DUSHANBE, September 30, 2014, Asia-Plus – Three Tajik writers – Anisa Sobiri, Siyavoush and Shoista Ravshanova – are attending the 80th anniversary of PEN International Congress that is being held in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek from September 29 to October 2.
This year, International PEN Congress, or simply World Congress of Writers ha reportedly brought together poets and writers from 80 PEN-centers, including representatives of the United Kingdom, Canada, Russia and others.
According to organizers, the annual Congress of International PEN-Club is an opportunity for well-known and new voices of contemporary literature to meet and discuss the current threat to freedom of expression, as well as a chance to exchange ideas and stories.
This year, the topic of the Congress is “My Language, My Story, My Freedom”
PEN International (known as International PEN until 2010) is a worldwide association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual cooperation among writers everywhere.
The association has autonomous International PEN centers in over 100 countries.
Other goals included: to emphasize the role of literature in the development of mutual understanding and world culture; to fight for freedom of expression; and to act as a powerful voice on behalf of writers harassed, imprisoned and sometimes killed for their views.
PEN originally stood for “Poets, Essayists and Novelists,” but now includes writers of any form of literature, such as journalists and historians. It is the world”s oldest human rights organization and the oldest international literary organization.
