Writers in a World at War: Opening Ceremony

Palestinian author Adania Shibli, reflecting on 'the principle of unhampered transmission of thought' will deliver the keynote address for the Opening Ceremony of 'Writers in a World at War' - PEN International's 90th Annual Congress.

Join us at the Weston Library, part of the Bodleian Libraries, Oxford, on Tuesday 24th September, in partnership with English PEN.

Guests will also hear from Margaret Busby, President of English PEN, and Burhan Sonmez, President of PEN International.

Writers in a World at War

The theme of PEN International’s 90th Annual Congress is ‘Writers in a World at War’. Through meetings and events between 24th and 27th September, PEN delegates from over 90 countries across five continents, will discuss key questions against the backdrop of current global crises, including the importance of the PEN Charter, 'promoting the value of literature', and the future of PEN’s principles and solidarity mission for generations to come.

Speakers

Adania Shibli (Palestine, 1974) has written novels, plays, short stories and narrative essays. Her latest is the novel Tafsil Thanawi (Al-Adab, 2017, translated as Minor Detail, Fitzcarraldo Edition/UK, and New Directions/USA, 2020), which was shortlisted for the National Book Award in 2020, and nominated in 2021 for the International Booker Prize. Shibli has also been engaged in academic research and teaching in different universities across Europe, as well as at Birzeit University, Palestine.

Margaret Busby Born in Ghana and educated in the UK, Margaret Busby CBE, Hon. FRSL, became Britain’s youngest and first Black woman publisher when she co-founded Allison & Busby in the late 1960s. An editor, writer, broadcaster, and critic, she has also judged numerous literary prizes, including the Booker. She edited the pioneering volumes Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writing by Women of African Descent (1992) and in 2019 New Daughters of Africa, which also initiated a scholarship for African women at SOAS University of London. Margaret Busby was appointed President of English PEN in 2023.

Burhan Sonmezis an award-winning Kurdish novelist and lawyer from Türkiye. He was elected President of PEN International on the 24th of September 2021, during PEN International’s Centenary Congress. Sonmez is the author of six novels, North (Kuzey, 2009), Sins & Innocents (Masumlar, 2011), Istanbul Istanbul (2015), Labyrinth (Labirent, 2018), Stone and Shadow (Taş ve Gölge, 2021), Lovers of Franz K. (Evîndarên Franz K., 2024), and has written for various papers including The Guardian, Der Spiegel, La Repubblica. He is a Senior Member of Hughes Hall College and Trinity College, University of Cambridge.

About PEN International

PEN International is the foremost and largest association of writers which stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect free expression around the world. Founded in London in 1921, PEN International – PEN’s Secretariat – connects an international community of writers. PEN operates across five continents through over 130 Centres in over 90 countries. It is a forum where writers meet freely to discuss their work; it is also a voice speaking out for writers silenced in their own countries.

PEN International works to promote the PEN Charter to ensure that people everywhere have the freedom to create literature, to impart information and ideas, to express their views, and to access the views, ideas, and literatures of others. We champion the freedom to write, recognising the power of literature to transform the world. https://www.pen-international.org/

About English PEN

English PEN is one of the world's oldest human rights organisations and the founding centre of PEN International, a worldwide writers’ association with 130 centres in more than 90 countries. The charity works to promote literature and to defend freedom of expression in the UK and internationally. www.englishpen.org

Host or Publisher PEN International