Author Archives: Lia Mills

Forgottenness … a novel by Tanja Maljartschuk

To mark the 2nd anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, we are posting a link to a review of Tanja’s novel in English on Chytomo

Forgottenness will be launched in Ireland on 7th March at 6:30 p.m. in The Gutter Bookshop. Cow’s Lane, Temple Bar.

“Culture in a Time of War” event at the RIA

Dublin Book Festival

Report by Natalya Kornienko for Chytomo.

This event was sponsored by Dublin UNESCO City of Literature in association with Dublin City Council. It was dedicated to the memory of Victoria Amelina, who was scheduled to appear on the panel before she was killed, along with 12 other people, by a Russian Missile strike on a pizza restaurant in Kramatorsk, Ukraine (27th June, 2023)

Victoria Amelina wins Chytomo Special Jury prize (posthumously)

Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina, who was well known to the PEN International community, a member of PEN Ukraine and a friend of Irish PEN, received a Special Jury Award (posthumously) from Chytomo. The Award ceremony, recognising outstanding achievements in publishing, was held on 2nd November 2023.

Victoria Amelina (1986-2023)

Victoria won her award “For continuing to connect people and communities through many unseen bridges, and for creating opportunities and pathways that continue to guide the Ukrainian cultural community forward.” https://chytomo.com/en/chytomo-award-announced-winners/

Mahvash Sabet/English PEN

We have received this information from our colleagues in English PEN as part of their PENWrites campaign. Please follow the links to learn more about Mahvash Sabet, to read some of her memoir, and to write her a message of solidarity.

If you write to her, please say that you are a member of Irish PEN. This helps them with their records.

Mahvash Sabet is an award-winning poet and teacher from Iran. In 2017, she was chosen as the winner of the PEN Pinter Prize for a Writer of Courage by fellow poet Michael Longley.

Having already spent several long years in detention between 2008 and 2017, Mahvash Sabet was once again arrested in Iran in July 2022. She has since been sentenced to a further ten years in prison on spurious charges.

PEN is deeply concerned by reports that Sabet has been subjected to torture in detention. We continue to call for her immediate and unconditional release, and for the release of the many other Iranians currently in detention in violation of their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful protest.

English PEN has announced Mahvash Sabet as an Honorary Member.She is featured in their ongoing PENWrites campaign. Please take a few moments to send her a message of solidarity and hope.

You can read some of Mahvash Sabet’s memoir and poetry here:

https://pentransmissions.com/

PEN Friends

Chytomo: Natalya Korniyenko Interview with Victoria Amelina (undated)

The following is one of a series of interviews conducted by Chythomo, a project exploring writers’ contribution to the war effort in Ukraine.

Philippe Sands: Remembering marvellous Victoria Amelina

The killing of Viktoria Amelina, who has died of injuries suffered during last week’s Russian missile attack on a restaurant in Kramatorsk, deprives Lviv, Ukraine and the world of an outstanding writer, an individual who reflected the best of modern Ukraine – humour, tenacity and warmth, coupled with a brilliantly open spirit and a courageous soul. Just a few months ago, at the Book Festival in Lviv, her beloved home city, she captivated us on life, love, family and crimes, her work on the coming War and Justice Diary: Looking at Women Looking at War. ‘They are targeting all of us’, she said in our public conversation, ‘and for me that is a genocide’. Her life was emblematic of remarkable Lviv, her death is emblematic of a merciless and terrible war, prosecuted by men who feel no compunction acting in manifest violation of the most basic precepts of humanity. Victoria Amelina is gone, but she will always be present, her values embodied in the decency she represented and the accountability she sought. Her killing is a most terrible crime – her legacy will include a renewed and unbreakable commitment to accountability for those who perpetrate such  horrors, in a land she cared for with passion and brilliance.  

Philippe Sands, July 3, 2023, 08h00.

PEN INTERNATIONAL STATEMENT ABOUT THE MURDER OF VICTORIA AMELINA


Ukraine: PEN International mourns the killing of writer and PEN Ukraine member Victoria Amelina

03 July 2023 – PEN International joins PEN Ukraine in mourning the killing of writer, PEN Ukraine member and human rights defender Victoria Amelina, following a horrific Russian missile strike in Kramatorsk, Eastern Ukraine on 27 June 2023. Amelina was seriously injured and rushed to hospital in Dnipro. She passed away on 1 July 2023. She was 37 years old.

In a statement published on 2 July 2023, PEN Ukraine said:

‘With our greatest pain, we inform you that Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina passed away on 1 July in Mechnikov Hospital in Dnipro. Her death was caused by injuries incompatible with life, which she suffered from during the Russian missile shelling of a restaurant in Kramatorsk on 27 June 2023. We are announcing this news now when all Victoria’s family members have learned about it and with their consent (…). Victoria Amelina, Ukrainian writer and member of PEN Ukraine, who has been documenting Russian war crimes with the human rights initiative Truth Hounds, was in Kramatorsk with a delegation of Colombian writers and journalists. As they were having dinner at the Ria Lounge restaurant downtown, Russians launched a missile attack on this restaurant. Victoria was severely injured. Doctors and paramedics in Kramatorsk and Dnipro did everything they could to save her life, but the injuries were fatal and incompatible with life. In the last days of Victoria’s life, her closest people and friends were with her (…). For us, Victoria’s friends, and colleagues, it is very important the cultural initiatives set up by her, could last. Very soon we will share with you information about the ways you can support her life’s work.’

Romana Cacchioli, Executive Director of PEN International, said:

We are devasted by the killing of our friend and PEN member Victoria Amelina. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family and loved ones during these terrible times. Victoria’s strength, selflessness, and determination in the face of adversity have been an inspiration to us all. As we grieve her loss, her words, writings, and voice will forever resonate with us. Today is a tragic day for the PEN community, who stands with everyone at PEN Ukraine. Those responsible for her killing must be brought to justice.’

Born in 1986, Victoria Amelina was a prize-winning writer and poet, and founder of the New York Literature Festival in the Donetsk region, Eastern Ukraine. Since the Russian Federation’s full-scale military invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, Amelina had been documenting war crimes with the human rights initiative Truth Hounds, and notably uncovered the war diary of Ukrainian writer Volodymyr Vakulenko, who was abducted by Russian forces on 24 March 2022. On 28 November 2022, after the Ukrainian army recaptured Izium from Russian forces, DNA analysis confirmed that the body found in grave N.319 in the woods of Izium was that of Vakulenko. Amelina had recently taken part in the first presentation of his war diary at the Book Arsenal literary festival in Kyiv on 23 June 2023.

PEN International has repeatedly called on the Russian Federation to immediately and unconditionally end its devastating war against Ukraine, including through a Resolution adopted at PEN International’s 88th annual Congressin September 2022, a statement marking a year of war crimes and resolve in Ukraine, and a Declaration of PEN International’s Writers for Peace Committee issued in May 2023.

Full statement available here: https://www.pen-international.org/news/pen-international-mourns-the-killing-of-victoria-amelina

WRITER AND PEN UKRAINE MEMBER VICTORIA AMELINA SERIOUSLY INJURED IN RUSSIAN MISSILE STRIKE ON KRAMATORSK

(Statement from PEN International)

Members and Board members of Irish PEN/PEN na hÉireann are appalled and devastated by the news that our dear friend, award-winning writer and war crimes researcher Victoria Amelina, has been injured in a Russian missile strike in Kramatorsk. We wish, as hard as we have ever wished for anything, that Victoria will have a swift recovery. Here is a statement from PEN International:

29 June – PEN International joins PEN Ukraine in condemning the horrific Russian missile strike in Kramatorsk, Eastern Ukraine on 27 June 2023. Twelve people had been killed and more than 60 wounded at the time of writing, including writer, PEN Ukraine member and human rights defender Victoria Amelina, who remains in hospital.

Victoria was in Kramatorsk with Colombian writer Héctor Abad Faciolince, journalist Catalina Gómez Ángel and politician Sergio Jaramillo at the time of the attack. The Colombian delegates sustained minor injuries… more on the PEN International website.

Emergency Resource List

(for writers and journalists at risk)

NB: This list has been checked/updated as far as possible in August 2022

PEN CENTRES:

PEN International: The PEN Emergency Fund provides assistance to persecuted writers and journalists who are in acute financial need. For more information, please contact Aurélia Dondo, Europe Programme Coordinator at PEN International: 

aurelia.dondo@pen-international.org

PEN America administer an emergency fund:

https://pen.org/campaign/pen-america-writers-emergency-fund/

PEN America also has a guide to digital security/online harassment
https://onlineharassmentfieldmanual.pen.org

PEN Finland’s Hate Speech Toolkit: https://www.suomenpen.fi/userassets/uploads/2021/06/the-hate-speech-toolkit-en-110621-web.pdf

OTHER RESOURCES

ARTICLE 19 is part of the Media Freedom Rapid Response which has funding for legal and protection costs for journalists, along with monitoring and advocacy. https://www.mfrr.eu  

Front Line Defenders offers emergency assistance, financial support and training – including around digital security – to eligible journalists facing threats in Northern Ireland. Apply online: https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/programme/protection-grants 

Front Line Defenders also have a comprehensive list of other funding options on their website: https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/resource-publication/other-funding-organisations

Human Rights Watchhttps://www.hrw.org/human-rights-watch/hellman-hammett-grants

International Federation of Journalistshttps://www.ifj.org/safety-fund.html

International Media Support https://www.mediasupport.org/what-we-do/safety-for-journalists/#safety-fund

Journalists in Distress network https://www.journalistsindistress.org/ 

This is a group of organisations who provide emergency support, many of them listed here. It might be worth familiarising yourself with this site prior to an emergency to identify which of the organisations are most likely to be able to help if and when needed.

Reporters sans Frontières: Assistance for Journalists 

https://rsf.org/en/individual-support

The Rory Peck Trust provides assistance and support to freelance journalists and their families worldwide: https://rorypecktrust.org/

They also have a risk assessment guide:

The Society of Authors runs The Authors’ Contingency fund. Writers can apply directly to the SoA for support:
https://www.societyofauthors.org/Grants/contingency-funds

Risk Assessment

PEN Finland’s Hate Speech Toolkit: https://www.suomenpen.fi/userassets/uploads/2021/06/the-hate-speech-toolkit-en-110621-web.pdf

Rory Peck Trust (see above):