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:: Press Releases from Swedish PEN
PRESS
RELEASE FROM THE SWEDISH PEN CENTRE, MONDAY 18 SEPTEMBER 2006
Tucholsky
Scholarship goes to Nasser Zarafshan
The
Swedish PEN Centre has decided to award the Iranian writer and lawyer
Nasser Zarafshan the 2006 Tucholsky Scholarship. The scholarship is
awarded on a yearly basis to a writer or publisher who is/has been
persecuted, threatened or imprisoned on account of his or her writing.
Mr Zarafshan is at present serving a five-year term in Evin Prison,
Tehran. In 2002 he was sentenced to a three-year term for disclosing
state secrets, two years for possession of arms, and fifty lashes
for possession of alcohol. As a lawyer he defended a number of the
writers and intellectuals who were tried for a series of political
assassinations in Iran in 1998.
The Swedish PEN Centre has followed Nasser Zarafshan's case closely
via the work done by the Writers in Prison Committee of International
PEN. Mr Zarafshan is an honorary member of the Swedish PEN Centre.
The
Tucholsky Scholarship consists of 150 000 Swedish Crowns, the original
idea of which is to make it possible for the recipient of the scholarship
to spend some time in Sweden writing and resting from the trauma of
imprisonment and persecution.
The Tucholsky Scholarship was created in the 1980's to honour the
German writer Kurt Tucholsky, who took refuge in Sweden from Nazi
Germany in the 1930's. Mr Tucholsky committed suicide in Sweden in
1935 while waiting to receive his permanent residency in Sweden. The
Swedish PEN Centre sees the Scholarship as a means of honouring freedom
of expression and a way to give support and aid to writers suffering
from persecution.
Adam
Zagajevski, Salman Rushdie, Taslima Nasrin, Svetlana Alexievich, Faraj
Sarkoohi and Flora Brovina are a few of the writers who have previously
been awarded the Tucholsky Scholarship.
Further
information:
Ms Maria Modig 46-(0) 736- 24 18 60
Mr Morteza Saghafian 46-(0)704-47 46 58
Mr Kjell Holm 46-(0) 702-52 00 29
PRESS
RELEASE FROM THE SWEDISH PEN CENTRE, TUESDAY 26 APRIL 2005
Swedish PEN has
decided to grant the Tucholsky award of 2005
to the
Palestinian writer Samir El-youssef
Samir El-youssef is
a Palestinian writer and critic. He was born in Rashidia, a
Palestinian refugee camp in south of Lebanon, in 1965. And since
1990 he's been living in London where he studied philosophy and
gained MA from University of London.
As a novelist, El-youssef
has published four books of fiction of which Gaza Blues, Different
Stories
(co-authored with the Israeli Etgar Keret) is most recent. He writes
in both Arabic and English, and some of his work has been translated
to German, Italian, Greek and Norwegian. He has just completed his
first novel in English.
He
is also an essayist with a wide range of interests which includes
literature, politics, philosophy and cultural studies in general.
His essays and reviews have appeared in major Arabic periodicals and
newspapers such as the London-based Al-Hayat.
With the Tucholsky
award, members of Swedish PEN want to honour the free word and to
give support and help to their colleagues throughout the world. This
award has been named after the German writer Kurt Tucholsky, who
came to Sweden in the beginning of the thirties as a refugee from
the Nazi regime in Hitler's Germany. Still waiting to have his
application for political refuge granted he committed suicide in
1935 and was buried in Mariefred, Sweden.
The Tucholsky award
(150.000 SEK or ca 15.000 Euro) is given every year to a writer or a
publisher who is either being persecuted or threatened, or is living
in exile.
This award was
established by Swedish PEN in 1984 and has been awarded to many
writers among which - Adam Zagajevski, Bei Dao, Nuruddin Farah,
Salman Rushdie, Taslima Nasrin, Svetlana Alexievich, Salim Barakat,
Asiye Güzel Zeybek, Rajko Djuric, Jun Feng and Yvonne Vera.
Common to them, is
that they all during a period of their lives has been oppressed,
persecuted and threatened to their lives for one reason only; that
those in power wanted to silence them as writers.
In most cases they
were forced in exile. Most of them without a possibility to ever
return home.
Swedish PEN
Stockholm, 26 April
2005
Ljiljana Dufgran,
President
of Swedish PEN,
Phone: + 46 705 95 41 91,
E-mail:
dufgran@telia.com
or:
ljiljana.dufgran@dn.se
PRESS RELEASE FROM THE SWEDISH PEN
CENTRE, TUESDAY 25 MAY 2004
Swedish PEN has
decided to grant the Tucholsky award of 2004 to the
Zimbabwian writer Yvonne Vera presently living in
Canada
Yvonne Vera (born 1964) grew up in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, and never wanted to
leave her country. Nonetheless she has lived for many years in Toronto, Canada.
It was while living there that she wrote her doctoral thesis on African writers
like Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Soyinka, Ruth First and Breytenbach. She recently
decided to leave Zimbabwe again. She broke up from her home. She left behind
much more, the way one does when leaving one’s dearest friends and
family.
Yvonne Vera is Zimbabwe’s greatest writer, and until
recently she headed the National Gallery of Art of Bulawayo, undoubtedly
Zimbabwe’s finest art museum, with its wrought iron verandas and cool
galleries.
History and culture are
without meaning if they are based on shame that oppresses women and abuses
children. Yvonne Vera’s novels brings up what is difficult to depict in everyday
life: incest, abortion, to kill a new-born infant. “Why Don’t You Carve Other
Animals”, “Nehanda”, “Without a Name”, “Under the Tongue”and “Butterfly Burning”
are some of her books. “Under the Tongue” is about horror that cannot be
put into words: a father’s abuse of his daughter. Yvonne Vera sees it as her
duty to tell about what is there under the tongue, to break the
silence.
With this award members of Swedish PEN want to
honour the free word and support and help their collegues throughout the
world.
The Tucholsky award (150.000
SEK or ca 15.000 Euro) is every year given by Swedish PEN to a writer or a
publisher who is being persecuted, threatened or in exile from his or her
country. This award has been named after the German writer Kurt Tucholsky, who
came to Sweden in the beginning of the thirties as a refugee from the Nazi
regime in Hitler's Germany. Still awaiting to have his application for political
refuge granted he committed suicide in 1935 and was buried in Mariefred,
Sweden.
The Tucholsky award was established in 1984 and has been awarded
writers like Adam Zagajevski, Nuruddin Farah, Salman Rushdie, Taslima Nasrin,
Shirali Nurmaradov, Mirko Kovac, Svetlana Alexievich, Faraj Sakoohi, Vincent
Magombe, Salim Barakat, Asiye Güzel Zeybek, Rajko Djuric, Jun Feng and others.
Common to them all is that
they during a period of their life have been oppressed, persecuted and
threatened to their lives for one reason and one reason only, that those in
power wanted to silence them as writers.
Swedish PEN
Stockholm,
25 maj 2004
Ljiljana Dufgran,
President of Swedish
PEN,
Phone: + 46 705 95 41 91,
e-mail: dufgran@telia.com
or:
ljiljana.dufgran@dn.se
Alexander Starikevich: “Evil kings come and go, and free press
remains”
May 3 Belarusian Association of Journalists held a celebration of
the World Press Freedom Day. Belarusian journalists, leaders of
democratic organizations and foreign diplomats took part in the
event. Alexander Starikevich, Chief Editor of “Salidarnasc”
newspaper, received an award of the Swedish Pen Centre for his
contribution to the freedom of expression. Besides, BAJ also awarded
honorary diplomas to BDG journalist Iryna Makavetskaya, newspapers
“Djen”, “Novaya Gazeta Smorgoni”, “Gazeta Slonimskaya” and “Gazeta
Dlia Vas”.
“Our main goal is to stress the importance of journalists’ work,
especially in complex conditions,” International Secretary of the
Swedish Pen Kjell Holm said when awarding the diploma.
“In the 19th century the Swedish king 17 times tried to close the
newspaper “Aftonbladet”. Where is that king now, when “Aftonbladet”
is still one of the most influential newspapers in Sweden?... Evil
kings come and go, and free press remains”, Alexander Starikevich
said when accepting the award.
Jan Sadek, the head of the Minsk office of the Swedish Embassy in
Moscow, congratulated the prize winner. “Free media is one of the
main prerequisites of free democratic society,” he noted. Being
proud that Sweden was ranked one of the highest in the 2004 rating
of press freedom prepared by “Freedom House”, he expressed regret
that Belarus was ranked 182nd out of 193.
Leader of the United Civic Party Anatol Liabedzka, head of the
Parliamentary group “Respublika” Valery Fralou, head of the civic
movement “For New Belarus” Vasil Liavonau and other public figures
also came to the forum to honor the journalists.
Participants of the gathering have adopted a statement saying: “On
the Press Freedom Day we address the Belarusian authorities with the
requirement to be guided in its relations with media by the norms of
the Constitution, the Law on press and other mass media and
universal norms of international Law. We demand to stop unjustified
prosecution of independent media and journalists”.
BAJ press service
Tucholsky award of 2003
Swedish PEN has decided to grant the Tucholsky award of 2003 to the Chinese poet and writer in exile Jun Feng presently living in exile in Odense, Denmark.
Jun Feng was born 1965 in Shanghai, China.
Due to police harassments he was forced to leave his home in 1988.
He was imprisoned in Laos for two years. With the assistance of UN he finally obtained political asylum in Denmark. Today Jun Feng is a Danish citizen.
He is the editor of several literary magazines on the Internet and is a co-founder of the ICPC, Independent Chinese Pen Center.
The Tucholsky award (150.000 SEK or ca 15.000 Euro) is every year given by Swedish PEN to a writer or a publisher who is being persecuted, threatened or in exile from his or her country. This award has been named after the German writer Kurt Tucholsky, who came to Sweden in the beginning of the thirties as a refugee from the Nazi regime in Hitler's Germany. Still awaiting to have his application for political refuge granted he committed suicide in 1935 and was buried in Mariefred, Sweden.
With this award members of Swedish PEN want to honour the free word and support and help their collegues throughout the world.
The Tucholsky award was established in 1984 and has been awarded writers like Adam Zagajevski, Nuruddin Farah, Salman Rushdie, Taslima Nasrin, Shirali Nurmaradov, Mirko Kovac, Svetlana Alexievich, Faraj Sakoohi, Vincent Magombe, Salim Barakat, Asiye Güzel Zeybek, Rajko Djuric and others. Common to them all is that they during a period of their life have been oppressed, persecuted and threatened to their lives for one reason and one reason only, that those in power wanted to silence them as writers.
Swedish PEN
Stockholm, September 6, 2003
Ljiljana Dufgran, President of Swedish PEN,
Phone: + 46 705 95 41 91, e-mail:
dufgran@telia.com
For more info contact:
Anna Gustafsson-Chen, +46-739 32 67 41
E-mail:
chenjia@algonet.se
Jun Feng
E-mail:
jimbut@mail.tdcadsl.dk
or:
jimbut@hotmail.com
Mobile: +4528553967
Tel. home: +45-66128283
Address:
Jun Jimbut Feng
Falen 2 A 3. th.
5000 Odense C, Denmark
Web Page:
http://www.jimbut.com
Tucholsky award of 2002
Swedish
PEN has decided to grant the Tucholsky award of
2002 to the Romani poet Rajko Djuric presently living in exile in
Berlin.
Rajko
Djuric was born in Malo Orasje, near Belgrade, in 1947. After
receiving a Diploma in Philosophy at the Philosophical Faculty in
Belgrade, he went on to obtain a Doctorate of Sociology in 1986. As
a Rom himself, he concentrates his writings including his
doctorate mainly on the culture and history of the Romani. His
poetry collection Without House or Grave brings together the
multifaceted history, ethnography, language, culture and politics of
the Roma people. His aim is to portray how, despite the absence of
any statehood or territory that the Roma people can call their own,
they have managed to preserve their cultural identity. His literary
works have been translated into more than five languages. He was
until recently the President of the International Romani Union and
is the General Secretary of the Romani Centre of International PEN.
He is presently living in exile in Berlin, Germany, having fled
Yugoslavia to avoid conscription into the army during the Balkan
war. In October 1991, in fear of his life, he was forced to leave
Belgrade to live in exile in Berlin. He has published several books
and many articles in the former Yugoslavia, the United States, the
United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy.
The
Tucholsky award (150.000 SEK or ca 15.000 Euro) is every year given
by Swedish PEN to a writer or a publisher who is being persecuted,
threatened or in exile from his or her country. This award has been
named after the German writer Kurt Tucholsky, who came to Sweden in
the beginning of the thirties as a refugee from the Nazi regime in
Hitler's Germany. Still awaiting to have his application for
political refuge granted he committed suicide in 1935 and was buried
in Mariefred, Sweden.
With
this award members of Swedish PEN want to honour the free word and
support and help their collegues throughout the world.
The
Tucholsky award was established in 1984 and has been awarded writers
like Adam Zagajevski, Nuruddin Farah, Salman Rushdie, Taslima
Nasrin, Shirali Nurmaradov, Mirko Kovac, Svetlana Alexievich, Faraj
Sakoohi, Vincent Magombe, Flora Brovina, Salim Barakat and others.
Common to them all is that they during a period of their life have
been oppressed, persecuted and threatened to their lives for one
reason and one reason only, that those in power wanted to silence
them as writers.
Swedish
PEN
Stockholm, September 16, 2002
Ljiljana Dufgran, President of Swedish PEN,
Tel. + 46 705 95 41 91, e-mail:
dufgran@telia.com
For
more info contact:
Gunilla Lundgren, writer and translator
tel. +46 8 643 44 23, e-post:
gunilla.lundgren@ebrevet.nu
Rajko
Djuric, poet, Berlin, Germany
tel. +49 30 791 99 51, e-post:
romani@blinx.de
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