The PEN Pinter Prize and the Pinter International Writer of Courage Award both comprise an annual
literary award launched in 2009 by
English PEN
Founded in 1921, English PEN is one of the world's first non-governmental organisations and among the first international bodies advocating for human rights. English PEN was the founding centre of PEN International, a worldwide writers' associat ...
in honour of the late Nobel Literature Prize-winning playwright
Harold Pinter, who had been a Vice President of English PEN and an active member of the
International PEN Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC).
The award is given to "a British writer or a writer resident in Britain of outstanding literary merit who, in the words of Pinter’s Nobel speech
Art, Truth and Politics' 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'."
[ The Prize is shared with an "International Writer of Courage," defined as "someone who has been persecuted for speaking out about is or herbeliefs," selected by English PEN's Writers at Risk Committee in consultation with the annual Prize winner, and announced during an award ceremony held at the ]British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...
, on or around 10 October, the anniversary of Pinter's birth.PEN International
PEN International (known as International PEN until 2010) is a worldwide association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere. The association has autonomous Internatio ...
affiliates in "more than 100" PEN International Centers located around the world.
Recipients
2009
* PEN Pinter Prize: Tony Harrison
Tony Harrison (born 30 April 1937) is an English poet, translator and playwright. He was born in Beeston, Leeds and he received his education in Classics from Leeds Grammar School and Leeds University. He is one of Britain's foremost verse w ...
, poet and playwright[
]
2010
* PEN Pinter Prize: Hanif Kureishi
Hanif Kureishi (born 5 December 1954) is a British playwright, screenwriter, filmmaker and novelist of South Asian and English descent. In 2008, ''The Times'' included Kureishi in its list of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945.
Early l ...
Lydia Cacho
Lydia María Cacho Ribeiro (born 12 April 1963) is a Mexican journalist, feminist, and human rights activist. Described by Amnesty International as "perhaps Mexico's most famous investigative journalist and women's rights advocate", Cacho's repor ...
, Mexican journalist and human rights activist
2011
*PEN Pinter Prize: David Hare, playwright
*International Writer of Courage Award: Roberto Saviano
Roberto Saviano (; born 22 September 1979) is an Italian writer, essayist, journalist, and screenwriter. In his writings, including articles and his book '' Gomorrah'', he uses literature and investigative reporting to tell of the economic reali ...
, Italian writer and journalist[
]
2012
*PEN Pinter Prize: Carol Ann Duffy
Dame Carol Ann Duffy (born 23 December 1955) is a Scottish poet and playwright. She is a professor of contemporary poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University, and was appointed Poet Laureate in May 2009, resigning in 2019. She was the first ...
, poet
*International Writer of Courage Award: Samar Yazbek, Syrian writer
2013
*PEN Pinter Prize: Tom Stoppard
Sir Tom Stoppard (born , 3 July 1937) is a Czech born British playwright and screenwriter. He has written for film, radio, stage, and television, finding prominence with plays. His work covers the themes of human rights, censorship, and politi ...
, playwright
*International Writer of Courage Award: Iryna Khalip
Iryna Khalip (or Irina Khalip; be, Iрына Халiп, russian: Ирина Халип) (born November 12, 1967) is a Belarusian journalist, reporter and editor in the Minsk bureau of ''Novaya Gazeta'', known for her criticism of Belarusian Pres ...
, Belarusian journalist
2014
*PEN Pinter Prize: Salman Rushdie
Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British-American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and We ...
, novelist[
*International Writer of Courage Award: ]Mazen Darwish
Mazen Darwish ( ar, مازن درويش) is a Syrian lawyer and free speech advocate. He is the president of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression. News organizations, including Reuters and the Associated Press, have described him ...
, Syrian lawyer and journalist
2015
*PEN Pinter Prize: James Fenton
James is a common English language surname and given name:
*James (name), the typically masculine first name James
* James (surname), various people with the last name James
James or James City may also refer to:
People
* King James (disambiguat ...
*International Writer of Courage Award: Raif Badawi
Raif bin Muhammad Badawi ( ar, رائف بن محمد بدوي, also transcribed Raef bin Mohammed Badawi; born 13 January 1984) is a Saudi writer, dissident and activist, as well as the creator of the website ''Free Saudi Liberals''.
Badawi wa ...
, Saudi activist
2016
*PEN Pinter Prize: Margaret Atwood
*International Writer of Courage Award: Ahmedur Rashid Chowdhury, Bangladeshi publisher
2017
*PEN Pinter Prize: Michael Longley
Michael Longley, (born 27 July 1939, Belfast, Northern Ireland), is an Anglo-Irish poet.
Life and career
One of twin boys, Michael Longley was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, to English parents, Longley was educated at the Royal Belfast A ...
*International Writer of Courage Award: Mahvash Sabet, Iranian poet and teacher
2018
*PEN Pinter Prize: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie ( ; born 15 September 1977) is a Nigerian writer whose works include novels, short stories and nonfiction. She was described in ''The Times Literary Supplement'' as "the most prominent" of a "procession of criticall ...
*International Writer of Courage: Waleed Abulkhair, Saudi lawyer and human rights activist
2019
*PEN Pinter Prize: Lemn Sissay
Lemn Sissay FRSL (born 21 May 1967) is a British author and broadcaster. Sissay was the official poet of the 2012 London Olympics, has been chancellor of the University of Manchester since 2015, and joined the Foundling Museum's board of trus ...
Befeqadu Hailu Befeqadu Hailu Techanie also written as Befekadu Hailu Techane ( am, በፍቃዱ ኃይሉ; born 19 February 1980) is an Ethiopian writer, activist, and blogger. He is a member of the Zone 9 bloggers group that were arrested in April 2014 due to th ...
, Ethiopian writer and blogger
2020
* PEN Pinter Prize: Linton Kwesi Johnson
Linton Kwesi Johnson (born 24 August 1952), also known as LKJ, is a Jamaica-born, British-based dub poet and activist. In 2002 he became the second living poet, and the only black one, to be published in the Penguin Modern Classics series. His p ...
* International Writer of Courage Award: Amanuel Asrat, Eritrean poet
2021
* PEN Pinter Prize: Tsitsi Dangarembga
Tsitsi Dangarembga (born 4 February 1959) is a Zimbabwean novelist, playwright and filmmaker. Her debut novel, '' Nervous Conditions'' (1988), which was the first to be published in English by a Black woman from Zimbabwe, was named by the BBC i ...
* International Writer of Courage Award: Kakwenza Rukirabashaija, Ugandan novelist
2022
* PEN Pinter Prize: Malorie Blackman
Malorie Blackman is a British writer who held the position of Children's Laureate from 2013 to 2015. She primarily writes literature and television drama for children and young adults. She has used science fiction to explore social and ethica ...
* International Writer of Courage Award: Abduljalil al-Singace
See also
*Prison literature
Prison literature is a literary genre characterized by literature that is written while the author is confined in a location against his will, such as a prison, jail or house arrest.Tony Perrottet. "Serving the Sentence", '' New York Times Book Re ...
References
External links
PEN Pinter Prize
− English PEN
Founded in 1921, English PEN is one of the world's first non-governmental organisations and among the first international bodies advocating for human rights. English PEN was the founding centre of PEN International, a worldwide writers' associat ...
official webpage
{{DEFAULTSORT:PEN Pinter Prize
Awards established in 2009
2009 establishments in England
English PEN awards
Literary awards honouring human rights