Today, English PEN announces Faber as a new partner and sponsor, to support the annual PEN Pinter Prize over the next three years. Now in its 16th year, the PEN Pinter Prize celebrates courage in literature, recognising the powerful intersection between art and human rights.
The PEN Pinter Prize was established in 2009 by human rights charity English PEN in memory of Nobel-Laureate playwright Harold Pinter, who was Vice President of English PEN and active in many of the organisation’s campaigns. The PEN Pinter Prize is awarded annually to a writer of outstanding literary merit, resident in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, the Commonwealth or former Commonwealth who, in the words of Harold Pinter’s Nobel speech, casts an ‘unflinching, unswerving’ gaze upon the world, and shows a ‘fierce intellectual determination … to define the real truth of our lives and our societies.’ The Prize is shared with a Writer of Courage, a writer who has been persecuted for speaking out about their beliefs, selected by the winner in collaboration with English PEN’s Writers at Risk Programme.
Daniel Gorman, Director of English PEN, said:
“We are thrilled to embark on this partnership with Faber and deeply grateful for their support. This collaboration between our two longstanding organisations offers a meaningful opportunity to draw from our rich literary heritage and, together, address the urgent need to defend freedom of expression in literature worldwide.”
Mary Cannam, Chief Executive of Faber, said:
“Faber is proud to support the PEN Pinter Prize. We have treasured our association with the prize since it began, in memory of Nobel Laureate and Faber playwright Harold Pinter. We value the support it offers to truth-seeking writers around the world. The PEN Pinter Prize and the Writer of Courage Awards play a vital role in highlighting writers’ oppression and persecution; and we look forward to working more closely with English PEN towards that purpose.”
The winner of the 2024 PEN Pinter Prize will be announced in late June 2024. The Writer of Courage will be announced at a ceremony at the British Library on 10 October 2024.