In September, several ICORN Guest Writers, the ICORN Administration Center and Shahrazad - stories for life will participate in and meet with writers and translators from around the world at the second Writers' and Literary Translators' International Congress (WALTIC ) in Istanbul.
Iranian Guest Writers Asieh Amini, Pegah Ahmadi (picture) and Parvin Ardalan will participate in a Shahrazad event discussing the current situation for writers and women's rights in Iran, and ICORN will be presented in a seminar on freedom of expression. In addition to this, ICORN Guest Writer Anisur Rahman has been invited to present a paper on the impact of NGOs on literacy and literature.
When the congress was first organized in Stockholm in 2008, nearly four hundred delegates signed the WALTIC resolution demanding themselves, other organizations and institutions, enterprises, authorities and governments to take an active stand to increase literacy, safeguard freedom of expression, and strengthen authors' rights:
"Literature is a source of knowledge with the strength to empower entire populations. WALTIC underlines the Value of Words by stating the fact that human rights are profoundly associated with the growth of literacy and to the creation and dissemination of literature of all kinds. Literacy, freedom of expression and authors' rights are keys to the never-ending pursuit of truth, for the development of societies based on democratic and humanitarian values as well as for the individual aspiring to express his or her unique knowledge and experience."
WALTIC opens on September 2, and an offer of a reduced registration fee is available until August 26.