translation Fund grant for his translation of Hsia Yü’s collection of poetry Salsa. Read an excerpt from the translation below.

The Ripest Rankest Juiciest Summer Ever
Summer sinks into the clock-face of the cat’s eye
Sinks into chestnut colored limbs
A 17 franc basket of peaches
Day four and already summer has run from ripe to rank
All spring long we dined as if we had all the time in the world
Followed with interest the color, light and atmosphere
Observed the shadows of the grapevines advancing to this
Last evening of the postimpressionists
Dabs of light thicken on the hammock
Grow thin on the windblown curtain
Each stroke acquiring definition
Until the last stroke added bursts grape skin
Must be August
Ripe for the Fauvists
Never again will mere light so delight us
And O how we weary of atmosphere
Our idle conversation spreads like vines in the arbor
Of this ripest rankest juiciest summer ever
And O how we weary of style
Does style after all exist
So like the snow
Defiled at the merest touch
But while the snow does not exist
The hammock is more manifest than ever
More than April irises or an aperitif at six
Though compared to soccer broadcast live hardly anything exists
Our guest, an enthusiast of “Old Cathay,” asserts that in our fallen day
Only armed revolution poses such tragic implications
And then there is soccer
O how we dine as if we had all the time in the world
Smoked salmon, crab and lobster
And will you look at the size of this oyster
If we could but find the proper venues
To release our leftist tendencies
1906, Cezanne, caught in a storm, returns to his studio
Removes his hat and coat and collapses by the arbor window
Taking stock of the table, its overturned basket of apples, he notices
The “appleness of the apples” and their shadows, the three skulls
The wardrobe, the pitcher, the crock
The half-opened drawer, the clock
It occurs to him proportion is hardly worth the fuss
And could care even less if the table were bevel or not
As he closes his eyes and dies
His eyelids trace a line pointing straight to three o’clock
Still, there is something wanting in all this
Must be time for Matisse

Tied Up and Waiting
Use your psychic power to bend mental
Use your psychic power to stop the hands of the clock
Use your psychic power to flick the switch
I can smell you in my skin
I can smell you in my skin
I can smell you in my skin
I am experiencing what is more what is more I am experiencing the experience
As for the rest
Let me carve it word by word on a single grain of rice
As for the rest
Let me carve it character by character on that strand of hair
As for the rest
I brought the ransom to the agreed upon location
I came at the appointed time
But the kidnapper never showed his face
He’s always so hesitant
I can’t understand this vacillation
I never notified the police
I don’t even know the person he’s holding
I too have been lured by the graceful style of being taken
By this business of being tied up and waiting

Psychic Seductions
Took forever to write back
And used “we” instead of “me”
“We’ve been sleeping around a bit
But it hardly seems a crime
When everyone we know is climbing into bed with everybody else
Becoming good friends in the bargain.”
If we haven’t been exactly seized by inspiration
We’re conscience nonetheless of a certain
Cut-rate terror in those piles of smelly clothes
In the locker room at the gym
Or whiling away the hours at the laundromat
Waiting for the dirty linen
To finish washing
What exactly do critics mean when they say
“More individualized”?
As if I could ever get myself on “The
Find Your Long-Lost Mother Show’’
On cable TV in
Principal I don’t approve of private beaches but
If you’re looking for a good frisson
You can always count on me for a front-row seat
Provided you can walk off and forsake it
For the sake of making it more formalistic
More worthy of saying:
“It’s not meaning I object to
But the meaning of meaning.”
When you open up a coin laundry you have to visualize
The enterprise on the basis of the needs of the general public
Thus encouraging a keen appreciation of those ordinary
But universal forms of suffering and affliction
We rarely mention it
But in the ebb and flow of things
Those psychic seductions we believe in
When the ambience is right
Do in fact happen
In laundromats
Now and then they throw on something classical
Just to muddle through

Those Gloriously Sinful Days of Old
God made the heaven and the earth and on the seventh day
Languid and no longer loving we drifted into the forest
Existence was so brimful after the rain
Porcini were growing in the horse manure
And so we scoured the forest floor in search of more
And when we’d found some we took them home
And washed them off and soaked them till they were soft and tender
And braised them over a gentle flame until the juices ran
And simmered them in butter
Garlic and parsley
Then garnished them with toasted cheese
And slivers of prosciutto
And for a moment the ambience belonged to those gloriously
Sinful days of old psychodramas we sank into like so many sofa
Chairs draped in lacework flower-fringed and yellowed with age
The hodgepodge of scandalously
Perverse eccentricities we tended to keep bottled up
And so we decanted an ’87 Bordeaux a cappella
But then the complicity of this too came to light and we
Fell out of touch but not before we’d taken some portion of
Each other’s eccentricities that serve us now in lieu
Of a tacit understanding

Test Your Literary Wits; Visit PEN at Brooklyn Book Festival

Test Your Literary Wits; Visit PEN at Brooklyn Book Festival

SAVE THE DATE October 12: PEN Literary Awards Ceremony November 1: PEN New Members/New Books Party NOTE: To unsubscribe from our mailing list, please use the orange links at the bottom of this newsletter. For any other issues, please contact us here. PEN Literary Pub Quiz at Brooklyn Book Festival   When: Tonight Where: St. Ann’s Warehouse, 38 Water Street in Dumbo, Brooklyn What time: 7–9 p.m. Team captains include Gabe Boylan of Harper’s, George Prochnik of Cabinet Magazine, James Yeh of Gigantic Magazine, Scott Lindenbaum and Andy Hunter of Electric Literature, translator Susan Bernofsky, Ben Greenman, Matthea Harvey, Amy Sohn, and more; hosted by Katie Halper. Free and open to the public. PEN American Center is pleased to announce the return of our popular Literary Pub Quiz! This Brooklyn Book Festival Bookend event gives you the chance to compete with (and against!) editors and writers from your favorite literary magazines, including Cabinet, Gigantic, Harper’s, and Electric Literature, as well as writers Matthea Harvey, Ben Greenman, and many more. Come early to reserve your spot on the team with the writer-captain who also knows where Hemingway was born. We’ll supply the paper and the pencils; you bring the literary smarts! Of course, don’t forget to stop by the PEN booth (#93) on Sunday to say hello. PEN American Center | 588 Broadway, Suite 303 | NY, NY 10012 | (212) 334-1660

PEN News: September 21, 2011‏

PEN News: September 21, 2011‏

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS In honor of Banned Books Week, we are asking PEN Members to recommend a single banned or challenged book and to tell us how that book has influenced them as writers and readers. [More] SAVE THE DATE September 26: The PEN Women’s Literary Workshop hosts its annual reading and celebration from 6–8:30 p.m. next Monday in the PEN office (address below). The Workshop is accepting new members. Contact Ilsa Gilbert at (212) 242-1641 for more details. November 1: The PEN New Members/New Books Party celebrates new Members and honors those who have had new books published in 2011. [More] BECOME A MEMBER Please help us spread the word: writers can now apply for PEN Membership after the publication of their first book or production of one dramatic work in a professional setting. [Apply for Membership] NOTE: To unsubscribe from our mailing list, please use the links at the bottom of this newsletter. For any other issues, please contact us here.

PEN LITERARY AWARDS Apply to PEN’s 2012 Awards As we celebrate the recipients of PEN’s 2011 Literary Awards, the submissions period for the 2012 Awards is now opening. Beginning October 1, you may nominate colleagues for career awards and submit for PEN’s other awards. For a full list of 2012 Awards and guidelines, visit PEN.org. [More] ADVOCACY Celebrate Banned Books Week Banned Books Week highlights the necessity of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the dangers of censorship. We’ve listed just a few ways for you to get involved. [More] PEN Welcomes First Freedom to Write Fellow Deji Olukotun, a lawyer and writer with extensive international development and advocacy experience, begins a new Ford Foundation–sponsored 18-month fellowship in PEN’s Freedom to Write Program. Olukotun will concentrate on expanding partnerships with PEN centers in countries with acute free expression challenges. [More] THE DAILY PEN AMERICAN Recently at The Daily PEN American: an excerpt and interview with Liao Yiwu, new poetry by Jeffrey Yang, student work from the PEN Readers & Writers Summer Writing Institute, and a story by Annie Proulx. Coming up: readings and talks with Cave Canem poets Giovanni Singleton and Kevin Simmonds and west coast poet Gabrielle Calvocoressi, new poetry by John Yau, work from this year’s Translation Fund grant recipients, and excerpts from the 2011 PEN Literary Awards winners. Liao Yiwu Makes First U.S. Appearance Last week, PEN and The New School welcomed exiled Chinese writer Liao Yiwu in his first visit to the United States In addition to performances and readings of his work, Liao spoke with Philip Gourevitch about his journey from political prisoner to best-selling author. [More] Literary Pub Quiz and Brooklyn Book Festival Wrap Up Last Friday’s Literary Pub Quiz brought together writers, editors, and local book lovers for a battle of wits. PEN kept the questions going on Sunday at the Brooklyn Book Festival with our Literary Loves survey. Thanks to everyone who participated. [More] Susan Bernofsky: Fast Talkers In her first guest-post for The Daily PEN American, translator Susan Bernofsky looks at “information density” and why speakers of certain languages seem to talk faster than others. [More] Zhou Qing: What Kind of God Zhou Qing, author of What Kind of God: A Survey of the Current Safety of China’s Food, recently visited the PEN office from Germany to speak with us about censorship and human rights issues in China. [More] Read Work by Translation Fund Grant Recipients Over the coming weeks, we will be posting excerpts and essays from winners of 2011 PEN Translation Fund grants. The first is from Clarissa Botsford’s translation of Elvira Dones’s novel Sworn Virgin, the story of an Albanian immigrant who must reclaim her womanhood after living for 14 years as a man. [More]

PEN American Center | 588 Broadway, Suite 303 | NY, NY 10012 | (212) 334-1660

 

Demand the immediate and unconditional release of an Iranian poet Faranak Farid

In support of Faranak farid

The following delegates of the 77th International PEN congress in Belgrade, Serbia, 12-18 September 2011, demand the immediate and unconditional release of Faranak Farid, Iranian poet, translator and women´s rights activist.


According to PEN´s information, Faranak farid was arrested on 3 September 2011on the street in the city of Tabriz, Azerbaijan, Iran. Security forces later went to search her house and seized her computer and personal documents. Farid is thought to be held for her writings, tranlations, speeches and defence of women´s rights, and for the participation in a peaceful protest against the environmental policies of the Iranian authorities affecting Urmiah Lake in Azerbaijan, Iran. Faranak Farid is currently detained without charge. She is at risk of illtreatment in detention, and concerns for her welfare are mounting.

Faranak Farid (aka Ipek) is a leading writer, editor and women´s rights activist. Her publications include the poetry collection Yuxuda Ayilmaq, published in 2009. Another poetry collection Jiziq is under publication. She is a founding member of the One Million Signature Campaign, and has participated in numerous conferences and seminars both inside and ouside Iran.

Undersigned:

John Ralston Saul, President, PEN International

Botsford Fraser,Marian. Chair WIPC, PEN International

Schoulgin, Eugene, Vice President, PEN International

Kathman, Lucina. Vice President, PEN International

Lax, Eric, Treasurer, PEN International

Yang Lian, PEN International

Ikonya, Philo, PEN International

Arpa, Yasmin. Turkey

Magani, Mohammad, Algeria

Siems, larry, America

Niederle, Helmut, Austria

Karim, Abdul, Bangladesh

Mintegi, Laura, Basque

Radeljkovic, Zvonimir, Bosnia- Herzegovina

Durakovic, Ferida, Bosnia- Herzegovina

Aguiar, Claudio, Brazil

Costa Jungenia, Maria Cecilia, Brazil

Konstantinov, Georgi, Bulgaria

Foran, Charlie, Canada

Arenas, Carme, Catalan

Cacinovic, Nadezda, Croatian

Cudara, Angel, Cuba

Lacarda, Luis Ignacio

Marangou, Niki, Cypres

Dedecek, Jiri, Czech

Larsen, Niels Ivar, Denmark

Lohman, Jens, Denmark

Farag, Hala, Egypt

Madeha, Abu Ziad, Egypt

Seymour- Jones, Carole, England

Heawood, Jonathan, England

Lawson, Sarah, England

Martinov, Zlatoje, Esperanto PEN

Macconi, Chiara, Esperanto PEN

Kaldmaa, Katlin, Esperanto PEN

Kotjuh, Igor, Estonia

Tontti, Jarkko, Finland

Nummi, Markus, Finland

Clancier, Sylvestre, France

Pujas, Philippe, France

Rocquigny, Fanny, France

Pellas, Jackie, France

Gonzales, Tosar Luis, Galician

Wiesner, Herbert, Germany

Strasser, Johano, German

Oeser, Hans Christian, Germany

Harruna, Attah Abdulrahman, Ghana

Martin-Liao Tienchi, Independent Chinese PEN

Boland, Kay, Ireland

Mannacio, Giorgio, Italy

Jiro, Asada, Japan

Ayako, Sato, Japan

Pessemesse, Pierre, Occitan PEN

Kim Kyung Sik, Korea

Song, Young Wook, Korea

Kapriqi, Basri, Kosova

Hejab, Abdollah, Kurdish PEN

Dosky, Berivan, Kurdish PEN

Kuncius, Herkus, Lithuania

Dzeparoski, Ivan, Macedonia

Mphasi, Feggie Tiwonge, Malawia

Rodriguez, Judith, Australia

Bojang, Seedy, Australia

Ciobanu, Vitalie, Moldavia

Garnet, Vasile, Moldavia

Panday, Ram Kumar, Nepal

Raj, Prakash, Nepal

Upphoff, Manon, Netherland

Appel, Rene, Netherland

Wattie, Nelson, New Zealand

Heger, Anders, Norway

Eide, Elisabeth, Norway

Pellerin, Gilles, Canada

Carneci, Magda, Canada

Simonov, Alexey, Russia

Cracknell, Linda, Scottish PEN

Campbell, Drew, Scottish PEN

Gueye, Silarneyni, Senegal

Paunovic, Zoran, Serbia

Bajac, Vladislav, Serbia

Murin, Gustav, Slovak

Persak, Tone, Slovania

Wehelie, Amina Mussa, Somali Speaking writers

Orford, Margaret, South Africa

Mahloujian, Azar, Sweden

Larsmo, Ola, Sweden

Tornquist, Annika, Sweden

Baghlaninan, Elnaz, Sweden

Schnider, Christin, Switzerland

Ergas, Zeki, Switzerland

Hoang Bao, Viet, Switzerland

Assaad, Fawzia, switzerland

Kunthar, Tibet

Della, Rocca, Tibet

Bensedrine, Sihem, Tunisia

Gunersal, Tarik, Turkey

Kaiser, Oz Hun, Uyghur PEN

Khamrayev, Khamitzhan, Uyghur PEN

Yen, Son, Vietnam

Roelens, Xavier, Belgieum

Vermeersch, Peter, Belgieum

Chipopu, Morgan, Zambia

Lukorito Wanjala, Chris, Kenya


Source:

Azar Mahloujian in facebook

PEN International recognises achievement of 2010 Nobel Laureates at global gathering of world writers

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
14th September 2011
Hundreds of writers, editors, translators and publishers from across the globe celebrate the achievement of 2010 Nobel Prizes by Mario Vargas Llosa and Liu Xiaobo and call for the release of Xiaobo and his wife.
At PEN International's 77th annual Congress in Belgrade today, delegates from over 80 PEN Centres worldwide unanimously passed a motion to congratulate Mario Vargas Llosa, former PEN International President and 2010 Nobel Laureate for Literature, and Liu Xiaobo, founding president of the Independent Chinese PEN Centre and 2010 Nobel Laureate for Peace. John Ralston Saul, PEN International President, said: "we follow the model of writers like Mario Vargas Llosa and Liu Xiaobo. They are illustrations of PEN International's indivisible commitment to both literature and freedom of speech."
PEN members also took the opportunity to use their collective voice and call on the Chinese authorities: "We seize on this historic moment to call for the release from prison of Liu Xiaobo and the release from house arrest of this wife, Liu Xia."
Liu Xiaobo, the prominent Chinese dissident writer who was sentenced to 11 years in prison in December 2009, was the founder and first president of the Independent Chinese PEN Centre. He has since been made honorary member of nine PEN Centres. Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in absentia in 2010. Marian Botsford Fraser, Chair of the Writers in Prison PEN Committee, attended the award ceremony. "Members of the PEN community were honoured to attend the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo last December," said Botsford Fraser. "But not a single member of Liu's family or anyone from mainland China was allowed to attend, and the award was laid upon an empty chair. The PEN community will continue to fight for the unconditional release of our colleague, Liu Xiaobo."

Notes to editors:PEN International celebrates literature and promotes freedom of expression. Founded in 1921, our global community of writers now comprises 144 Centres spanning more than 100 countries. Our programmes, campaigns, events and publications connect writers and readers for global solidarity and cooperation. PEN International is a non-political organization and holds consultative status at the United Nations and UNESCO.
For more information and to request interviews please contact our press office:
penoffice@pen-international | press@pen-international.org | + 44 (0) 20 7405 0338.
Or contact our Executive Director Laura McVeigh: +44 (0)7824640527
www.pen-international.org

Ethiopia: Three print journalists charged with terrorism; concerns for wellbeing

English PEN protests the terrorism charges brought against two Ethiopian journalists and one Swedish reporter on 6 September 2011, which could see them imprisoned for up to 20 years if convicted. Feteh columnist Reeyot Alemu, Awramba Times deputy editor Woubshet Taye and Kontinet reporter Martin Schibbye have all been detained since June. Taye has reportedly been tortured while Alemu's health is deteriorating rapidly; neither has been given access to medical treatment. English PEN fears that the three journalists are being targeted for their critical reporting in violation of their right to freedom of expression. We are therefore calling on the Ethiopian authorities to drop the charges and release them, and in the meantime ensure that Alemu and Taye are given immediate access to the medical treatment they require. Please send appeals - guidelines and addresses follow.

Detained since 19 and 22 June 2011 respectively, Woubshet Taye and Reeyot Alemu appeared before Ethiopia's High Court on 6 September and were charged under the anti-terrorism law. Their lawyers said they did not have any details about the charges as they were not notified of the hearing and as a result could not attend. Both journalists are being held at Maekelawi Prison in the capital Addis Ababa. Terrorism charges were also filed in absentia against Elias Kifle, editor of the Washington-based anti-government website Ethiopian Review; Kifle lives in exile in the USA.

During a court hearing in August, Taye stated that he had been tortured by state officials while he was being interrogated in prison. As of early September, he was reportedly suffering from pain in his ear and stomach as a result of beatings, but had not been given any medical treatment. The same reports suggest that Alemu's physical and psychological state of health has seriously deteriorated in prison and she is extremely weak. Her relatives have been allowed to visit her and bring her medicines but she has not received any treatment from doctors. Both journalists say they were denied access to a lawyer during their interrogation. For more details on their arrest, please click here.

In a separate case, Martin Schibbye, reporter for the Sweden-based news agency Kontinet, was also charged with terrorism, as well as violation of migration laws, on 6 September 2011. He was charged along with a photojournalist for the same agency, Johan Persson. Their lawyers were reportedly not present at the hearing.

Schibbye and Persson were arrested by Ethiopian security forces on 30 June 2011 while reporting on the activities of the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), armed separatists operating in the oil-rich province of Ogaden in eastern Ethiopia. The Ethiopian government claims that the journalists are working with the ONLF, which it designated as a terrorist group in June. According to Reporters Without Borders, they were arrested after illegally entering the Ogaden region from Somalia in the company of members of the ONLF and with the aim of investigating human rights violations by the Ethiopian armed forces in the region. The Ethiopian authorities have reportedly blocked journalists' access to the region.

Background

Ethiopia's anti-terrorism law, which criminalises any reporting deemed to 'encourage' or 'provide moral support' to groups and causes which the government considers to be 'terrorist', has been widely criticised as being vaguely worded and catch-all. It carries sentences of up to 20 years in prison.

Useful links

Terrorism charges brought against the three print journalists:
- Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) (7 September 2011)
- Reporters Without Borders (8 September 2011)

Treatment in prison/ health status of Taye and Alemu:
- Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) (1 September 2011)

Please send appeals:

- Protesting the terrorism charges brought against Awramba Times deputy editor Woubshet Taye, Feteh columnist Reeyot Alemu and Kontinet reporter Martin Schibbye on 6 September 2011, which could see them imprisoned for up to 20 years if convicted;
- Expressing concern that the journalists have been arrested and charged purely in relation to their peaceful journalistic activity, in violation of the right to freedom of expression protected under international human rights treaties to which Ethiopia is a party, including the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and People's Rights;
- Expressing alarm at reports that Taye has reportedly been tortured and that Alemu's health is deteriorating rapidly in prison, and yet neither has been given access to medical treatment;
- Calling on the Ethiopian authorities to allow the journalists access to doctors and lawyers as a matter of urgency;
- Calling for the journalists' immediate and unconditional release.

Appeals to:

Minister of Justice
Berhanu Hailu
Ministry of Justice
P.O. Box 1370
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia
Fax: 251 11 551 7775/ 7755
Email: justice@telecom.net.et, ministry-justice@telecom.net.et
Salutation: Dear Minister

Minister of Foreign Affairs
Mr Seyoum Mesfin
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
PO Box 393
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Fax: 251 11 551 43 00
Email: mfa.addis@telecom.net.et
Salutation: Dear Minister

Please also send appeals to the Ethiopian Embassy in London:

His Excellency Mr. Ato Berhanu Kebede
Embassy of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
17 Princes Gate,
London
SW7 1PZ
Fax: 020 7584 7054
Email: ambassador@ethioembassy.org.uk

NB. Please do let us know if you send an appeal, and certainly if you should receive a response, by emailing cat@englishpen.org

Writers in Translation

*** Writers in Translation grants programme is now open for submissions - see 'About Writers in Translation' ***

Making the World Legible 2005 - 2011

In 2010, Writers in Translation marked its fifth anniversary with the publication of an anthology containing extracts from 36 books that the programme had supported since its inception. Making the World Legible contains a dazzling array of fiction, non-fiction and poetry from some of the best international writers of our time; distinct and powerful voices from every corner of the globe.

We're delighted that extracts from this celebrated anthology are now available on the Ether Books App free of charge. World authors including Emine Sevgi Ozdamar, Jose Eduardo Agualusa, Jean Hatzfeld, Yassin Adnan, Alberto Mendez and Tahar Ben Jelloun have been published, with more to follow. You can download extracts free from the free Ether App here.

The full anthology is also available online, absolutely free! Download it now... and be transported to another place.

 

Writers in Translation continues to promote and celebrate literature in translation. Please check the Events page of this website for details of upcoming events.

This work is licenced under a Creative Commons Licence.


Source : English pen

PEN News: February 16, 2011‏

• PEN News: February 16, 2011‏

16-02-2011

WHO WE ARE WHAT WE DO HOW TO HELP WORLD VOICES ADVOCACY PRESS LITERARY AWARDS Final Deadline: March 3 PEN is still accepting submissions for several new and revived awards. The deadline has also been extended for the PEN/Phyllis Naylor Working Writer Fellowship. [More] UPCOMING EVENTS February 24: Beyond Bollywood: A Global Piano and Literary Salon Join pianist Arunesh Nadgir and authors Hirsh Sawhney and Karan Mahajan at WNYC's Greene Space for an intimate journey into India's diverse and dynamic culture. [More] OPPORTUNITIES Summer Internships at PEN PEN is looking to hire summer interns in Digital Publications and Social Media. Interns will have the opportunity to learn about the breadth of PEN's literary programs and events, and gain experience in online publications. [More] FIND PEN ONLINE ADVOCACY NEWS Patriot Act Extended, Fight Continues Though the House of Representative has voted to extend Patriot Act Provisions through December 8, the Campaign for Reader Privacy supports an amendment to an appropriations bill that would restore the safeguards for bookstore and library records that were eliminated by the Patriot Act. [More] PEN Brings "Reckoning with Torture" to Sundance Robert Redford, Ellen Barkin, and Annie Proulx headlined a special performance of "Reckoning with Torture" at this year's Sundance Film Festival. Doug Liman, a passionate supporter of PEN who directed the event, said, "We're at a pivotal moment in history, and my hope is that America will choose a path toward restoring this nation as a defender of human rights." [Event highlights] NEW AT PEN PEN Reads: James M. Cain's Mildred Pierce We are thrilled to announce James M. Cain's Mildred Pierce as the next selection for PEN Reads, our online reading group. Cain's gritty masterpiece was recently adapted as an HBO mini-series starring Kate Winslet and Guy Pearce. PEN Reads launches in March with short essays, a podcast conversation, and open comments to coincide with the premier of the mini-series. [More] PEN America 13 Available as E-book Now there are more ways to enjoy the latest issue of PEN America, featuring Don DeLillo, Patti Smith, John Ashbery, and much more. Get PEN America 13: Lovers on your Kindle, Nook, and iPad. [More] PEN on Tumblr You can now find us on Tumblr, a social media platform where we'll be posting short comments, quotes, and multimedia from around the PEN community. [Follow us] NEW MULTIMEDIA Writing Dangerously Children's and young adult authors Adam Gidwitz, Gary Golio, Nora Raleigh Baskin, and Rita Williams-Garcia discuss the censorship and risk they face in the literary landscape, as well as the overriding importance of writing the "true thing." [Audio] Viva the Belarus Free Theater Tom Stoppard, Don DeLillo, Billy Crudup, E.L. Doctorow, and others join the Belarus Free Theater for an emotional performance celebrating the courage of the many imprisoned artists and intellectuals in Belarus. [Video]

2010 in Review‏ : PEN American Center

WHO WE ARE WHAT WE DO HOW TO HELP WORLD VOICES ADVOCACY PRESS 2010 in Review‏ : PEN American Center 2010 was an exceptional year for the PEN American Center and our essential callings to protect free expression and to promote literature. The crowning moment was the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to former International Chinese PEN Center (ICPC) President Liu Xiaobo, renowned writer and political activist. From our New Year's Eve rally on the steps of the New York Public Library, to his poetry we had translated and read by PEN Members, to Anthony Appiah's nomination of Liu for the Nobel and his recent testimony before a Congressional committee, our championing of Liu's cause was at the center of our work. Recently, a friend of Liu and his wife wrote to PEN on their behalf, commending PEN's "brilliant efforts," which he called "truly admirable, and indispensible to our cause." In addition to our campaign on Liu's behalf, PEN is monitoring more than 1,000 writers in prison, on trial, or under threat in more than 90 countries and actively campaigning on behalf of more than 150 writers in prison at any given moment. Nor do the threats to free expression come only from the imprisonment of those who dare to speak. PEN's 2010 free expression advocacy programming included "State of Emergency: Censorship by Bullet in Mexico," presented in partnership with Mexican PEN to call attention to the violent silencing of Mexican journalists; "Secularism, Islam, and Democracy: Muslims in Europe and the West," Tariq Ramadan's first U.S. program; and "Faith and Free Speech," a video presented in Geneva at a meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Council to counter recent initiatives aimed at prohibiting speech considered blasphemous. Our work for free expression goes hand in hand with our promotion of literature, as we strive to build connections among literary cultures across borders. This year we celebrated the sixth anniversary of the PEN World Voices Festival that featured both acclaimed international and American writers, such as Toni Morrison, Richard Ford, Roddy Doyle, and Ben Okri; we published the 12th and 13th issues of PEN America, our award-winning literary journal; and we presented literary awards honoring the achievement of writers and translators in 14 categories, including two new awards: the PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing and the PEN/W.G. Sebald Award. Among this year's winners were Don DeLillo, Anne Carson, Theresa Rebeck, and Paul Harding. In other areas, PEN's Readers & Writers Program doubled its instruction hours in the Summer Writing Institute for public high school students; PEN's Prison Writing Program received 1,400 submissions from inmates nationally for the 2010 Prison Writing Contest and is distributing a new edition of its Handbook for Writers in Prison; and we continued to support translation through grants, online translation slams, and the fourth annual online Translation Feature. All of this, of course, happens because of the generous contributions of PEN Members and supporters. Your support of PEN confirms your belief in the power of free expression and literature to enrich every aspect of human life. "Against oppression we must be armed," as Gabriel García Márquez wrote to PEN, "with the weapons of intelligence and the word--which fortunately are ours ..." Please consider making a contribution to help support our ongoing efforts. All of us here at PEN will be most grateful. Sincerely, Steven L. Isenberg Executive Director, PEN American Center

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