On 29 October, PEN Ukraine hosted a public discussion with European writers and representatives of PEN centres entitled ‘Literature Around the World: Can It Still Help Humans?’
Representatives of PEN centres around the world attended the 9th Regional Meeting. During their visit, guests will meet with Ukrainian human rights activists, writers, journalists, and cultural institutions, as well as visit de-occupied cities and towns in the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions to see the consequences of the Russian occupation with their own eyes.
During the meeting, participants discussed:
-the role of literature in times of global catastrophe;
-its ability to help us better understand people, restore moral values, and transcend prejudices and limitations;
-literature's ability to teach us to feel and comprehend reality more deeply.
Maja Gudim Burheim (PEN Norway) — journalist and historian, researcher of traumatic history and memory, one of the developers of the education centre dedicated to the 22 July terror attacks in Norway, currently Head of Communications at PEN Norway.
Laura Mintegi (PEN Basque Centre) — prominent Basque writer and scholar, Doctor of Psychology, Head of the Department of Language and Literature Didactics at the University of the Basque Country, President of PEN Basque.
Enrique Yéves (PEN Spain) — Spanish journalist and writer, long-time correspondent for TVE, BBC, and Reuters, former spokesperson for the President of the UN General Assembly, now President of PEN Spain.
Tomica Bajsić (PEN Croatia) — Croatian poet, prose writer, artist, and translator, author of five poetry collections and books of travel essays, member of the PEN International Writers in Prison Committee (WIPC), founder of Druga priča Art & Poetry publishing house.
Said Khatibi (PEN Slovenia) — Slovenian writer and journalist who writes in Arabic, author of five novels translated into seven languages, known for his reports from conflict zones including Somalia, Mali, and Kyiv’s Maydan.
Ira Wells (PEN Canada) — Canadian literary scholar and writer, Director of Academic Programmes at Victoria College, University of Toronto, contributor to The Guardian and The New Republic.
Vincent Engel (PEN Belgium) — Belgian writer, playwright, and professor of literature at the University of Louvain, author of over twenty novels, researcher of memory and war trauma, head of Edern Publishing.
The event was moderated by Volodymyr Yermolenko — philosopher, writer, President of PEN Ukraine, Editor-in-Chief of UkraineWorld, and co-founder and host of Kult: Podcast.
The discussion became a space for reflecting on whether literature today can still serve as a source of humanity, empathy, and moral support in a world facing crisis.