- Stella Gaitano, writer, journalist and human rights activist, is named Writer of Courage by Leila Aboulela, PEN Pinter Prize 2025 winner.
- Both authors grew up in Khartoum and have written extensively about Sudan and on themes of identity, migration, and displacement.
Stella Gaitano is tonight, Friday 10 October 2025, named Writer of Courage 2025. The Writer of Courage is awarded to an author who is active in defence of freedom of expression, often at great risk to their own safety and liberty, and shares the PEN Pinter Prize with the winner. The winner of the PEN Pinter Prize 2025, Leila Aboulela, made the announcement in an address at the British Library this evening, where she was joined by Sabrina Mahfouz, who delivered an encomium. Stella Gaitano was selected by Aboulela as her co-winner in cooperation with English PEN.
Stella Gaitano was born in Khartoum in 1979 to a South Sudanese family. She studied English and Arabic at Khartoum University and trained as a pharmacist. When Sudan was partitioned in 2011, she moved to Juba, the capital of South Sudan. However, in 2015, Gaitano returned to Khartoum after facing harassment and attacks for her outspoken criticism of the South Sudanese government, which she accused of mismanagement, corruption, and its role in the civil war. In 2022, she was awarded a fellowship from the PEN International Writers-in-Exile programme and relocated to Germany. Gaitano writes in Arabic and has published two short story collections and the novels Edo’s Souls and Ireme. Her first novel Edo’s Souls, translated from the Arabic by Sawad Hussain and published by Dedalus Books, was awarded a PEN Translates grant in 2020 — becoming the first novel from South Sudan ever to be published in the UK.
PEN Pinter Prize 2025 winner, Leila Aboulela, said:
‘It is an honour and a pleasure to share my prize with Stella Gaitano, a writer I have admired and read avidly over the years. Stella is a principled writer and a fearless activist, who has endured hate speech and physical threats. Reading her work has opened my eyes to the injustices and consequences of war in Sudan. She is a wonderful, enriching writer who has already broken new ground in African literature.”
Writer of Courage 2025 winner, Stella Gaitano, said:
‘I am honoured that Leila Aboulela has chosen to share this award with me. It might seem like happy news, but when I think about how I might not have been here to witness it, it brings tears to my eyes. This is not only an award for courage, but also one for survival. I dedicate it to the brave Sudanese and South Sudanese writers who continue to write during wartime, in the absence of freedom of expression. I dedicate it to all the persecuted writers of the world whose words have led them to prison, exile, or death. Telling the truth can risk such threats. But it can also shake the authority that refuses to accept it, grant light and freedom, and promise a better tomorrow. An act with such power is worth the risk.’
Stella Gaitano was born in Khartoum in 1979 to a South Sudanese family. She studied at Khartoum University and trained as a pharmacist. When Sudan was partitioned in 2011, she moved to Juba, the capital of South Sudan. However, in 2015, Gaitano returned to Khartoum after facing harassment and attacks for her outspoken criticism of the South Sudanese government, which she accused of mismanagement, corruption, and its role in the civil war. In 2022, she was awarded a fellowship from the PEN Germany Writers-in-Exile programme and relocated to Germany. Gaitano writes in Arabic and has published two short story collections and the novels Edo’s Souls and Ireme. Edo’s Souls, translated from the Arabic by Sawad Hussain and published by Dedalus Books, was awarded a PEN Translates grant in 2020 — becoming the first novel from South Sudan ever to be published in the UK.
In September 2025, translators Mayada Ibrahim and Najlaa Eltom featured among the winning translators in the inaugural round of PEN Presents x International Booker Prize, a grant programme launched to support translators from the Global Majority, for a translation from the Arabic of Gaitano’s second novel Ireme.
Leila Aboulela grew up in Khartoum and has been living in Aberdeen since 1990. She is the author of six novels among them River Spirit, The Translator, Minaret and Lyrics Alley, Fiction Winner of the Scottish Book Awards. Leila was the first ever winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing and her story collection, Elsewhere, Home won the Saltire Fiction Book of the Year Award. Her books have been translated into fifteen languages, and she has also written numerous plays for BBC Radio. She is Honorary Professor of the WORD Centre at the University of Aberdeen and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Stella Gaitano photo credit: Doha Mohammed
Leila Aboulela photo credit: George Torode