(PEN/IFEX) – The following is a 29 April PEN American Center press release: April 29, 1999 Turkish Playwright and Syrian Poet to Receive 1999 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom-to-Write Awards Blind Turkish playwright, poet, short story author, screenwriter, and lawyer Esber Yagmurdereli, fifty-three, has been in and out of prison since 1978. He was released in 1991, […]
(PEN/IFEX) – The following is a 29 April PEN American Center press release:
April 29, 1999
Turkish Playwright and Syrian Poet to Receive 1999 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith
Freedom-to-Write Awards
Blind Turkish playwright, poet, short story author, screenwriter, and lawyer
Esber Yagmurdereli, fifty-three, has been in and out of prison since 1978.
He was released in 1991, only to suffer ongoing persecution and frequent
arrests for speaking out against the Turkish government’s human rights
abuses. Since 1998, Yagmurdereli, an Honorary Member of several PEN centers,
has been incarcerated near Ankara. In addition to his distinguished literary
and legal careers, he has also edited several magazines and political
journals, including Yeni Eylem.
Syrian poet Faraj Ahmad Birqdar, forty-eight, remains one of the
longest-detained writers in the world. His work on behalf of free expression
and nonviolent political action led to his arrest in 1987 on suspicion of
membership in the Party for Communist Action. In 1993, he was sentenced to
fifteen years in prison, after being held without charge or trial for more
than six years. He suffers from various health problems resulting from the
brutal torture he has endured. An Honorary Member of the American, English,
Netherlands, and Slovak PEN Centers, Birqdar received a Hellman/Hammett Free
Expression Award in 1998.
The annual awards, administered and selected by PEN’s Freedom-to-Write
Committee, recognize and support two foreign writers who are in prison or in
danger as a consequence of their writing. Each year since their
establishment in 1987, the awards have brought international attention to
notable cases of authors persecuted for their work; the $3,000 granted in
each case has assisted writers to gain release from prison, overcome
financial crises, or pursue initiatives that further their work against
censorship. Nearly half the previous twenty-five recipients were released
from prison shortly after receiving the honor. In 1992, PEN member Barbara
Goldsmith began underwriting half the cost of the prize; since 1995, she has
underwritten the entire award. The awards will be presented in New York at
the PEN Gala, May 12, 1999, along with the 1999 PEN/Newman’s Own First
Amendment Award to ReLeah Lent.
