Friday 24 June 2016

English PEN newsletter

The latest PEN newsletter has upcoming events include the PEN Ackerley Prize and PEN Pinter Prize, 13 October:

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Upcoming events from English PEN

2016 PEN Ackerley Prize for memoir and life writing with Alice Jolly and Adam Mars-Jones
English PEN & VICE News present: The ethics of news gathering
2016 PEN Pinter Prize with Margaret Atwood

12 July: 2016 PEN Ackerley Prize

Come and hear Alice Jolly and Adam Mars-Jones, two of this year’s shortlisted authors, read from and discuss their work with chair of judges Peter Parker before the winner of the 2016 prize is announced.

The PEN Ackerley Prize is awarded to a literary autobiography of excellence, written by a British author and published during the preceding year. It is the only UK prize dedicated solely to memoir and life writing. Previous winners include Henry Marsh, Sonali Deraniyagala, Richard Holloway, Alan Bennett and Jenny Diski.

Ticket price includes a glass of wine following the event.

PEN Members are eligible for a discount on tickets for this event. If you would like to know more, please email sam@englishpen.org.

Book tickets to 'PEN Ackerley Prize'

13 July: The ethics of news gathering

In partnership with the Frontline Club and VICE News

English PEN, the Frontline Club and VICE News present a panel discussion on the role of local fixers, freelancers and translators in foreign news gathering and the responsibility of news organisations.

For decades, newsrooms around the world have relied on local journalists, fixers and translators to help journalists carry out on-the-ground reporting from unfamiliar and dangerous regions. Without their support and local knowledge, international news gathering would not be able to function and some of the world’s most important stories would never have made the news.

But who looks out for the fixers when the international news teams go home? And what happens when local fixers become victims of a media crackdown against journalists?

An expert panel chaired by English PEN director Jo Glanville reveals how international news gathering really works, considers the risks in getting the story out and assesses the role of international news organisations in safeguarding the unsung heroes of foreign reporting.

Book tickets to 'The ethics of news gathering'

13 October: 2016 PEN Pinter Prize

In partnership with the British Library

The 2016 PEN Pinter Prize will be awarded to Margaret Atwood on at a public event at the British Library on Thursday 13 October. Atwood will be presented with the prize at this event and will deliver an address. A limited edition booklet containing the presentation will be published by Faber & Faber and available to the audience at the event.

The PEN Pinter Prize was established in 2009 by the worldwide writers’ association and freedom of expression charity English PEN in memory of Nobel-laureate playwright Harold Pinter. The Prize is awarded annually to a writer, in the words of Harold Pinter’s Nobel Literature Prize speech, casts an ‘unflinching, unswerving gaze upon the world’ and shows a ‘fierce intellectual determination...to define the real truth of our lives and our societies.’ This year, for the first time, the prize is open to writers from the Republic of Ireland and the Commonwealth, as well as from the UK. Margaret Atwood was selected by this year’s judges Vicky Featherstone, Peter Stothard, Zia Haider Rahman, Antonia Fraser and President of English PEN and Chair of Judges, Maureen Freely.

The prize will be shared with an International Writer of Courage: a writer who is active in defence of freedom of expression, often at great risk to their own safety and liberty, selected by Margaret Atwood from a shortlist of international cases supported by English PEN. The co-winner will be announced at the event, where they will accept their prize alongside Margaret Atwood.