Today PEN International launches Make Space a new campaign aimed at creating opportunities for writers who’ve experienced forced displacement. Below is a mission statement signed by over 300 writers from around the world. You can add your name here.
‘Our world is in crisis. People have always been forced to move against their will: they’ve fled wars and natural disasters, persecution and violence. But never before has the forced movement of people occurred at such a rate. 1 in 113 people in the world today have been driven from their homes. Simultaneously, a rising climate of nationalistic xenophobia among host nations has made resettlement for those who’ve experienced forced displacement increasingly dangerous and uncertain.
We recognize how many displaced people are without the most basic needs of shelter and security, and the urgent necessity in addressing the human rights violations and extreme injustices that so many face. We also acknowledge the disadvantages faced by exiled writers: the fear of suspicion and violence, the difficulties in publishing in different and often hostile linguistic markets, the lack of the basic conditions that allow for the cultivation of creativity, and the absence of familiar networks—the faces, words, streets, songs—that come with being home.
Some of us have been displaced; some of us are refugees and asylum seekers; some of us have lived in exile, or have been forced to go into hiding in our own countries. But we are all writers and use words in ways that can shift and inform the society around us. And – whoever we are, wherever we are – when we consciously make space for the stories of displaced communities within our own, we make space for a shared cultural understanding that enriches us and connects us, disrupting the systems of division that alienate and dehumanise. It is time to act, and to act together.
Therefore, we commit to PEN International’s Make Space campaign. Together we must shape a context for free expression in which all voices and stories have worth. Together we must challenge xenophobia and racism. Together we will shape a world with space for everyone and – as writers – it is with words and stories that we start.’
Jennifer Clement, President, PEN International
Abduljabbar Alsuhili
Abraham Zere, PEN Eritrea
Abu Zafo
Adel Karasholi
The Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson
Ahmedurrashid Tutul
Ai Weiwe
Alejandro García Gómez, PEN Colombia
Alesha Prokopyev
Alexander Arkhangelsky
Alexander Gelman
Alexander Illichevsky
Alexander Yarin
Alexei Slapovsky
Alexei Tsvetko
Alfred Msadala
Ali Kalaei
Aline Davidoff
Alisa Ganieva
Alla Bossart
Andrés Candelario
Andrew Greer
Andrew Solomon, PEN America
Ángel Isián
Ann Van Dessel
Anna Bersanova
Anna Livion Ingvarsson, Swedish PEN
Anne Provoost
Annelies Verbeke
Anthony Cohan
Antonio Della Rocca, PEN Trieste
Anzel Kulsen, PEN Afrikaans
Anzhelina Polonskaya
Arisha Sattar
Arturo G. Dorado
Bakar Mansaray
Bart Moeyaert
Bart Moeyaert
Bart Vonck
Bei Ling
Biyu Suarez de Jaldin, PEN Bolivia
Boris Akunin
Boris Korkmazov
Burhan Sonmez, Writers Circle member, PEN International
Can Dundar
Carl MacDougall, Scottish PEN
Carla Carloni Mocavero
Carles Torner, PEN International
Carme Arenas, Catalan PEN
Carolin Emcke
Cecillian Knapp
Chaw Ei Mahn
Chiara Macconi, PEN Esperanto
Chigozie Obioma
Chika Unigwe
Chloe Aridjis
Christina Gorelik
Christoph HeinDaniel Rezene Mekonnen
Daobin Du
David Hare
David Lagercrantz, Writers Circle member, PEN International
David Troch
DBC Pierre
Deanna Rodger
Diana Evallejo
Dimitri Casteleyn
Dmitry Bavilsky
Dominiek Dendooven
Syeda Aireen Jaman
Ece Temelkuran
Elahe Rahroniya
Elena Poniatowska
Elfriede Jelinek, Nobel Laureate
Elif Shafak, Writers Circle member, PEN International
Els Beerten
Els Snick
Entela Kasi, PEN Albania
Eric Lax, Writers Circle member, PEN International
Erik Vlaminck
Erol Özkoray
Esther M. Andrade
Eugene Yermolin
Farhana Rahman
Farid Kabir
Fateme Ekhtesari
Federico Cintrón Fiallo
Federico Hoffmann
Fiston Mwanza Mujila
Frankie Asare-Donkoh, PEN Ghana
Gabriella Valero Gruber
Gaston Bellemare, PEN Quebec
Gbanagborn Hallowel
Gef Verhaeren
Gennady Kalashnikov
Gennady Krasukhin
Georgy Yefremov
Gillian Clarke
Gita Deneckere
Gloria Guardia, Vice President, PEN International
Grace Mutandwa, PEN Zimbabwe
Gregory Petukhov
Gunel Imanova
Guozhen Xiao
Gwyneth Lewis
György Dragomán
Han Zaw
Hanan Al-Shaykh, Writers Circle member, PEN International
Hannan Awwad, PEN Palestine
Hanne Marie Svendsen
Hatem Abdulwahid
Hege Newth Nouri
Heinrich Peuckmann
Helmuth A. Niederle, PEN Austria
Hika Fekede Dugassa
Hilde Keteleer
Homero Aridjis, President Emeritus, PEN International
Housam Mosili
Htar Oak Thone
Ifor ap Glyn
Igor Irtenyev
Iman Al-Ghafari
Ingrid Vander Veken
Inua Ellams
Irina Kravtsova
Irina Staf
Isabel Zorrilla
Isabel Allende
Isabelle Rossaert
Islam Elsanov, Chechen PEN
Ivan Prado Sejas, PEN Colombia
Jai Jalah-Kumar
Jarkko Tontti, PEN International
Jasmine
Jean-Claude Humbert
Jilia Olivera
Jill Rawnsley
JJ Bola
John Ralston Saul, President Emeritus, Writers Circle member, PEN International
Joke van Leeuwen, PEN Vlaanderen
Joanne Leedom-Ackerman, Writers Circle member, PEN International
Joris Iven
Josef Haslinger, German PEN
Jude Dibia
Judith Rodriguez, PEN Melbourne
Jürgen Jankofsky
Kaiser Haq
Karel Segen
Karl Ove Knausgård, Writers Circle member, PEN International
Kathleen Vereecken
Kayo Chingonyi
Khin Aung Aye
Khin Mya Zin
Khin Thandar
Khun Shar Hlaing
Koen Peeters
Koen Stassijns
Leonardo Rodríguez Pérez
Leonid Bakhnov
Lev Oborin
Lev Rubinstein
Lev Timofeyev
Lina Morselli
Lindsay Riddoch
Lito B. Zulueta, PEN Phillipines
Lucina Kathmann, PEN International
Luis Gonzalez Tosar, PEN Galicia
Luis Miguel Aguilar
Lyubov Summ
Ma Thida, PEN Myanmar
Madeleine Thien
Magali Tercero, PEN Mexico
Magda Carneci, PEN Romania
Marco Martos, PEN Peru
Margaret Atwood, Writers Circle member, PEN International
Margie Orford, PEN South Africa
Maria Falikman
Marie Ramos
Marina Vishnevetskaya
Mario Vargas Llosa, Nobel Laureate, President Emeritus, PEN International
Mark Greenberg
Massimiliano Cocozza
Masud Ahmed
Masuduzzaman
Maureen Freely, English PEN
Maxim Amelin
Maxim Osipov
Maya Kucherskaya
Mefleh Al-Adwan
Menna Elfyn, Wales PEN Cymru
Mi Chan Wai
Michael Berg
Miguel-Angel Zapata
Mihail Borzikin
Mille Rode
Mohamad Gibril Sesay
Mohamed Sheriff, PEN Sierra Leone
Mohammad Habeeb
Musa Mutaev
Mya Thway Ni
Myo Myint Nyein
Myo Myint Nyein
Nadezhda Azhgikhina
Nadifa Mohamed
Naeimeh Doustdar
Najati Tayara
Najem Wali
Natalia Demina
Natalia Mavlevich
Natalia Sokolovskaya
Nay Phone Latt
Nedžad Ibrahimović, Bosnia and Herzegovina PEN
Neil Gaiman
Ngugi wa Thiong’o
Nguyen Hoang Bao Viet
Niels Barfoed
Nikolai Kononov
Nikolai Podosokorsky
Nina George, Writers Circle member, PEN International
Noo Saro-Wiwa
Nune Barsaghyan
Nurul Huda
Nyi Pu Lay
Olga Bukhina
Olga Drobot
Olga Gromova
Olga Varshaver
Olúwáfirópò Ewénlá
Owen Sheers
Paing Naing Aung
Patricia Schaefer Röder
Patrick Lateur
Paul Verrept
Peter Theunynck
Peter Vermeersch
Philippe Diepvents
Phillipe Sands
Philo Ikonya
Piet Teigeler
Quazi Rosy
Rafeef Ziadah
Randy Boyagoda, PEN Canada
Regula Venske, PEN International
Rina Anna Rusconi
Rosa M. Hernández
Rose Vandewalle
Rubén Darío Flórez
Salem Zenia
Salman Rushdie, Writers Circle member, PEN International
Samar Yazbek
Sameer Sayegh
Sanna Aoun
Sandra Santana, PEN Puerto Rico
Saw Wai
Selina Hossain
Sepideh Jodeyri
Serang Heng, PEN Cambodia
Sergey Gandlevsky
Sergey Kuznetsov
Sergey Yakovlev
Shahida Khatun
Shwe Naung Roe
Simone Lenaerts
Ronald Harwood
Sirpa Kähkönen, Finnish PEN
PEN Iceland
Sofi Oksanen, Writers Circle member, PEN International
Sophie McKeand
Stefan van den Broeck
Stephen Fry
Suu Mie Aung
Suzan Samanci
Sven Cooremans
Tanja Kinkel
Tatiana Shcherbina
Tatyana Bonch-Osmolovskaya
Teresa Cadete, Portugese PEN
Thet Wai Hnin
Tienchi Martin-Liao, Independent Chinese PEN Centre
Tom Healy
Tom Lanoye
Tomica Bajsić, Croatian PEN
Tuhin Das
Verly Dabel, Haiti PEN
Victor Yessipov
Victoria Ivleva
Vida Ognjenovic, Writers Circle member, PEN International
Viet Thanh Nguyen
Vitali Dixon
Vladimir Sotnikov
Vyacheslav Sereda<
Xeng Xue
Yann Martel, Writers Circle member, PEN International
Ye Shan
Yongxin Meng
Yosef Wosk
Zarchi Oo
Zhang Yu
