Writers Under Siege: Voices of Freedom from Around the World

Published by New York University Press 2007

Writers Under Siege

Voices of Freedom from Around the World

Edited by: Lucy Popescu and Carole Seymour-Jones
Preface by: Tom Stoppard

https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9780814768433.001.0001

Overview
Contents

About this book

The freedom to write is under threat today throughout the world, with more than 1,000 writers, journalists, and publishers known to be imprisoned or persecuted in more than 100 countries. Writers Under Siege bears witness to the power and danger of the pen, and to the powerful longing for the right to use it without fear. Collected here are fifty contributions by writers who have paid dearly for the privilege of writing. Some have been tortured; some have been killed. All understand the cost of speaking up and speaking out.
This book was prepared by PEN, which is both the world’s oldest human rights organization and the oldest international literary organization. It commemorates PEN’s eighty-fifth anniversary and celebrates PEN’s work by giving voice to persecuted writers from around the globe. The contributors come from more than twenty countries, from Belarus to Zimbabwe. Many are well-known in the English-speaking world, including Orhan Pamuk, from Turkey, winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize for Literature; Harold Pinter, from England, winner of the 2005 Nobel Prize for Literature; Aung San Suu Kyi, from Burma, winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize; and Anna Politkovskaya, from Russia, the noted journalist and author who was murdered in 2006, shortly after writing the piece that appears in this collection. Other contributors are less famous, perhaps, but their contributions are no less compelling. In prose and poetry, in fiction and non-fiction, they reveal the personal consequences of war, conflict, terrorism, and authoritarianism.
While the pieces collected here differ in their settings and their subjects, all are riveting. Grouped into four sections — Prison, Death, Asylum, and The Freedom to Write — they call our attention to the fundamental humanity we share and highlight the inhumanity we can so easily condone.
Contributors include: Chris Abani, Angel Cuadra Landrove, Asiye Guzel, Augusto Ernesto Llosa Giraldo, Mamadali Makhmudov, Orhan Pamuk, Harold Pinter, Anna Politkovskaya, Aung San Suu Kyi, Thich Tue Sy, Gai Tho, and Ken Saro-Wiwa.

Author / Editor information

Popescu Lucy :

Lucy Popescu has worked with PEN’s Writers in Prison Committee for more than fifteen years. She writes a regular column for Literary Review.Seymour-Jones Carole :

Carole Seymour-Jones is Chair of PEN’s Writers in Prison Committee. She is the author of Painted Shadow: The Life of Vivienne Eliot, First Wife of T.S. Eliot. Tom Stoppard is a playwright. Among his many plays are Arcadia and The Real Thing.Stoppard Tom :

Tom Stoppard is a playwright. Among his many plays are Arcadia and The Real Thing.

Reviews

An invaluable anthology. . . . The individuals in this anthology . . . tell stories so vital and impassioned that we are moved to become lecteurs engagés, moved not merely by their writing but by their courage and conviction of the their lives.

As an act of commemoration, as well as a sobering reminder of the world in which writers are frequently and all too easilysilenced, this is an exceptional anthology.

Michael Palin,author of numerous travel books, including Around the World in 80 Days:
This anthology is essential reading for anyone who has ever been moved by the written word. The authors of these pieces have one thing in common. They have all been coerced into not writing. This means that not only do they have powerful stories to tell, but that when, thanks very often to the work of organizations like PEN, they are eventually allowed to tell them, the result is spare, powerful writing, which jolts and challenges our prejudices and assumptions.

Monica Ali,author of Brick Lane:
Engrossing. Reza Baraheni’s piece is simply electric and others, such as Ken Saro-Wiwas letters, deeply moving. More than anything the collection stands as a testament of courage and a clarion call to recognize free expression for what it really is a basic human right.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Foreword Tom Stoppard Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Introduction Carole Seymour-Jones Publicly Available Download PDF	xiv
A Note on Selections Lucy Popescu Publicly Available Download PDF	xxii
Death Harold Pinter Publicly Available Download PDF	xxvi
From his last television interview Ken Saro-Wiwa Publicly Available Download PDF	xxviii
Prison
A minor mistake in Evin Prison Reza Baraheni Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
A true story of April Fool's Day Jiang Qisheng Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	10
Time for prison, times for freedom Ali al-Dumaini Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	17
Mirrors of absence Faraj Ahmad Bayrakdar Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	24
Asiye' s story Asiye Güzel Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	37
'Chiquitin' Augusto Ernesto Llosa Giraldo Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	45
Letter Mamadali Makhmudov Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	48
Prison Yndamiro Restano Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	54
We make death easy Faraj Sarkohi Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	57
Cuba Angel Cuadra Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	64
The philosophy of my life Yury Bandazhevsky Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	68
Conscience on Trial Koigi wa Wamwere Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	76
Poems Chris Abani Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	79
'Letter to Arthur Miller' José Revueltas Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	87
Poems Shi Tao Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	93
Letter Sihem Ben Sedrine Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	96
Silent impatience Javier Tuanama Valera Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	98
Poems Grigory Pasko Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	101
Sacrificial therapy Andrej Dynko Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	105
Poems Thich Tue Sy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	111
Letters Hwang Dae-Kwon Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	113
What I'm doing Khin Zaw Win Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	123
Letter Ali Reza Jabari Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	125
The Freedom Flora Brovina Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	129
Letter Liu Jinsheng Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	131
Death
On the Death of Ken Saro-Wiwa Ken Saro-Wiwa Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	133
Undying gardens Thiagarajah Selvanithy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	141
Family Picture in Havana Rakhim Esenov Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	143
A Man Dies, Cuba, 1964 Angel Cuadra Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	149
Extracts from Dungeon of Ghosts Akbar Ganji Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	150
Poems Flora Brovina Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	157
Extract from Thunderstorm in the Night Harry Wu Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	159
Mango Chutney Chris Abani Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	167
Exile
Once I had a home Gai Tho Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	171
Family picture in Havana Jean-Louis Ntadi Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	175
Cries of the cricket Jean-Louis Ntadi Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	182
Poems Mansur Muhammad Ahmad Rajih Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	193
The long road Cheikh Kone Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	199
Mother Taslima Nasrin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	206
The burdens of creativity in Africa- reflections Chenjerai Hove Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	208
The Freedom to Write
Essay Anna Politkovskaya Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	215
PEN Arthur Miller Freedom to Write Orhan Pamuk Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	223
Freedom from fear Aung San Suu Kyi Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	230
Extract from speech Paul Kamara Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	237
Light a myriad candles to collectively commemorate the brave spirits of 4 June An open letter Jiang Qjsheng Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	242
A novel response Ma Thida Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	247
Extract from speech Hrant Dink Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	253
Host not found Hari Kunzru Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	259
Letters Ken Saro-Wiwa Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	266
Acknowledgements Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	269
Permissions Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	270

Language: English
Publisher: New York University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Keywords: writers; Under; Siege; bears; witness; power; danger; pen; powerful; longing; right; without; fear; Collected; here; fifty; contributions; have; paid; dearly; privilege; writing

eBook

Published: September 1, 2007
ISBN: 9780814768433