personal essays
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Fido Nesti on adapting Nineteen Eighty-Four into a graphic novel in the shadow of Brazilian populism.
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Sophie Lewis on translating Noémi Lefebvre.
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Omid Tofighian and Behrouz Boochani tell the story of Bangladeshi refugee Spicy – across borders, seas and prisons.
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Kikuko Tsumura on making masks work. Translated by Polly Barton.
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El Salvador’s Claudia Hernández on war, women, and burning. Translated by Julia Sanches.
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Robert Jones, Jr. on discovering he was not the only Black, queer member of his family.
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Nayrouz Qarmout writes about Edinburgh, Gaza, short stories, and packing her bag.
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Read Jay Bernard’s ‘England Street (Reggae fi Linton)’, commissioned to celebrate Linton Kwesi Johnson winning the 2020 PEN Pinter Prize. Featuring a specially commissioned introduction to the poem from Jay.
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Priyamavada Gopal writes on her experience of online hatred, and calls for an end to a politics of hate.
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Kavita Bhanot writes on mother-tongue shame, translating across generations, and decolonising translation.
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Tsitsi Dangarembga, shortlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize, writes on demonstrating, writing, and being arrested.
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A statement from Svetlana Alexievich, Nobel Laureate and Chair of Belarusian PEN.
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Kurdish writer Nurcan Baysal responds to a letter from Nedim Türfent.
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Alex Valente on translating fascism between Italy, the UK and the US.
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Patrice Lawrence writes about her father, Windrush, and death.
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Barbadian speculative fiction writer Karen Lord writes before and after a storm.
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Yvonne Battle-Felton on listening, fear, and home.
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Dzifa Benson writes on contemporary and historical perceptions of black women’s bodies
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Andrzej Tichý writes on music and migrant experience
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Can Bahadır Yüce writes on Turkey’s response to coronavirus, and calls for the release of at-risk political prisoners
PEN Transmissions 