The Write Against Impunity anthology represents a culmination of PEN International’s focus on the issue of impunity in 2012, and its protest against the impunity enjoyed by those who attack and kill writers in Latin America.
(WiPC/IFEX) – The Write Against Impunity anthology, launched to mark International day to End Impunity, represents a culmination of PEN International’s focus on the issue of impunity in 2012, and its protest against the impunity enjoyed by those who attack and kill writers in Latin America.
This exciting anthology incorporates the work of some of the most eminent Latin American writers and journalists, including: Claribel Alegría, Homero Aridjis, Gioconda Belli, Lydia Cacho, Ariel Dorfman, José Emilio Pacheco, Elena Poniatowska, Sergio Ramírez, Gloria Guardia, Carmen Boullosa, Victor Terán and Luisa Valenzuela. The works included in the anthology vary in style and approach, but all are steadfast in their support for the murdered writers and journalists in Latin America who are denied justice.
See the full press release on PEN’s website and read the anthology online.
BACKGROUND:
On 13 August 2012, PEN International launched its ‘Write against Impunity 2012’ campaign to highlight escalating violence against journalists, writers and bloggers in Latin America, and the impunity enjoyed by those who seek to silence them.
In the first six months of 2012, more writers were murdered in Latin America than in any other region in the world, PEN International said today. The violence against writers and journalists is relentless in Mexico, with at least 80 journalists, writers and bloggers murdered in the last 12 years. Between January and August 2012, eight print journalists were killed, making Mexico the second most dangerous country in the world in which to be a writer. It is closely followed by Honduras and Brazil, PEN International reported.
“What we are witnessing is a growing pattern of violence against writers in the region. This is creating a trend of self-censorship and so directly threatens the fundamental right to free expression,” said John Ralston Saul, President of PEN International.
PEN International’s targeted campaign, Write Against Impunity 2012, brought together PEN Centres in Latin America and the Caribbean in a wide-reaching literary protest against the violence faced by journalists and writers in the region, and the state of impunity that allows those who commit these crimes to go unpunished.
Over the next two months, PEN International, along with PEN Centres in Latin America, collected original poetry and prose commemorating fallen writers from across the region and protesting impunity, with these writings to be published online on November 2, 2012.
PEN International invited writers, journalists, bloggers and students across Latin America to submit poetry or prose commemorating fallen colleagues and protesting impunity for this unique campaign, which will be the first of its kind.
For more information and details on how to get involved in the campaign please check online
