What do you think?
Rate this book
Writers Under Siege: Voices of Freedom from Around the World
Spotlights the remarkable writers who will not be silenced by persecution
Following the August 12 attack on author Salman Rushdie, readers everywhere realized the vulnerability ― and the courage ― of writers who speak truth to power. The freedom to write is under threat today throughout the world, with more than 1,000 writers, journalists, and publishers known to be imprisoned or persecuted in more than 100 countries. Writers Under Siege bears witness to the power and danger of the pen, and to the powerful longing for the right to use it without fear. Collected here are fifty contributions by writers who have paid dearly for the privilege of writing. Some have been tortured; some have been killed. All understand the cost of speaking up and speaking out.
This book was prepared by PEN, which is both the world’s oldest human rights organization and the oldest international literary organization. It commemorates PEN’s eighty-fifth anniversary and celebrates PEN’s work by giving voice to persecuted writers from around the globe. The contributors come from more than twenty countries, from Belarus to Zimbabwe. Many are well-known in the English-speaking world, including Orhan Pamuk, from Turkey, winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize for Literature; Harold Pinter, from England, winner of the 2005 Nobel Prize for Literature; Aung San Suu Kyi, from Burma, winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize; and Anna Politkovskaya, from Russia, the noted journalist and author who was murdered in 2006, shortly after writing the piece that appears in this collection. Other contributors are less famous, perhaps, but their contributions are no less compelling. In prose and poetry, in fiction and non-fiction, they reveal the personal consequences of war, conflict, terrorism, and authoritarianism.
While the pieces collected here differ in their settings and their subjects, all are riveting. Grouped into four sections ― Prison, Death, Asylum, and The Freedom to Write ― they call our attention to the fundamental humanity we share and highlight the inhumanity we can so easily condone.
Contributors Chris Abani, Angel Cuadra Landrove, Asiye Guzel, Augusto Ernesto Llosa Giraldo, Mamadali Makhmudov, Orhan Pamuk, Harold Pinter, Anna Politkovskaya, Aung San Suu Kyi, Thich Tue Sy, Gai Tho, and Ken Saro-Wiwa.
Following the August 12 attack on author Salman Rushdie, readers everywhere realized the vulnerability ― and the courage ― of writers who speak truth to power. The freedom to write is under threat today throughout the world, with more than 1,000 writers, journalists, and publishers known to be imprisoned or persecuted in more than 100 countries. Writers Under Siege bears witness to the power and danger of the pen, and to the powerful longing for the right to use it without fear. Collected here are fifty contributions by writers who have paid dearly for the privilege of writing. Some have been tortured; some have been killed. All understand the cost of speaking up and speaking out.
This book was prepared by PEN, which is both the world’s oldest human rights organization and the oldest international literary organization. It commemorates PEN’s eighty-fifth anniversary and celebrates PEN’s work by giving voice to persecuted writers from around the globe. The contributors come from more than twenty countries, from Belarus to Zimbabwe. Many are well-known in the English-speaking world, including Orhan Pamuk, from Turkey, winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize for Literature; Harold Pinter, from England, winner of the 2005 Nobel Prize for Literature; Aung San Suu Kyi, from Burma, winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize; and Anna Politkovskaya, from Russia, the noted journalist and author who was murdered in 2006, shortly after writing the piece that appears in this collection. Other contributors are less famous, perhaps, but their contributions are no less compelling. In prose and poetry, in fiction and non-fiction, they reveal the personal consequences of war, conflict, terrorism, and authoritarianism.
While the pieces collected here differ in their settings and their subjects, all are riveting. Grouped into four sections ― Prison, Death, Asylum, and The Freedom to Write ― they call our attention to the fundamental humanity we share and highlight the inhumanity we can so easily condone.
Contributors Chris Abani, Angel Cuadra Landrove, Asiye Guzel, Augusto Ernesto Llosa Giraldo, Mamadali Makhmudov, Orhan Pamuk, Harold Pinter, Anna Politkovskaya, Aung San Suu Kyi, Thich Tue Sy, Gai Tho, and Ken Saro-Wiwa.
- GenresPoetry
275 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2007
3 people are currently reading
30 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 15, 2014
This was a quick dip into the writings of authors who have been tortured, imprisoned, exiled, censored, and put to death because of their beliefs, relationships, or politics. Most of the situations were within ten years of the publication of this book, so it covers from about 1996-2007 or so. I admit I skimmed a majority of it and only read closely those authors I had a particular interest in, such as Orhan Pamuk, famed Turkish author, and Anna Politkovskaya, who wrote about Putin and Chechnya and was murdered. Putin, as we know, is still a problem, but it feels like we are only now hearing about him because of his activities in Ukraine... she wrote about him from the beginning.
July 24, 2008
Loved it. These are stories that we HAVE to hear, that DEMAND being told. It is not an easy read, but this is what I love about literature: its ability to make politics personal, and to transform our abstract conceptions of social conflict into something very real and visceral and relevant. Not only was I moved by every single poem and essay and speech and excerpt, but I also greatly expanded my to-read list because now I want to read more work by many of the authors in this collection (e.g., Chris Abani, Chenjerai Hove, Ken Saro-wiwa, many others) and learn more about the political conflicts and social injustices that they are/were writing about.
February 29, 2008
After reading account after account of political imprisonment, I found myself desensitized to every writer's situation. I stopped reading it half way through.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews