English PEN's Writers in Public programme has finally caught up with technology and has a dedicated facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/edit/?id=321305254862#!/pages/English-PEN-Writers-in-Public/321305254862
do join as a fan to be kept up to date with all our forthcoming public events!
Best,
Sarah
“Reckoning with Torture”
in Washington, D.C.
With Matthew Alexander, Paul Auster, House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, Rep. Keith Ellison, and more
When: Wednesday, March 3
Where: Georgetown Law School’s Hart Auditorium, 600 New Jersey Ave. NW, Washington, D.C.
What time: 7 p.m.
Writers and artists take the stage with a former military interrogator, a former CIA agent, and others to read from texts that have brought the U.S. government’s abuses to light. Interspersed between readings, never-before-seen video interviews with former Guantánamo detainees put a human face on the torture program.
Collectively, these documents and testimonials make undeniably clear that prisoners were tortured, abused, and in some cases even killed in U.S. custody. Our nation has some reckoning to do, and we invite you to start with the evidence.
Just a quick reminder of some of the events English PEN has coming up in the next few weeks. Full details of our Writers in Public programme can also be found on the English PEN website: www.englishpen.org
Three Streets in the Country ________________________
Friday 12 February, 6.30pm
Venue: Edmond J Safra Lecture Theatre, King’s Building, Strand Campus, King’s College London WC2R 2LS
Tickets: This is a free event but booking is essential. To book, or for more information, please contact susie.christensen@kcl.ac.uk or lara.feigel@kcl.ac.uk.
Three Streets in the Country (60 mins) is a subjective history of the London suburbs written by Michael Frayn and directed by Dennis Marks. It was commissioned as part of a series of authored films about British architecture and broadcast in 1979. In the film, Frayn chose to tell the remarkable story of the exponential growth of suburbia by focusing on his own childhood home district of Ewell in South West London. Through the minute details of ordinary life as perceived by an eleven year old child, Frayn and Marks painted a picture of the dream of the rural within the urban which inspired the builders of a century ago. Twenty years later, Frayn revisted the same wartime suburban streets and made them the background for his acclaimed novel Spies. Here, a screening of the film will be followed by a discussion between Frayn and Marks about their childhoods in the suburbs and their experience of making the film.
The talk is followed by a drinks reception. It is free and open to the public but booking is essential.
Love and Hate in Burma: A Poetry Protest
Sunday 14 February, 2-3pm
Venue: Burmese Embassy, 19A Charles Street, London W1J 5DX
To mark the second anniversary of Burmese poet Saw Wei's arrest and imprisonment, English PEN, the Democratic Party for a New Society in Burma (DPNS) and London-based poets will be holding a poetry protest outside the Burmese Embassy in London. We will be calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Saw Wei and of the many other Burmese writers of concern to PEN, including Honorary Members Aung San Suu Kyi and Zargana.
The protest will begin at 2pm. Please do join us if you can, and bring Valentine balloons and cards addressed to Saw Wei.
For more details, please click here or email cat@englishpen.org.
Taboo-Be-Do! Hits and Misses from the Politically Incorrect Songbook
Monday 15 February, 7.30pm
Venue: The King’s Head Theatre Pub, 115 Upper Street, London, N1 1QN
Tickets: £12, Visit www.kingsheadtheatre.org
Author Terence Blacker takes an eye-opening, foot-tapping journey through 100 years of politically incorrect music as part of the guitar duo Something Happened. Delving into the back catalogues of jazz, country, folk, bluegrass and pop, Blacker, his musical partner Derek Hewitson and contemporary diva Victoria Hart offer a shamelessly cheerful celebration of the outrageous, the ill-considered and the downright inappropriate.
The Patience Stone ___________________________________
Tuesday 23 February, 7pm
Venue: Daunt Bookshop, 83 Marylebone High Street, London, W1U 4QW
Tickets: £8 (includes wine and 20% discount off the book). Tickets can be purchased from the Daunt Marylebone shop in person, or with credit-debit card by telephone (020 7224 2295)
Winner of France's prestigious Goncourt Prize for 2008, and set in modern-day Afghanistan, The Patience Stone is an explosive, controversial and moving short novel that takes a compelling literary look behind the veil, daring to confront taboos of female oppression and sexuality. Atiq Rahimi author of this acclaimed book will be in conversation with Roz Schwartz, Vice-Chair of the Writers in Translation Programme of English PEN.
ADVOCACY NEWS
Writers Rally on New Year’s Eve Calling for Release of Liu Xiaobo
E.L. Doctorow, Don DeLillo, A.M. Homes, Edward Albee, and dozens of other PEN Members staged a rally on the steps of the New York Public Library to protest the imprisonment of writer Liu Xiaobo:
• Video and transcripts of readings and remarks
• PEN President Anthony Appiah discussing the case on CNN
• The seven sentences for which Liu Xiaobo was convicted
>> TAKE ACTION NOW: Write to Chinese authorities demanding Liu Xiaobo’s release
PEN Actions Improve Prospects for Detained Chinese Writer
Recent PEN actions have prompted better treatment of Zhao Shiying, the Secretary General of the Independent Chinese PEN Center, who was detained on January 14. >> More
Tamil Journalist J. S. Tissainayagam Released on Bail
Tissainayagam, one of PEN’s priority cases, is free pending his appeal of a 20-year prison sentence PEN considers a violation of his right to freedom of expression. >> More
UPCOMING EVENTS
Monday, February 8:
Crafting a Career as a Children’s or Young Adult Author—Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
Distinguished authors Brian Floca, Richard Peck, Jane O’Connor, Marilyn Singer, and David Levithan discuss issues of subject matter, book censorship, access to publishers, and book promotion. >> More
Monday, March 1:
Words and Music: Péter Esterházy and András Schiff
Peter Esterházy, “one of the most interesting and original writers of our time,” reads from his magnum opus Celestial Harmonies, with musical interludes by András Schiff. A conversation with Esterházy follows. >> More
NEW AT PEN.ORG
New Homepage
Visit www.pen.org to see PEN’s new homepage, with featured events, multimedia, and listings from Grants & Awards, along with feeds from Twitter and the PEN Blog. >> More
2009 in Review
The Year in Review Feature, now online, showcases just a few of PEN’s events, publications, and advocacy campaigns from 2009. >> More
Who Will Speak for the Child?
Walter Dean Myers, Deborah Ellis, Uzodinma Iweala, along with legal scholars and advocates, discuss what can be done to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child. >> More
PEN American Center
588 Broadway, Suite 303
New York, NY 10012
Tel. (212) 334-1660
Fax. (212) 334-2181
www.pen.org
The Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN (WiPC) protests the murder of José Alberto Velázquez López, editor of Expresiones de Tulum, who was shot dead in Cancún, Quintana Roo state, on 22 December 2009. The newspaper had been subject to attack, including death threats, in the previous few months and it is thought that Velázquez' murder may have been connected to his criticism of local authorities. He was the seventh print journalist to be killed in Mexico in 2009 and the 27th since 2004. The WiPC calls on the federal and state authorities to investigate this latest killing, along with all other unsolved journalist murders, as a matter of the utmost urgency, and to bring the culprits to justice. It also calls for the implementation of effective journalist protection programmes.
José Alberto Velázquez López, editor and owner of the daily newspaper Expresiones de Tulum, based in Tulum, Quintana Roo state, and a contributor to a local television station, was shot dead in Cancún on 22 December 2009. Velázquez was driving home after a Christmas party for the newspaper staff when he was followed by two men on a motorbike who shot him in the chest, leaving him with serious wounds. He was taken to hospital but died late that night.
The newspaper staff had reportedly received several anonymous telephone death threats in the previous few months and its printing press was also firebombed in November 2009. Velázquez, who was also a lawyer, had reportedly written a number of articles accusing the mayor of Tulum of corruption, poor administration and a lack of regard for the public but had stopped reporting on local politics after receiving the death threats, which allegedly included a threatening phone call from the mayor. The mayor and Velázquez had reportedly been enemies since April 2009, the month that the newspaper was set up and that the mayor came into office.
State prosecutors in Quintana Roo have opened an inquiry into the murder. They are reportedly looking at two possible motives: Velázquez' work as a lawyer or that it was a crime of passion. However, his colleagues at Expresiones de Tulum have reportedly dismissed these leads, suggesting that the murder is instead likely to have been related to the editor's criticism of the mayor. Police investigations into the November 2009 firebombing of the newspaper premises have yet to yield any results.
Velázquez reportedly leaves behind a heavily pregnant wife and a five-year-old son.
Background
Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries in the world to work as a journalist. From January 2004 to December 2009, a total of 27 writers - 26 print journalists and one author - were murdered, seven of them in 2009 alone. Five more print journalists have disappeared in the same period. Few if any of these crimes have been properly investigated or punished. International PEN believes that it is likely that these journalists were targeted in retaliation for their critical reporting, particularly on drug trafficking. While organised crime groups are responsible for many attacks, state agents, especially government officials and the police, are reportedly the main perpetrators of violence against journalists, and complicit in its continuance. For more information, click here.
Useful links
President
Lic. Felipe De Jesús Calderón Hinojosa
Presidente de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos
Residencia Oficial de los Pinos Casa Miguel Alemán
Col. San Miguel Chapultepec, C.P. 11850, DISTRITO FEDERAL, México
Fax: (+ 52 55) 5093 4901/ 5277 2376
Email: felipe.calderon@presidencia.gob.mx
Salutation: Señor Presidente/ Dear Mr President
Attorney General
Lic. Arturo Chávez Chávez
Procurador General de la República
Av. Paseo de Reforma No. 211-213, Piso 16
Col. Cuauhtémoc, Defegacion Cuauhtémoc
México D.F. C.P. 06500
Tel: + 52 55 5346 0108
Fax: + 52 55 53 46 0908 (if a voice answers, ask "tono de fax, por favor")
E-mail: ofproc@pgr.gob.mx
Salutation: Señor Procurador General/Dear Attorney General
Please also send copies of your appeals to the Mexican Embassy in your country.
See http://www.sre.gob.mx/acerca/directorio/embajadas/dirembajadas.htm
***Please send appeals immediately. Check with International PEN if sending appeals after 5 March 2010.***
For further details please contact Tamsin Mitchell at the Writers in Prison Committee London Office: International PEN, Brownlow House, 50-51 High Holborn, London WC1V 6ER Tel: +44 (0) 207 405 0338 Fax +44 (0) 207 405 0339 email: tamsin.mitchell@internationalpen.org.uk
http://www.internationalpen.org.uk/go/news/mexico-newspaper-editor-shot-dead
The Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN (WiPC) is shocked and saddened by the murder of Zócalo de Saltillo journalist Valentín Valdés Espinosa, who was abducted on 7 January 2010 and found dead the next day in Saltillo, Coahuila state. He had reportedly been tortured before being shot dead. Valdés is the second print journalist to be murdered in Mexico in as many weeks and the 28th since 2004. The WiPC calls on the federal and state authorities to investigate this latest killing, along with all other unsolved journalist murders, as a matter of the utmost urgency, and to bring the culprits to justice. It also calls for the implementation of effective journalist protection programmes.
According to the Coahuila state attorney general's office, Valdés was found dead in front of a hotel in Saltillo early on the morning of 8 January. He had reportedly been tortured and shot several times. On his corpse a message was found that read: "This is going to happen to those who don't understand. The message is for everyone."
The attorney general's office has stated that the murder was carried out by organized crime. Valdés covered local news, including crime, for Zócalo de Saltillo. In July 2006, another journalist from the same newspaper chain, Rafael Ortiz Martínez, reportedly disappeared in Monclova, Coahuila, and has not been seen since.
The national news magazine Proceso has reported that the other reporter who was abducted along with Valdés was later released, but this has not been confirmed by either the newspaper or the attorney general's office. According to the newspaper, the third reporter who was with Valdés was not abducted.
Background
Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries in the world to work as a journalist. From January 2004 to December 2009, a total of 27 writers - 26 print journalists and one author - were murdered, seven of them in 2009 alone. Five more print journalists have disappeared in the same period. Few if any of these crimes have been properly investigated or punished. International PEN believes that it is likely that these journalists were targeted in retaliation for their critical reporting, particularly on drug trafficking. While organised crime groups are responsible for many attacks, state agents, especially government officials and the police, are reportedly the main perpetrators of violence against journalists, and complicit in its continuance. For more information, click here.
Useful links
President
Lic. Felipe De Jesús Calderón Hinojosa
Presidente de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos
Residencia Oficial de los Pinos Casa Miguel Alemán
Col. San Miguel Chapultepec, C.P. 11850, DISTRITO FEDERAL, México
Fax: (+ 52 55) 5093 4901/ 5277 2376
Email: felipe.calderon@presidencia.gob.mx
Salutation: Señor Presidente/ Dear Mr President
Attorney General
Lic. Arturo Chávez Chávez
Procurador General de la República
Av. Paseo de Reforma No. 211-213, Piso 16
Col. Cuauhtémoc, Defegacion Cuauhtémoc
México D.F. C.P. 06500
Tel: + 52 55 5346 0108
Fax: + 52 55 53 46 0908 (if a voice answers, ask "tono de fax, por favor")
E-mail: ofproc@pgr.gob.mx
Salutation: Señor Procurador General/Dear Attorney General
Please also send copies of your appeals to the Mexican Embassy in your country.
See http://www.sre.gob.mx/acerca/directorio/embajadas/dirembajadas.htm
***Please send appeals immediately. Check with International PEN if sending appeals after 12 March 2010.***
For further details please contact Tamsin Mitchell at the Writers in Prison Committee London Office: International PEN, Brownlow House, 50-51 High Holborn, London WC1V 6ER Tel: +44 (0) 207 405 0338 Fax +44 (0) 207 405 0339 email: tamsin.mitchell@internationalpen.org.uk
http://www.internationalpen.org.uk/go/news/mexico-another-print-journalist-abducted-and-murdered
ভারতীয় পি ই এন প্রতিষ্ঠাতা সোফিয়া ওয়াদিয়াকে আমরা অনেক ভারতীয়রাই চিনিনা জানিনা। তার কিছু পরিচিত এখানে আমি দিলাম। তিনি ভারতীয় সাহিত্যের...
