(PEN Canada/IFEX) – The following is a PEN Canada press release: Toronto (November 15, 2002) -This Friday, November 15, 2002 marks the International PEN Day of the Imprisoned Writer, a very special day for the international PEN community, because it offers all members a chance to unite, and pay respect to the writers on whose […]
(PEN Canada/IFEX) – The following is a PEN Canada press release:
Toronto (November 15, 2002) -This Friday, November 15, 2002 marks the International PEN Day of the Imprisoned Writer, a very special day for the international PEN community, because it offers all members a chance to unite, and pay respect to the writers on whose behalf we campaign who are persecuted for their thoughts.
PEN Canada will be commemorating this day with an evening of readings in the Common Room at Massey College, U of T, in Toronto. Readers include PEN Canada members: Zdenka Acin, Camilla Gibb, Stephen Gill, Tesfaye D. Kumsa, Joseph Maviglia, Douglas Roy, Benjamin Santamaria and Ania Szado. Evan Solomon and Michelle Berry will host the event. As part of the event, two PEN Canada supporters/artists, Michael Brown and Brian Gahan, have created a jail exhibit that symbolises our solidarity with all of those writers who are imprisoned. The event starts at 8:00 p.m. Suggested donation is five dollars.
The “Day of the Imprisoned Writer” was inaugurated in 1981 by PEN’s Writers in Prison Committee as a day when special efforts would be made by the literary community to ameliorate the plight of writers and journalists penalised in the course of carrying out their profession. The day is commemorated with campaigns aimed at putting pressure on the responsible governments or other agencies.
This year PEN Canada is highlighting two of five cases that are being focused on internationally. These two writers, Lubaba Said of Ethiopia and Siamak Pourzand of Iran, are also PEN Canada honorary members. Many of the writers whose cases have been highlighted in past years have benefited due to the attention received from around the world. A list of writers who have been killed since Nov 15, 2001 was published by International PEN and is available from PEN Canada.
PEN Canada is committed to defending freedom of opinion and the peaceable expression of such opinion, as guaranteed by Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It campaigns on behalf of persecuted writers around the world.
