A few days from now a large delegation – ten of us – will go to Mexico City . This will be a strong expression of solidarity for Mexican writers and journalists. It will also be unprecedented, with the entire Executive going – Hori Takeaki , Eric Lax and myself – as well as the Chair of the Writers in Prison Committee – Marian Botsford Fraser – and representatives of all four North American Centres, as well as the English and Japanese, all going to stand in public with our Mexican colleagues. Émile Martel, Russell Banks, Adrienne Clarkson, Gillian Slovo, Larry Siems and Adam Somers, as well as Renu Mandhane, head of the International Human Rights Program of the University of Toronto ’s Faculty of Law, will join the Executive.

We will be working with the three Mexican PEN Centres – Mexico , Guadalajara and San Miguel Allende. The culmination of this will be a public event organized by Jennifer Clement, President of PEN Mexico , and her members, involving the delegation and some 50 Mexican writers on Sunday, January 29.

There is also a public letter of solidarity to Mexican writers which I hope you will all sign. It is coming to you separately.

This is not a delegation of experts. It is a delegation of writers using our public voice. And what we do and say will be quickly transmitted to you in the hope that you will respond in your own countries.

This is all part of a sustained Mexican PEN campaign. Recently the Day of the Dead initiative initiated by Jens Lohman of Danish PEN and Tony Cohan of San Miguel PEN, spread our concerns about the threats faced by Mexican journalists throughout our membership. We hope that these new Mexican initiative will take on our campaign a stage further.

The PEN International Website

A lot of you are already sending material to the new website. This is what we need: Centres all over the world telling the rest of PEN about their work and their risks. Please contribute.

Finally, these last few weeks have been moving and historically important for Czech writers and for the belief in freedom of expression that all of us have. First, our former President, Jiří Gruša, one of the leading dissident writers of the post war period died. Then Václav Havel, about whom a great deal has rightly been written around the world. Then Ivan Jirous, whom Paul Wilson called the “leader of the Cultural Opposition”. Jirous was a poet, essayist and leader of the psychedelic rock band Plastic People of the Universe. The struggle to get him out of prison in part inspired the Chapter 77 movement. And finally, Josef Škvorecký has died, another great writer and leading dissident. Living in exile in Toronto he created 68 Publishers in 1971 and for two decades published banned Czech and Slovak writers. The books then made their way illegally back into Czechoslovakia . Of course, there are many more names, but when four courageous and inspired writers die almost together it should be marked as an important moment for all of us in PEN.

Best wishes,

John Ralston Saul

EDIT: The link to the PENProtesta petition against impunity in Mexico is available here

The  IPWWC , the International PEN Women Writer’s Committee.

“The Women Writers’ Committee was set up in 1991 to promote certain issues faced by women writers around the world – challenges at family and national levels such as unequal education, unequal access to resources and actual prohibition from writing.

The committee reaches out to both aspiring and practising women writers through PEN Centres and other organisations and networks, and works with the Writers in Prison Committee on behalf of incarcerated or endangered women writers.

Representatives from the committee attend meetings of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. The committee has held conferences in countries such as Nepal, Kyrgyzstan and Senegal, and has published special newsletters. It uses Facebook to connect the work of women writers to the world. “

The Diversity Blog was launched on the 12/01/2012 and is encouraging women writers to contribute in creative areas ,like translation, poetry and literature. The information and contacts are carried at  this link.  More than ever social-media outlets like Facebook are contributing to new connections between women writers.  PEN International is facilitating these contacts across a variety of platforms which include Websites, Facebook and Twitter. There are currently two discussion groups for members and associates of PEN available on the Facebook platform, the PEN International discussion group (231 members) and the PEN International group of writers sharing opinions and texts.

Members can choose to contribute to these above-mentioned groups , or to link up with their international colleagues through sites like Diversity. Irish PEN has a Facebook account where queries regarding social-media can be sent by direct-messaging, alternatively contacts can be addressed to the Irish PEN  addresses, which I am linking  below here.

Useful Irish PEN Contacts

Irish PEN Phone Number : 087 966 0770

Irish PEN Email Contact : info@irishpen.com

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The late Caroline Walsh

Irish PEN is very sorry to hear of the sudden death of Caroline Walsh, literary editor of The Irish Times. Caroline was a great friend of Irish PEN. She regularly attended our annual dinners and awards, and she gave mention to our various events through the years. Her mother, celebrated writer Mary Lavin, had been an active member of the Irish PEN committee many years ago. We had looked forward to seeing Caroline again at our award ceremony next February.

Chair of Irish PEN, Joe Armstrong, adds: ‘Caroline was my first editor at the Irish Times, having commissioned me to write the Man Alive column, which ran for a year while Caroline was features editor. I’m shocked by her sudden death. She was a true friend of Irish PEN. We shall miss her.’

We extend our condolences to the staff of the Irish Times and to the literary community. Details and obituary for Caroline Walsh are linked herein.

  Caroline Walsh’s death-notice is linked here  http://notices.irishtimes.com/13195072

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More than 100 poets from the 5 continents have participated every year since 1989.

The city of Trois Rivieres in on the St Lawrence seaway, half way between Montreal and Quebec. We provide travel for poets to and from Montreal airport.

There are 400 poems on walls in the city. We display 5000 in a park in the town centre during the festival.

The guest poets have only one thing to do – read their poems 2 or 3 times a day, no lectures. But they must already have at least 30 poems translated into French, as Quebec is 80% French-speaking, and our city is 99%.

One of our group will introduce the poet before the reading, read their poem in French, and then the poet will read it in his native language.

There will be about 350-400 readings of poems during the 10 day festival period,

28 September to 7 October.

More than 10000 people will attend 4-7 readings, out of the 40000 attendees.

We offer poets hospitality in a hotel, with a daily allowance for meals and another for readings.

The programme of the 27^th festival is on our website, as well as an incomplete list of previous participants.

For 2012, invitations are only offered to members of a PEN CLUB, but not in future years.

We would like to host an Irish poet every year.          Information is at link :  www.fiptr.com

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'Unsweet Dreams' by Anne Le Marquand Hartigan

‘Unsweet Dreams’ by Anne Le Marquand Hartigan is a new collection of poetry will be launched  next Wednesday 7th December at the Irish Writers’ Centre.

Information about the book is available from the Salmon Website :  http://www.salmonpoetry.com/details.php?ID=244&a=109

]]> http://www.irishpen.com/wordpress/2011/12/01/launch-of-unsweet-dreams-by-anne-le-marquand-hartigan-7th-december-iwc/feed/ 0 http://www.irishpen.com/wordpress/2011/11/16/pen-american-center-release-on-press-freedom-at-occupy-wall-street/ http://www.irishpen.com/wordpress/2011/11/16/pen-american-center-release-on-press-freedom-at-occupy-wall-street/#comments Wed, 16 Nov 2011 09:46:55 +0000 Christine Murray http://www.irishpen.com/wordpress/?p=1326 November 15, 2011:
PEN Calls for Press Freedom at Occupy Sites

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information contact:
Larry Siems, (212) 334-1660 ext. 105

New York City, November 15, 2011—PEN American Center and PEN International today condemned restrictions on press coverage of police crackdowns on Occupy Wall Street demonstrations in New York and elsewhere, calling the arrests of journalists, the grounding of media helicopters, and the restrictions on access to the Occupy sites “an obvious abridgement of the First Amendment right of all Americans to monitor official actions that clearly carry their own First Amendment concerns.”

“Whatever the arguments for clearing and cleaning the park, denying the rest of us the opportunity to witness the police action through the independent reporting of a free media simply reinforces the suspicion that the city government is seeking to hide from democratic scrutiny,” said Kwame Anthony Appiah, president of PEN American Center. “It is foolish and dangerous to undermine the faith of ordinary citizens in the impartiality of the police. It is also wrong to deny media access because it runs entirely against the spirit of the First Amendment guarantees that are at the heart of PEN’s mission.”

Early Tuesday morning, police barred reporters from news outlets including CNBC, NBC, CBS, The Wall Street Journal, and Reuters from covering the clearing of Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan, which has been occupied by protesters for over two months.  Freelancers seemed to be particularly at risk; Julie Walker, who is reporting on the protests for NPR, was arrested and released late Tuesday morning, and Jared Malsin, a freelancer for the New York Times, was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct. Others were forcefully removed from the park or handled roughly by police.

Journalists covering Occupy Wall Street protests have been arrested before, but this seems to be the first time the Mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered what amounts to a blockade of the press, saying that it was for their own protection. This morning’s actions mirror the arrests and media blackouts at other Occupy sites around the country, including Milwaukee, Nashville, and Oakland, where a cameraman was attacked and left with a concussion.

“At a time when freedom of expression is under threat worldwide, this denial of media access and restriction on press coverage is shameful and undemocratic,” said Laura McVeigh, executive director of PEN International. “It sends the wrong signal to the American people and to the rest of the world.”

PEN American Center is the largest of the 145 centers of PEN International, the world’s oldest human rights organization and the oldest international literary organization. The Freedom to Write Program of PEN American Center works to protect the freedom of the written word wherever it is imperiled. It defends writers and journalists from all over the world who are imprisoned, threatened, persecuted, or attacked in the course of carrying out their profession. For more information on PEN’s work, please visit www.pen.org

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The 77^th International Pen Congress was held in Belgrade on 12-18 September 2011. Over 200 delegates and other participants attended from over 60 countries. The theme of the Congress was Literature – language of the world. In a welcoming address Vida Ognjenovic, President of the Serbian Centre, noted that people still faced discrimination and suffered from conflicts and wars. Thus the world needed a literature which would engage both at the level of creative imagination and conscience and so provide for mutual understanding. She decried the misuse of language when it became the handmaid of ‘mass media manipulation, consumption managerial pragmatism and political oppression.’ She expressed her hope that the Belgrade Congress would help to elevate literature to its pristine purpose in ensuring freedom of expression that it remained ‘alive and vital’ to that end across the world. The theme of the congress was subsequently rehearsed in the various discussions, meetings and seminars. Among these was a fascinating discussion on Swedish Pen’s strategic use of new technologies to champion freedom of expression across the Internet.

Various Committees with specific agenda held meetings. These included: Committee for Women Writers, Committee for Writers for Peace, Committee for Writers in Prison and Committee for Translation and Linguistic Rights.

The Committee for Writers in Prison highlighted the plight of Dawit Isaac in Eritrea. Owner of a weekly newspaper, playwright and writer, he was arrested in 2001. He was one of nine journalists arrested without being charged or tried, four of whom have died in custody. Isaac holds Swedish and Eritrean citizenship, yet notwithstanding the best efforts of the Swedish government and Pen, Dawit Isaac remains in prison.

The Committee discussed the organisation of an international protest at the continuing deaths of journalists and writers in Mexico. Since 2006 when President Calderon began his military campaign against the drug cartels, 34 writers (32 journalists, one author and one poet) have been murdered. While organised crime groups are mainly responsible, state agents, government officials and the police are, it seems, perpetrators of violence against journalists and complicit in its continuance. Pen groups were requested to remember Mexico’s fallen journalists and writers on 2 November 2011 in appropriate and effective ways.

The meeting was also given a fascinating account of a recent visit by a delegation from US Pen to the Republic of China. The surveillance of journalists and writers in China continues to be Orwellian. Members of the delegation were unable to meet or communicate with imprisoned Nobel Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, or even his wife.

In the light of Pen’s mission to uphold freedom of expression and freedom of speech, the Pen world family were urged to continue its concern for those not accorded that fundamental right.

J. Anthony Gaughan.

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The 90th Anniversary of International PEN occurs in 2012.
This archive piece by PEN American Center sets out some of the
history of International PEN.

International PEN  has much to celebrate with 20,000 writers in 100
countries keeping in touch through conference, committee and widespread
use of social-media. I am including as link , a monthly letter from  John Ralston Saul
to our  International PEN members.

“This past Sunday marked the birthday of English novelist, playwright, and Nobel Laureate John Galsworthy (1867–1933), the first President of PEN International and author of the first three articles of PEN’s charter. As we look forward to our 90th anniversary in 2012, we also look back to our founding principles, which were written in a period with parallels to today’s uncertain climate for free expression. ”

http://www.pen.org/blog/?p=2086

History of the PEN Charter : http://www.irishpen.com/wordpress/history-of-the-pen-charter/
Letter from John Ralston Saul to PEN members  http://www.internationalpen.org.uk/go/news/monthly-letter-from-john-ralston-saul-to-the-membership

The case of the Sri Lankan journalist in Ireland who is facing imminent deportation was highlighted throughout the conference as “the most horrible metaphor for On The Move” (On the Move was the theme of the Passaporta literary festival).  Marion Bosford-Fraser from Canadian PEN stated that pleas to the Irish Justice Department were urgently needed to change his terrible fate.   
The Belarus campaign was highlighted by a representative from Belarusian PEN.  3 members of Belarusian PEN were detained in prison at once, at the end of last year, when their offices were raided and their computers were seized on Dec 28.  Currently their movements are very restricted, and they are under constant surveillance.
English PEN reminded the delegation that the Free Belarusian Theatre had just won an award from Index on Censorship in recognition of their work, and they are due to perform in the British house of commons on Monday 28 March with Jude Law and Kevin Spacey, two figures who are committed to the cause of Belarusians living under the last dictatorship in Europe.
On Saturday March 26th, I spoke as the Irish PEN delegate on Irish PEN’s campaign to abolish our blasphemy law, which provides that those found guilty of the offence of blasphemy face a fine of up to €25,000.  (Moreover, courts are empowered to issue a warrant authorising the police to forcibly enter and search any suspected premises, including a dwelling, for copies of “blasphemous” statements).  The delegation unanimously voted to support Irish PEN’s campaign, and PEN International pledged to prepare a letter to that effect.  Norwegian PEN and Larry Siems, from American PEN, also spoke on the need to stop any move to protect against religious defamation at UN level. 
One of the strengths of the WiPC conference was the apparently seamless link-in with other relevant conferences and literary events which were held in Brussels on the same weekend.  Throughout the weekend conference, one building – the KVS theatre – was home to shared events.  These events were organised by PEN International, PEN Vlaanderen, ICORN (International Cities of Refuge Network), HALMA (the network of literary centres in Europe) and the Passaporta festival of literature.  This meant that both public, open and ticketed literary events were held while a number of delegates with specific interests were visiting the city with a common purpose.  In this way, instead of pillaging a small niche market for literary events, the organisers of each event were cannily expanding a niche market by inviting visitors from all over Europe and the world to attend the conference, while a literary festival was also taking place.  This is certainly a model we could follow here in the literary events community in Ireland, as Dublin still basks in the glow of the recently awarded title of UNESCO City of Literature.
To support Irish PEN’s blasphemy campaign, and for more information on writers of conscience here in Ireland, please visit www.irishpen.com to leave a message of support, or visit Irish PEN on Facebook, follow our Twitter account: twitter.com/PENIreland, or alternatively contact us at: info@irishpen.com.