English PEN is one of the oldest human rights organisations in the world and has a 91 year record of campaining for free speech and literature. Our trustees and staff are available for media comment.
Our key speakers are regularly asked to contribute to the broadcast and print media on: Freedom of Expression; Global Literature and Translation; Libel, Media Reform and Press Ethics; Multiculturalism, Diversity, Blasphemy and ‘Offence’; Social Media and the Internet; Libraries and Access to Literature; Adult Literacy, Social Exclusion and ‘voicelessness‘; Cultural Boycotts; and Political Correctness.
To contact one of our representatives, please contact Robert Sharp, Head of Campaigns & Communications, on 020 7324 2538 or robert@englishpen.org.
Main Spokesperson: Gillian Slovo – President, English PEN
South African born Gillian Slovo is the author of twelve novels and a family memoir, Every Secret Thing, which was an international best seller. Her novel, Red Dust, won the Prix RFI Temoin du Monde and Ice Road, set in Leningrad in the 1930s, was shortlisted for the Orange Prize. Her 2011 play The Riots was performed at the Tricycle Theatre to critical acclaim.
Gillian is a regular contributor to the national press, BBC Radio 4′s Today Programme, and to BBC2′s The Review Show. Gillian has a wealth of human rights campaigning experience. She brings an authoratative voice to debates about freedom of expression and literature.
Main Spokesperson: Jo Glanville – Director, English PEN
Jo joined English PEN in September 2012 from Index on Censorship, where she served as an award-winning Editor since 2006. She was a BBC current affairs producer for eight years and appears regularly in the media as a commentator on culture and freedom of expression, including the Guardian, the Daily Telegraph, the London Review of Books.
Other key speakers
- Kamila Shamsie, Co-Chair, Writers at Risk Committee
International free expression; blasphemy and offence; reform of the UK Visa system for visiting artists - Salili Tripathi, Co-Chair, Writers at Risk Committee
International free expression campaigns; blasphemy and offence - Ros Schwartz, Chair, Writers in Translation Committee
World literature and translation - Lindsay Mackie, Chair, Readers & Writers Programme
English PEN’s creative writing programmes; literacy in prisons and ‘closed’ communities; social exclusion - Heather Norman Soderlind, Deputy Director
Literature; Literacy; Libraries; Languages - Robert Sharp, Head of Campaigns & Communications
Libel Reform; Social Media; multiculturalism, ‘offence’ and political correctness; Criminal Memoirs; Visas and Travel Bans
