Margie Orford Reports on the 82nd International PEN Congress

The International PEN Congress took place in late September. It was hosted by Galician PEN in the beautiful old city of Ourense in northern Spain. It was a pleasure to attend the first Congress chaired by Jennifer Clement, PEN International’s first woman president. Gender equity was at the top of the agenda and there was some sobering presentations about the state of women and free expression in the Honduras, in Syria, amongst Kurdish speaking communities in Iraq and Turkey. Much attention was of course focused on Turkey and the horrendous repression and silencing of writers and journalists. It was depressing to note the global turn towards repression of free speech. The rise of far right in Europe and in the United States has had a chilling effect.

The continued terror wrought by war in the Middle East has destroyed whole countries. The Assembly concluded that the refugee crisis is the greatest challenge facing the world, facing us as writers but most of all facing those displaced by war. PEN International’s Global Campaign which will run over the next three years will focus on the refugee crisis – and in particular in providing a literary space in which these voices can be heard. I look forward to sharing that on our website and of being part of the campaign. Details of how it will be done will follow soon.

PEN South Africa and PEN Mexico proposed a change to the charter to ensure that gender is prioritized. I was disappointed that this proposal did not pass this year but the conversations we had in the Assembly were invigorating and the matter will come up for voting again next year. I trust it will pass as the women and men (for example our wonderful chair of the Writers in Prison Committee) argued so passionately for it and provided a massive case list of women who are persecuted for speaking in public. Next year will also see the drafting of a PEN Women’s Manifesto so here is the call for all women writers and speakers to contribute ideas towards that. PEN South Africa is putting out a call for essays or pieces of creative writing that address the issues of women and their public voice. I look forward to hearing from you.

Margie Orford
PEN SA President