This year’s meeting, held under the theme “Memory, Migration and Myth in Contemporary Fiction,” also features Canadian author Margaret Atwood, a PEN International vice president, who is taking part remotely.
The event's motto is “Freedom of Words – Words of the Free.”
Organizers said discussions will focus on "freedom of speech in a world plagued by crises and unrest" and "censorship and repression of writers," in addition to authoritarianism, manipulation, and "the power of literature in times of crisis."
Panelists include Volodymyr Yermolenko and Andriy Kurkov from Ukraine, Natasha Lomouri from Georgia, Taciana Niadbaj from Belarus, Kristina Sabaliauskaitė from Lithuania, Polish PEN head Marek Radziwon, and Adam Michnik, editor-in-chief of the Gazeta Wyborcza daily.
The conference also features a meeting with Raja Shehadeh, a Palestinian lawyer, human rights activist and writer whose book Palestinian Walks won Britain’s Orwell Prize for political writing.
The event runs until Friday.
Founded in 1921, PEN International brings together writers worldwide to promote literature and defend freedom of expression.
Its acronym originally stood for "Poets, Essayists, Novelists." Today, it stands for "Poets, Playwrights, Editors, Essayists, Novelists."
The Polish PEN Club was founded in 1925 by prominent writer Stefan Żeromski.
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