International PEN Newsletter March 2008 |
Welcome to the latest newsletter for members and friends of International PEN,
Dear Friends,
Time seems to pass so quickly and everyone at the International PEN headquarters has been extremely busy with preparations for many upcoming events. At the beginning of February, we had our yearly in person board meeting in Vienna with our President, Jiří Gruša, and we were lucky enough to have Edvard Kovac, Chair of the Peace Committee, among us.
A few days ago, Caroline and I came back from an exiting visit to Tokyo for the ‘Forum for Natural Disaster and Culture' hosted by Japanese PEN. Their hospitality was overwhelming and the literary contributions and thematic discussions were of the highest interest, including a key note speech from Nobel Prize for Literature recipient, Kenzaburo Oe. We also discussed Congress 2010, and I am happy to let you know that Japanese PEN have generously proposed their candidacy for this congress.
I look forward to the next couple of months of so many wonderfully rich and varied PEN events all over the world, and to the possibility of meeting with as many of you as possible...
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| International Pen:
Novelist Yaghoub Yadali sentence increased; risk of re-arrest |
| The Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN has learned with alarm the threat of re-arrest of novelist Yaghoub Yadali. Sentenced on charges of “insult” in September 2007 to one year in prison, nine months of the term were suspended. However on 24 February 2008 an appeals court has ordered that he serve the term in prison... |
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| 2008 International PEN China Campaign Poem Relay |
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IRAN: Amin Ghazaei, writer and student leader detained; fears of ill-treatment and health concerns |
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| Jaleh ESFAHANI |
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| Jaleh ESFAHANI(Soltani- Zayandehroodi), the celebrated Iranian poetess died on 29th November 2007 in London ,after a protracted illness.She was one of a handful of candidates for the Nobel Prize in Literature presented to the Swedish Academy in 2007 by the Iranian Pen Centre in Exile to which Jaleh belonged.Jaleh was the foremost poet of exile in the latter part of the 20th Century having spent over thirty years in the former Soviet Union and many of its Asiatic Republics.Her poetry has been translated into many languages and in a ballet productionb. |
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| - Alexander Tkachenko 'Sasha' |
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- IRAN: Death sentence against Iranian Kurdish journalist Adnan Hassanpour upheld by Supreme Court. |
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- IRAN: Iranian Kurdish journalist Mohammad Sadiq Kabudvand detained; reports of ill treatment. |
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- IRAN: Leading journalist and human rights defender Emadeddin Baqi detained; fears of ill treatment. |
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- IRAN: Economic journalist Ali Farahbakhsh released on ‘conditional bail'. |
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- IRAN: Iranian-American academic Haleh Esfandiari (f) released on bail; Kian Tajbakhsh still detained . |
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A Historical background:
On the occasion of the 61 st Congress of INTERNATIONAL P.E.N. in Prague dated November 1994, The IRANIAN P.E.N. CENTRE IN EXILE (IPCE), having accepted and signed on the protocols became a new chapter amongst 130 others with similar ideals and objectives that are active across the world. These ideals and objectives include the upholding of the principles of freedom of thought and expression; the struggle against all forms of censorship everywhere; a determined effort to enhance mutual understanding and respect amongst peoples and nations, to promote peace and friendship, and a sustained endeavour to protect the artistic and literary creations that are the common heritage of mankind.
The IRANIAN P.E.N. CENTER IN EXILE maintains that the freedom to question governments and their organizations is a necessary ingredient of civic progress. In this belief the IRANIAN P.E.N. CENTRE IN EXILE hails and salutes all who wield the P.E.N. everywhere.
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contact us: info@iran-pen.org |
