(PEN/IFEX) – The following is a PEN poets’ statement addressed to President Slobodan Milosevic on behalf of imprisoned Albanian poet Flora Brovina: **Updates IFEX alerts of 23 June and 30 April 1999** PEN POETS’ STATEMENT ON BEHALF OF IMPRISONED ALBANIAN POET FLORA BROVINA August 27, 1999 As poets, we write to express our outrage at […]
(PEN/IFEX) – The following is a PEN poets’ statement addressed to President
Slobodan Milosevic on behalf of imprisoned Albanian poet Flora Brovina:
**Updates IFEX alerts of 23 June and 30 April 1999**
PEN POETS’ STATEMENT ON BEHALF OF IMPRISONED ALBANIAN POET FLORA BROVINA
August 27, 1999
As poets, we write to express our outrage at the prolonged detention of our
colleague, ethnic Albanian poet Dr. Flora Brovina. The author of four
volumes of poetry, Flora Brovina is also a pediatrician, women’s rights
activist and highly respected leader in her community. After she was
abducted from her home on April 22 in Pristina, Dr. Brovina was held
incommunicado by Serb authorities. We are extremely concerned that she is
suffering from deteriorating health and partial paralysis exacerbated by
dire prison conditions.
We stand in solidarity with Dr. Brovina as she remains behind bars, guilty
of nothing more than the peaceful expression of her views. As poets, we
believe that poetry is one of the greatest glories of the human spirit; to
suppress that spirit by imprisoning Dr. Brovina negates her right to pursue
literary endeavor in freedom and deprives her audience of the opportunity to
hear her voice. The Serbian people have reason to know poetry is a central
element in the healing of society emerging from recent trauma. The people of
your region need Dr. Brovina’s literary talent to flourish and resonate in
freedom. We call upon you to release our fellow poet immediately and to
provide her with the full medical attention she urgently requires.
April Bernard Seamus Heaney Galway Kinnell Carolyn
Kizer Robert
Pinsky Charles Simic Derek Walcott
