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The Power of Free Speech event will take place on 2-5 September in Kraków to bring together writers and delegates of PEN Clubs from around the world to discuss the future of literature in the face of war, censorship, disinformation and forced migration, and how to build a common space of understanding and solidarity through literature. The programme accompanying the congress, which is open to the general public, includes debates with prominent authors, including Olga Tokarczuk, Raja Shehadeh, Adam Michnik, Andrey Kurkov and important writers and activists from Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, Lithuania and other countries. The event will start with a speech by Margaret Atwood (who will join remotely) and a meeting with Olga Tokarczuk at Krakow's Kijów Cinema on 2 September. “Tokarczuk and Sonmez’s unusual and highly topical conversation will take place at a time when the world is in need of reflection. PEN members and lovers of literature will be able to listen to the thoughts of these two writers on the pressing challenges of our time. They will be joined by Margaret Atwood, whose voice on freedom of expression will resonate strongly during the Congress.’ Romana Cacchioli, Director of PEN International Office
The International PEN Federation is delighted to invite everybody to the Opening Ceremony of the 91st PEN International Congress, which will take place on 2 September at the Kijów Cinema in Kraków. Its focal point will be a conversation between President of PEN International Burhan Sonmez and Olga Tokarczuk, Nobel Prize laureate, Polish writer and activist, who has consistently expressed her opposition to political repression and wrote about the price people pay for wars and authoritarian regimes.
The event, which is titled ‘Memory, Migration and Myth in Today’s Literature’, will also be attended by the Vice-President of PEN International Margaret Atwood, a prominent writer with a long-standing commitment to freedom of expression and environmental justice, who will present a speech joining us remotely.
The opening ceremony will take place on 2 September from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.