PEN International Writers in Prison Committee Annual Meeting: Free the Wor(l)d in Times of War and Repression
12-14 May 2023
Zagreb, Croatia
The Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC) of PEN International works on behalf of persecuted writers worldwide. It was established in 1960 in response to increasing attempts to silence voices of dissent by imprisoning writers and journalists.
Working on behalf of persecuted writers worldwide, the WiPC campaigns on scores of cases across the globe each year, promoting PEN International’s annual Case List. In addition to its work on behalf of individual writers, the Committee supports campaigns on issues affecting freedom of expression, including all forms of censorship, Criminal Defamation, Blasphemy, and Hate Speech along with specific country-focused campaigns on for example China, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, Myanmar, and Turkey.
Programme
Day Zero – 11 May 2023, Thursday
18:00 OUR BOOKS & MAGAZINES
Ukraine 2022, The Chronicle of the War, Poetry anthology and European Messenger, yearly magazine with War against Ukraine as a theme, with Alla Tatarenko, Halyna Kruk, Ostap Slyviynsky, Dražen Katunarić and Tomica Bajsić
Knjižnica I čitaonica Bogdana Ogrizovića, Trg Petra Preradovića 4
21:00 BIOGRAPHIES OF BIRDS – THEATRE SHOW
Biographies of Birds is a creative project stemming from the need to reanimate poetry in the field of performance arts. Although the poetic expression precedes the invention of writing, as testified by oral traditions of pre-literate cultures, we often tend to forget the performance context in which poetry was conceived as an art. We neglect the importance of the spoken word, the auditive, oral and dramatic potential of poetry, as well as all the possibilities it opens when it takes place, in the words of poet Frank
O’Hara, “between two persons instead of two pages”. Through a play between an actor and a musician, this theatre show explores the performative potential of the poetic word, it breaks the poetic ‘taboos’, demystifies the idea of poetry as a literary genre only ‘the rare’ can enjoy, it addresses the familiar and unfamiliar biographic details from the lives of their authors, it examines the ‘untouchable’ tradition in which we stopped searching for contemporaneity - in a desire to once again, through theatre, declare poetry alive.
English subtitles, 50 minutes, International Theatre Institute and PEN, Basaričekova 24
PEN International Writers in Prison Committee Annual Meeting
Free the Wor(l)d in Times of War and Repression
12 May 2023, Friday
14:00: ZAGREB SIGHTSEEING
17:00: OPENING CEREMONY AT ACADEMY OF DRAMATIC ART
Keynote speech by Dr. Ma Thida, WiPC Chair’s
18:00: Round table on LITERATURE IN TIMES OF WAR AND REPRESSION
What is the role of the writer and literature in times of conflict? Featuring a range of writers from various countries, the event will explore why the act of writing and literature are needed more than ever, and how the written word can promote greater understanding, hope, and freedom in the face of repression.
Moderated by Sibila Petlevski
20:00: Welcome reception with dinner and official addresses
Welcoming note by Tomica Bajsić, president of Croatian PEN Centre
Address by Croatian Minister of Culture and Media Nina Obuljen Koržinek
ADU / Academy of Dramatic Art, Trg Republike Hrvatske 5
13 May 2023, Saturday
09:00 – 10:30: PANEL ON CHALLENGES FACED BY BOTH WRITERS-IN-EXILE AND HOSTING CENTRES
WiPC’s work supporting writers-at-risk and writers-in-prison – campaigning for their release or to guarantee their safety and freedom.
10:30 – 11:00: Coffee Break
11:00 – 11:45: Committee report and discussion
11:45 – 13:00: DIGITAL AUTHORITARIANISM AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
Around the world, digital technologies have provided unparalleled opportunities for the free and open exchange of ideas, and the development of inclusive communities that exist beyond traditional boundaries of geography or culture. The increasing ubiquity of these technologies has resulted in much of our daily lives taking place online, and the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has only accelerated this trend.
However, our growing reliance on digital technologies has also amplified our exposure and vulnerability to the dangers posed by disinformation, censorship, and surveillance, all of which have been used by authoritarian regimes to divide, manipulate, and repress. With examples ranging from the use of “fake news” legislation to criminalise online dissent to the emergence of panoptic surveillance apparatuses that monitor every aspect of public life, this panel will discuss the rise of digital authoritarianism and its implications for freedom of expression across the globe.
13:00-1400: Lunch
14:00-15:30: Best practices: reaching practical results in single cases
15:30-16:00: Coffee break
16:00-17:30: CASE LIST PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION
For decades, the bedrock of the PEN network has been the focus on supporting individual cases of writers at risk around the world. In 2022, at least 277 writers in 36 countries spent time behind bars, and countless others faced other forms of harassment. By shining a light on these cases via public campaigns and private advocacy, we aim to offer support and protection to individuals in jail and under threat, as well as to draw attention to the myriad threats to free expression and the freedom to write. How can the PEN network reports (Case List, Freedom to Write Index, and Writers at Risk Database, as well as other country-focused reports) be used to achieve maximum impact? And what are some examples from around the network of success stories in terms of campaigns and advocacy. This session will offer practical information and guidance to members of the WiPC on how to best use these resources and engage in collaborative work to effect meaningful change.
18:00-19:30: Round table public event: EUROPEAN IDENTITY
- THE EUROPEAN NARRATIVES SINCE THE FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL UNTIL NOW
The experiences of the wars in the former Yugoslavia and Ukraine are two extraordinary experiences from which societies in other European countries could learn a lot. For this, however, it would be important to let authors from these countries have their say without trying to meet them with preconceived opinions; such conversations should be conducted beyond hierarchies.
The social and cultural narratives in different European countries after the fall of the Berlin Wall have been shaped by different interpretations of history, by different visions of the common European future and by different ideas about identities. One can observe that there are dominant and subordinate cultures and that much concerning these hierarchies remains unspoken.
Moderated by Alida Bremer
Knjižnica I čitaonica Bogdana Ogrizovića, Trg Petra Preradovića 4
20:00 – 21:00: Dinner in Hotel Dubrovnik
14 May 2023, Sunday
09:00-11:30: ACCESS TO FREEDOM
PEN International’s resolution on threats to freedom of expression and protection of civic space illustrates how freedom of expression and freedom of association are denied across the world through repressive legislation (eg. national security, official secrets acts, foreign agent bills), judicial harassment, administrative decree (systematic ethnic persecution), censorship including banning books, and militarization.
PEN International presentations followed by regional group meetings to focus on issues and countries of concern (Advocacy, Campaign, Protection, Residency, joint-committee activities) (Turkey, Iran, Belarus Action groups).
11:30-11:45: Coffee break
13:00 – 14:00: Lunch
14:00 – 15:00: CRIMINAL DEFAMATION
PEN International opposes criminal defamation in all cases and actively campaigns for the repeal of criminal defamation laws around the globe. Criminalizing defamation, whether of public figures or private individuals, is a disproportionate and unnecessary response to the need to protect someone's reputation. It has a chilling effect on freedom of expression. Issues of reputation should be addressed as civil law matters where the government has no role.
15:00 – 16:00: Final informer discussion (eg: media strategy)
16:00 – 16:30: Conclusion remarks
18:00 – 20:00: RECEPTION WITH DINNER AT THE DVERCE PALACE
WITH MAYOR OF ZAGREB
Keynote speech by Salil Tripathi, PEN International
Speech by Helge Lunde as representative of ICORN Network on Cities of Refugee
21:00: Poetry event FREE THE WORD! on translated work of persecuted writers, Pod starim krovovima (Under the Old Rooftops), oldest and finest poetry reading tavern in historic part of uptown Zagreb.
Pod starim krovovima, Basaričekova 9
15 May 2023, Monday
Departure to Bled.
Possible visit along the route to Krapina Neanderthal Museum (the largest and most abundant collection of Neanderthal people collected at a single locality.) - https://mkn.mhz.hr/hr/o-muzeju/postav/
HOSTED BY PEN Croatia with the kind support of the Ministry of Culture of Croatia and City of Zagreb Office for Culture
PARTNERS:
• Bogdan Ogrizović Library Trg Petra Preradovića 4 https://www.kgz.hr/hr/knjiznice/knjiznica-i-citaonica-bogdana-ogrizovica/72 • Academy of Dramatic Art Arts (unizg.hr) Trg Republike Hrvatske 5
Location: • Hotel Dubrovnik https://www.hotel-dubrovnik.hr/ Ljudevita Gaja 1 • ADU / Academy of Dramatic Art Arts (unizg.hr) Trg Republike Hrvatske 5
• Palača Dverce / The Dverce Palace Katarinin trg 6 Dverce Palace Map - Castle - Zagreb, Croatia - Mapcarta
• Pod starim krovovima / Under the Old Rooftops Basaričekova 9 Pod starim krovovima / Under the Old Rooftops – the Oldest Zagreb's Café - CityPal
• Croatian PEN Hrvatski P.E.N. Centar (pen.hr) Basaričekova 24
• Bogdan Ogrizović Library Trg Petra Preradovića 4