The Earthquake Method
From constant earthquakes to a Borges story, Giorgio Vasta's dispatch for PEN Atlas offers an original, honest and illuminating take on the current state of Italy and its politics
PEN Transmissions
Articles
The Achebe I Knew
Ahead of the Africa Writes festival 2013 (5-7 July) PEN Atlas hears from African writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o on his friend and mentor Chinua Achebe. Ngũgĩ will appear in conversation with his son Mukoma wa Ngũgĩ on Saturday 6 July at the British Library.
The present of the past of things
Patricio Pron writes a moving piece for PEN Atlas, about an encounter in a small German city that made him reflect on collective guilt, individual responsibility and the nature of the past - both for a person and a country
On the sublimation of authority
Hakan Günday unpacks the notion of authority and censorship, and considers its effects on civilians
The Art of the Novella
In this week's second PEN Atlas dispatch, Meike Ziervogel from Peirene Press makes the case for the novella, charting the history of the form, and reflecting on her experience publishing great novellas in translation from around Europe
The Walnut Tree of Gezi Park
Following recent events, PEN Atlas is running an additional dispatch this week from Turkey. Kaya Genç writes for us about Nâzım Hikmet Ran, whose poem 'The Walnut Tree' has taken on a prophetic turn and an inspirational one in light of Gezi Park
The Sounds of Istanbul
In the latest of our literary dispatches from Turkey, Mario Levi contemplates the sounds of the city he grew up in, and the stories that lie behind them for those willing to listen
Taking a stand
Oray Egin reports on the continuing protests in Turkey, why they began in Gezi Park and what the writers of the country owe to those marching on the streets
The Tale of Two Adrians
Strange coincidences bring together two literary traditions in today's PEN Atlas piece by Oksana Zabuzhko, which explores Ukrainian and Eastern European authors, their debt to history and their unjustly hidden classics
Turning up the volume
Yasmine El Rashidi, contributor to the PEN-award-winning title Writing Revolution: The Voices from Tunis to Damascus, tells PEN Atlas about growing up learning English: exile and community, being alienated and finding her voice
The Mussel Feast
Birgit Vanderbeke introduces PEN Atlas readers to her book The Mussel Feast - a subtly political work that is steeped in metaphor - and her experience of penning her first novel at such a poignant moment in German history
A Little Honey
This week's PEN Atlas features a moving piece of writing by Jáchym Topol about a man and his ailing mother.