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Why you should not be naïve about Russian culture

Philosopher Volodymyr Yermolenko gives a brief look into the history of ideas to help us reflect on what is happening now. He advocates a critical approach to Russian culture which, according to him...

By: Volodymyr Jermolenko September 16 2022
Article

Reinforced Concrete: From the Kharkiv Diary

In this travel diary, Tetyana Teren writes about the literary city of Kharkiv. The diary was written in June during a train trip she made from Kyiv to Kharkiv together with five Ukrainian PEN writers...

Text: Tetyana Teren September 06 2022
Article

Ukrainian writers – defying the Russian invasion 

As the Russian attack on Ukraine wreaks destruction and creates millions of refugees, many of Ukraine's writers have found themselves turning to activism by joining volunteer groups, the Armed Forces...

Interview: Joakim Medin April 29 2022
Article

Let’s Not Forget Educating Our Children

Aziz Royesh, renowned teacher in Afghanistan, born in 1969 in Kabul. He founded the Marifat School in Kabul. In 2015, he was one of ten nominees for the International "Teacher of the Year Award" by...

Text: Aziz Royesh April 08 2022
Article

Am I panicking enough?

This article, written and published on January 18 in German by the Ukrainian author and publisher Kateryna Mischenko, is a prologue to PEN/Opp's upcoming Ukraine issue, which will be launched in ten...

By Kateryna Mishchenko March 07 2022
Article

LGBTQ is Not a Question of Politics

Many right-wing news companies, parties, politicians, and activists say more or less the same things: either that LGBTQ...

Text: Liam Larsson January 28 2022
Article

An echo

Freedom of expression is the fundament of a democratic society: it is central in terms of information, debate...

Text: Maria Fagerberg January 28 2022
Article

Return to the Nightmare

Dara Abdallah is a Syrian poet and writer, born in the city of Qamishli in 1990. He lives in Berlin since 2013, and studies at the Faculty of Philosophy and Cultural Studies at Humboldt University. He...

Text: Dara Abdallah December 17 2021
Article

NOTES FROM THESE TROUBLED TIMES

This text, signed by the pseudonym E.V., closely describes the course of events surrounding the liquidation of the Belarusian PEN and the Writers' Union. The liquidation was part of the massive...

Text: E.V. December 06 2021
Article

With my head lying on a plastic bottle - prison diary.

More than 36,000 people have been arrested in Belarus over the past year for political reasons. The author, Andrej Dyńko, is still under criminal investigation. His colleagues, the editors of Naša...

Text: Dynko Andrej November 15 2021
Article

Crisis and Unrepresentability

PEN/Opp publishes “Crisis and unrepresentability” – a new written lecture by the Syrian author, thinker and the Tucholsky Prize winner Yassin Al-Haj Saleh. The lecture was previously presented in...

Text: Yassin Al-Haj Saleh September 10 2021
Poetry

Flower Revolution

Khet Mar (born 1969) is a novelist, short story writer, poet, and essayist. As a twenty-two-year-old university student, she was arrested for her political activism, tortured, and sentenced to ten...

Text: Khet Mar October 01 2021

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