PEN Canada marks Day of the
Imprisoned Writer
SOURCE: PEN Canada, Toronto
(For
further information on the Lubaba Said case, see IFEX alerts of 5
July,
9 and 4 April 2002 and 2 August 2001; for information on the Siamak
Pourzand
case, see alerts of 25 October, 31 and 9 July, 26 June, 21, 13
and 7 May,
24 April 21 and 13 March 2002, 6 and 3 December 2001)
Toronto (November 15, 2002) - This Friday, November 15, 2002 marks
the
International
PEN Day of the Imprisoned Writer, a very special day for the
international
PEN community, because it offers all members a chance to
unite,
and pay respect to the writers on whose behalf we campaign who are
persecuted
for their thoughts.
PEN
Canada will be commemorating this day with an evening of readings in
the
Common
Room at Massey College, U of T, in Toronto. Readers include PEN Canada
members: Zdenka Acin, Camilla Gibb, Stephen Gill, Tesfaye D. Kumsa,
Joseph
Maviglia, Douglas Roy, Benjamin Santamaria and Ania Szado. Evan
Solomon
and Michelle Berry will host the event. As part of the event, two
PEN
Canada supporters/artists, Michael Brown and Brian Gahan, have created
jail
exhibit that symbolises our solidarity with all of those writers who
are
imprisoned. The event starts at 8:00 p.m. Suggested donation is five
dollars.
The
"Day of the Imprisoned Writer" was inaugurated in 1981 by PEN's
Writers
in
Prison Committee as a day when special efforts would be made by the literary
community to ameliorate the plight of writers and journalists penalised
in the course of carrying out their profession. The day is
commemorated
with campaigns aimed at putting pressure on the responsible
governments
or other agencies.
This
year PEN Canada is highlighting two of five cases that are being focused
on internationally. These two writers, Lubaba Said of Ethiopia and
Siamak
Pourzand of Iran, are also PEN Canada honorary members. Many of the
writers
whose cases have been highlighted in past years have benefited due
to
the attention received from around the world. A list of writers who
have
been
killed since Nov 15, 2001 was published by International PEN and is
available
from PEN Canada.
PEN
Canada is committed to defending freedom of opinion and the peaceable
expression
of such opinion, as guaranteed by Article 19 of the Universal
Declaration
of Human Rights. It campaigns on behalf of persecuted writers
around
the world.