In 2010, the Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN celebrates 50 years of defending freedom of expression around the world with a year-long campaign - Because Writers Speak their Minds. In Frankfurt in June, Sara Whyatt of the WiPC spoke to the 5th General Assembly of ICORN, reflecting on the history of the committee, and the present situation for writers who dare speak up. Shahrazad - stories for life congratulates the WiPC, and now presents Sara Whyatt's speech to our audience. To learn more about WiPC's campaign, go here .
Because Writers speak Their Minds: 50 years of writers and exile
This year we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Writers in Prison Committee, set up in July 1960. As the anniversary neared, I found myself asking why was it that although PEN itself had already been in existence since 1921, did it take 39 years for the organisation to set up a formal committee, dedicated to gathering information on attacks on writers, and to galvanise and coordinate other writers world wide in their defence?
Sifting through PEN's archives, particularly the minutes of the congresses around the war years and up to the creation of the WiPC, I think I found the answer.
In 1947 PEN's congress in Zurich was the first to be held since the outbreak of World War II. Photos taken by Time Life of those gathered in Zurich show writers who had not seen each other for years beaming, chatting, hugging each other. Friends re-united, relieved. There is even one of the poet Stephen Spender high up in the air on a seesaw, legs flying outwards. No doubt there were dark moments too not captured by the cameras. Many friends had died, many more had suffered, others were still living under repression. The talk would have been of exile. Many of those in the meeting would have lived as refugees, others would be wondering if they could ever return home. And there were those, such as David Carver and Storm Jameson, founder members of the WiPC, who could talk of their own efforts to help refugees find places of safety during the war years. But all will have been looking towards the future with hope. A year later, UN member states gathered to form the UN Declaration of Human Rights. All were looking towards "never again".
