PEN Club Trieste

PEN PROTESTA !

2012-01-25T14:12:00.001+01:00

From the PEN International website

http://www.pen-international.org/newsitems/pen-protesta-writers-to-gather-at-mexico-city-event-to-denounce-violence-against-journalists/

News: PEN Protesta!

Writers to gather at Mexico City event to denounce violence against journalists
PEN International and the PEN Club de México present “PEN Protesta! In Support of Journalists and Freedom of Expression,” a public demonstration of solidarity and a demand for accountability for the murders and disappearances of journalists in Mexico on Sunday 29 January in Mexico City.

Representatives from PEN International, all seven North American PEN Centers, and PEN Centers in Europe and Asia will stand side-by-side with dozens of Mexican journalists and declare their support for a free press and freedom of expression in a series of original statements and writings crafted for the occasion. The event represents an unprecedented show of support from the international literary community in recognition of the courage and endurance of their Mexican colleagues.

Between 2000 and 2011, criminal organizations have murdered more than 67 journalists in Mexico. In recent months, these groups have killed 15 journalists, “disappeared” three, and attacked the facilities of 19 newspapers and media outlets with firearms and explosives.

Delegation members and attendees include PEN International President John Ralston Saul, Russell Banks, PEN International Secretary Hori Takeaki, PEN International Treasurer Eric Lax, Ramón Xirau, Marta Lamas, Elena Poniatowska, Javier Sicilia, Homero Aridjis, Elsa Cross, Victor Manuel Mendiola, Eduardo Lizalde, José de la Colina, and many others.

PEN members around the world are invited to support the campaign and show their solidarity. Follow updates about PEN Protesta! on Twitter and Facebook. The suggested Twitter hashtag for the event is #PENProtesta.

SEASON'S GREETINGS 2011

2011-12-14T19:33:00.002+01:00

PEN TRIESTE LITERARY PRIZE 2011 “Claudio H. Martelli”

2011-11-29T19:34:00.004+01:00

On Sunday December 4th, 2011, at the Historical Caffé San Marco of Trieste, 17.00, the PEN Trieste Centre will award its Literary Prize - dedicated to its former President Claudio H. Martelli - to Prof. Ciril Zlobec as acknowledgment of his literary merits and of his work towards the comprehension between Italia and Slovenia.

Prof. Ciril Zlobec, born in 1925 in Ponivke, is well known as a translator, especially from Italian (Dante Alighieri, Leopardi, Ungaretti and others) and Serbo-Croatian (Popa, Mihalic).

He is known especially as a poet who writes lyrical, emotional songs, but he is also a novelist and an essayist. For his literary work he has received several awards, including the Tomšičeva (1956), Župančič (1976) and Prešeren (1982) Prizes. Since 1985 he is a Member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts and he is also a corresponding Member of the Croatian Academy.

In 1990 – after a long political engagement - he became a member of the Federal Presidency of the Republic of Slovenia. He is a Grand Officer of the Order of the Stella della Solidarietà of Italy.

The PEN Trieste Prize has been awarded since 2006 to Claudio Magris, Boris Pahor, Renzo Rosso and to Hugo Beccacece / Tonko Maroevic, in the frame of the International Literary Prize Trieste Scritture di Frontiera “Umberto Saba” organized by Altamarea, Trieste.

In the photo of June 2010 from left: Marko Kravos, Claudio H. Martelli, Ciril Zlobec, Juan Octavio Prenz, Roberta Ferrazza, Antonio Della Rocca, Claudio Grisancich, Barbara Simoniti.

NEW PEN INTERNATIONAL WEBSITE

2011-11-22T19:32:00.004+01:00

The new PEN International website is launching these days
http://www.pen-international.org

If you click on "Community" on the left hand below you will find the link to PEN Trieste which leads to this blog.

If you click on "Facebook" on the left hand (above the photo images) you get a link to the FB page "PEN International on Facebook" founded and managed by me. This is a great acknowledgment to the role of this page and to the activity all the members and myself did develop during the last year.

I would like to thank Laura McVeigh for it also on your behalf.

A. Della Rocca

Jiří Gruša, già Presidente del PEN International, non è più tra di noi.

2011-10-31T11:50:00.004+01:00

Riporto di seguito la lettera di Laura McVeigh, Direttore Esecutivo del PEN International, in ricordo di Jiří Gruša. Personalmente lo ricordo come un uomo semplice - nonostante le alte cariche ricoperte - e di sottile umorismo. Eccolo durante uno dei suoi ultimi readings alla Fiera del Libro di Ostrava nel giugno 2011.

PEN International deeply saddened by death of former International President, Jiří Gruša.

"Persecuted and imprisoned for his beliefs, Jiří Gruša was the living embodiment of PEN's devotion to freedom of expression and literature. He was beloved by all of us and we will miss him." - John Ralston Saul, PEN International President

Jiří Gruša served as President of PEN International from 2003-2009. He will be remembered by all at PEN for his love of literature and his committed promotion of the ideals of PEN. Speaking of his role as International President he described his focus as: "My priorities are communication and openness. It is important to stress that freedom of expression is actually freedom from hatred."

A well-respected Czech writer and diplomat, Jiří Gruša demonstrated great bravery and quiet determination throughout his life. He was persecuted by the communist regime in response to his novel Mimner in 1969 and was arrested in 1978 following his novel The Questionnaire. He protested against the totalitarian regime of of the former Czechoslovakia, signing up in 1977 to Charter 77. Since the 1990s he held a diplomatic and political career as Czechoslovak and then Czech Ambassador to Germany and Austria and subsequently as Education Minister in the Czech Republic.

"He was a champion all his life for freedom of expression. It is a great loss to all of us." - Hori Takeaki, PEN International Secretary

He died aged 72 on Friday October 28th during heart surgery in Germany.

Our thoughts and condolences are with his wife Sabine, all his friends and family and with our colleagues in Czech PEN at this time.

Laura McVeigh

Executive Director

PEN International

IL PEN INTERNATIONAL COMPIE 90 ANNI

2011-10-24T15:28:00.000+02:00

Il 24 ottobre del 1921, a Londra, veniva fondato il PEN International, la maggiore e più antica associazione internazionale di poeti, saggisti e romanzieri (PEN è l’acronimo di Poets, Essayists and Novelists) con l’obiettivo di promuovere la letteratura, di difendere la libertà di espressione e di costituire una comunità internazionale di scrittori.

Il suo primo Presidente Internazionale è stato John Galsworthy e lo hanno seguito nella carica scrittori importanti, alcuni insigniti del Premio Nobel, come Alberto Moravia, Heinrich Böll, Arthur Miller, Pierre Emmanuel, Győrgy Konrád e Mario Vargas Llosa.

Oggi, dopo 90 anni, il PEN International è più che mai attivo, ed ha appena celebrato, a Tokyo nel 2010 e a Belgrado nel 2011 i suoi due Congressi Mondiali annuali più rappresentativi con una novantina di partecipanti. Le lingue ufficiali di tali eventi sono l’inglese, il francese e lo spagnolo.

Al vertice dell’organizzazione il Presidente Internazionale John Ralston Saul (canadese), il Segretario Internazionale Takeaki Hori (giapponese), il Tesoriere Eric Lax (statunitense) ed Direttore Esecutivo Laura McVeigh (irlandese del nord).

L’International Board è costituito da Sylvestre Clancier (francese), Lee Gil-Won (coreano del sud), Tarik Günersel (turco), Markéta Heikalová (ceca), Philo Ikonya (kenyana), Yang Liang (cinese) e Haroon Siddiqui (canadese).

L’attività del PEN International, composto da 145 Centri in 104 Paesi, si articola su diversi Comitati: il Writers in Prison Committee che si occupa del monitoraggio degli scrittori imprigionati o in pericolo in ragione della loro attività e della difesa del diritto di libertà di espressione, il Translation & Linguistic Rights Committee dedicato ai problemi di traduzione come mezzo di diffusione culturale ed alla tutela delle minoranze linguistiche, il Writers for Peace Committee che costituisce una piattaforma per il dialogo e la comprensione interculturale tra i popoli ed il Women Writers Committee dedicato ai problemi della scrittura al femminile e del suo sviluppo in tutti i Paesi del mondo.

Nel 2003 il congresso di Città del Messico ha approvato la costituzione del Centro PEN di Trieste in ragione della peculiari caratteristiche multiculturali e multilinguistiche della città. Ne sono stati Presidenti Juan Octavio Prenz ed il compianto Claudio H. Martelli. Attuale Presidente è Antonio Della Rocca, coadiuvato dalla Vicepresidente Marina Silvestri e dal Segretario Generale Patrizia Vascotto.

Trieste, 24.10.2011

MANIFESTO DI GIRONA SUI DIRITTI LINGUISTICI

2011-09-21T19:20:00.001+02:00

Il PEN International riunisce gli scrittori di tutto il mondo.

Quindici anni fa la Dichiarazione Universale sui Diritti Linguistici fu pubblicata per la prima volta a Barcellona dal Comitato per la Traduzione e i Diritti Linguistici del PEN International.

Oggi questo stesso Comitato, riunito in Girona, proclama il Manifesto dei dieci principi centrali della Dichiarazione Universale.

1. La diversità linguistica è un’eredità mondiale che deve essere valorizzata e protetta.

2. Il rispetto di tutte le lingue e di tutte le culture è fondamentale per il processo di costruzione e mantenimento del dialogo e della pace nel mondo.

3. Ogni individuo impara a parlare nel cuore di una comunità che gli dà vita, lingua, cultura e identità.

4. Lingue diverse e diversi modi di parlarle sono non solo mezzi di comunicazione, ma anche l’ambiente sociale in cui gli esseri umani crescono e le culture vengono edificate.

5. Ogni comunità linguistica ha diritto a che la propria lingua venga usata come una lingua ufficiale nel rispettivo territorio.

6. L’istruzione scolastica deve contribuire al prestigio della lingua parlata da una comunità linguistica del rispettivo territorio.

7. È desiderabile che i cittadini abbiano una conoscenza generale di varie lingue, perché ciò favorisce l’empatia e l’apertura intellettuale, e contribuisce ad una più profonda conoscenza della propria lingua.

8. La traduzione di testi, specie delle grandi opere delle varie culture, rappresenta un elemento molto importante nel necessario processo di maggior comprensione e rispetto tra gli esseri umani.

9. I media sono da considerarsi un diffusore privilegiato affinché la diversità linguistica funzioni e per un incremento competente e rigoroso del suo prestigio.

10. Il diritto ad usare e proteggere la propria lingua deve essere riconosciuto dalle Nazioni Unite come uno dei diritti umani fondamentali.

Comitato per la Traduzione ed i Diritti Linguistici del PEN International

Girona, 13 Maggio 2011

Traduzione di Antonio Della Rocca – PEN Trieste

HIGHLIGHTS - 77° Congresso del PEN International

2011-09-19T15:27:00.002+02:00

77° Congresso del PEN International a Belgrado, 11/17 settembre 2011

Il Congresso è stato organizzato su lavori preparatori del Board seguiti dall’Assemblea Generale dal 14 al 16 settembre.

Tra il 16 pomeriggio e il 17 era in programma a Novi Sad una sessione straordinaria dell’International Board e dei Presidenti dei Comitati con finalità progettuali per il prossimo decennio di attività.

In concomitanza anche l’apertura del Festival “Free the word” a Novi Sad.

Anche in questo Congresso – organizzato con grande passione e in maniera inappuntabile dal PEN Serbia – c’è stata una altissima presenza di 87 Centri su 144 con quasi 200 persone tra rappresentanti del PEN International, Delegati e partecipanti. Un ringraziamento va alla Presidente del PEN Serbia Vida Ognjenovic oltre che a tutto lo staff, in gran parte formato da volontari.

L’Assemblea Generale propriamente detta è stata preceduta da 2 giornate di riunioni dei Comitati. Sono stato presente dal 12 al 16 settembre.

Il nostro Socio fondatore e Past President Claudio H. Martelli è stato ricordato nominativamente insieme ad altri colleghi mancati all’inizio lavori.

Ho partecipato attivamente alle riunioni del Comitato Scrittori per la Pace.

Anche in questo Congresso c’è stato l’inserimento in agenda di uno spazio appositamente dedicato ad una discussione aperta, senza mozioni e senza votazioni, sui problemi del PEN International così come visti dai Delegati dei Centri.

Grazie al contingentamento dei tempi (1 solo intervento di 2 minuti ciascuno), circa 30 Delegati hanno potuto esporre delle interessanti idee, che poi sono state discusse in 4 workshops ed hanno formato oggetto di un rapporto in Assemblea, che farà parte del background per il “ritiro” progettuale del Board e dei Presidenti dei Comitato a Novi Sad.

Il Segretario Internazionale Takeaki Hori ha richiesto ufficialmente contributi progettuali prima dell’Assemblea, e pertanto il sottoscritto aveva già inviato alla sua attenzione e a quella dell’International President John Ralston Saul all’inizio di agosto una lista di 10 punti, successivamente pubblicata sulla pagina PEN International on Facebook. La troverete – in inglese - in calce a questa relazione.

Vi sono state inoltre delle interessanti riunioni dei Networks esistenti o in progetto sulle aree Europea, Africana, Uralo-Altaica e Balcani. Ho partecipato alla riunione sul Network Europa, ancora in fase progettuale, con qualche dubbio sulle finalità e sulla pratica attuazione delle stesse.

Erano in scadenza 2 posti nell’International Board, ai quali concorrevano 4 candidati:

Ekbal Baraka (PEN Egitto)
Sylvestre Clancier (PEN Francia)
Nelson Wattie (PEN Nuova Zelanda)
Lian Yang (PEN cinese indipendente) – rieleggibile

Il primo scrutinio ha portato ai seguenti risultati:

Lian Yang (PEN cinese indipendente) 38 voti
Ekbal Baraka (PEN Egitto) 37 voti
Sylvestre Clancier (PEN Francia) 37 voti
Nelson Wattie (PEN Nuova Zelanda) 26 voti

risultando eletto Lian Yang e dovendosi procedere al ballottaggio tra Baraka e Clancier.

Il primo ballottaggio ha portato ad una situazione di equilibrio a 38 voti.

Al secondo ballottaggio è risultato eletto Sylvestre Clancier con 44 voti contro i 39 di Ekbal Baraka.

Il Board attualmente comprende quindi 7 Membri: Sylvestre Clancier (PEN Francia), Lee Gil-Won (PEN Corea), Tarik Günersel (PEN Turchia), Markéta Hejkalová (PEN Repubblica Ceca), Philo Ikonia (PEN Kenya), Haroon Siddiqui (PEN Canada), Lyan Yang (PEN cinese indipendente).

Lo staff del PEN International comprende quindi oltre all’International President John Ralston Saul (PEN Canada) l’International Secretary Takeaki Hori (PEN Giappone) e l’International Treasurer Eric Lax (PEN USA West).

A capo dello staff il nuovo Executive Director, Laura McVeigh che ha fatto una ottima impressione anche per il suo esprimersi fluentemente in francese e spagnolo. Per aver svolto nel periodo di carenza le funzioni interinali congiunte di Executive Director un grande ringraziamento va a Frank Geary e a Sara Whyatt.

È stata ratificata la rielezione alla Presidenza del Comitato Translations & Linguistic Rights Josep-Maria Terricabras (PEN Catalogna)

Rimangono in carica Marian Botsford Fraser (PEN Canada) per il Comitato Writers in Prison, Edvard Kovač per il Comitato Writers for Peace e Carl Iver Mortensen (PEN Norvegia) per il Network Writers in Exile.

Critica la situazione del Comitato Women Writers in quanto le delegate presenti al Congresso hanno formalmente sfiduciato la Presidente Kadija George (PEN African Writers Abroad,) che pertanto - con la presa d’atto dell’Assemblea della sfiducia espressa - è da considerarsi decaduta. Il comitato dovrà procedere all’elezione della nuova Presidente e nel frattempo viene retto dalla Vice Presidente del PEN International Lucina Kathmann (PEN San Miguel de Allende).

L’assemblea ha approvato le Relazioni dell’International President, dell’International Secretary, dell’International Board, dell’International Treasurer e dell’Ufficio dell’Executive Director, così come i Rapporti dei Comitati.

È stata approvata la ricostituzione del Centro Occitano.

Sono state approvate anche le relazioni dell’Emergency Fund e della Fundación Iberoamericana del PEN Internacional. Il Network Writers in Exile non ha presentato relazione.

È stato presentato il Congresso 2012 che si terrà a Seoul, Korea, tra il 9 ed il 16 settembre 2012.

Non vi sono ancora candidature ufficiali per il Congresso del 2013.

Sono state inoltre approvate diverse risoluzioni su vari argomenti toccanti la libertà di espressione nel mondo.

Sihem Bensedrine (PEN Tunisia) ha tenuto una relazione sulla situazione attuale in Tunisia, a lei ben nota per il suo attivo coinvolgimento nella cosiddetta “Rivoluzione dei gelsomini”.

Sul piano dell’attività nei rapporti internazionali abbiamo confermato, rinnovato ed aperto contatti con i Centri PEN di:

• Algeria, Austria, Bangladesh, Paesi baschi, Belgio (francofono e fiammingo), Bielorussia, Centro Asia - Bishkek, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Brasile, Bulgaria, Cambogia, Canada, Catalogna, Cina, Cinese Indipendente, Cipro, Croazia, Curdo, Danimarca, Egitto, Esperanto, Estonia, Etiopia, Finlandia, Francia, Galizia, Germania, Ghana, Grecia, Giappone, Giordania, Guadalajara, Guinea, Haiti, Inghilterra, Iraq, Irlanda, Italia, Kenya, Korea, Kossovo, Macedonia, Malawi, Marocco, Melbourne, Moldovia, Montenegro, Nepal, Nigeria, Norvegia, New Zealand, Occitano, Olanda, Québec, Polonia, Portogallo, Romania, Repubblica Ceca, Russia, San Miguel de Allende, Scozia, Senegal, Scrittori cubani in esilio, Scrittori tedeschi all’estero, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Slovacchia, Slovenia, Somalia, Sudafrica, Svezia, Svizzera francese, Svizzera italiana, Svizzera tedesca, Taipei, Tatarstan, Tibet, Tunisia, Turchia, Uganda, Ungheria, USA, Uyghuro, Vietnam, Zambia.

Di seguito troverete copia del discorso di apertura del Presidente John Ralston Saul per opportuna conoscenza e, più sotto, la List of Actions for Discussion in Belgrade di cui vi ho detto sopra.

Sono ovviamente a disposizione per maggiori informazioni.

A. Della Rocca

77th PEN INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS
BELGRADE
September 13th, 2011

JOHN RALSTON SAUL
INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT
OPENING SPEECH

Thank you Serbian PEN! Thank you Vida and thank you to all of your members. You have organized a wonderful Congress. People who attend have no idea how much work is involved and how many hours are taken up that could have been used for writing. So, a very personal thank you from all of us who have come from other countries.
When we say, we members of PEN International, that we represent literature and freedom of expression, and that you can't separate one from the other, it is a simple statement of fact. This is our 90th year. We are, we have always been, the only truly international literary organization. We have invented the idea and the implementation of freedom of expression campaigns.
Sometimes, the obvious has to be reiterated. There are some governments , some people in power – those that George Konrad, one of our former presidents, calls 'professionals of power' – who say: 'Ah.. they're only writers, only words' . And it is true that we do not have tanks or banks or the capacity to bear a huge deficit or support a large bureaucracy. But if we are only writers, why is it that about 850 of our colleagues are in jail around the world? Why is it that writers are still killed with a terrifying regularity? We have that great power which is language and imagination – through poems and plays and novels and essays – a power that sets free the spirit of readers. It is with the words of imagination that people work.

Yesterday, I was asked - quite rightly- what difference does it make that writers from 89 PEN centres are gathered in Belgrade. It is the right question.

The first answer is that this Congress is a public expression of reconciliation. Of course, writers in the Balkans have never stopped talking to each other. But, this Congress is a formal evocation of the imagination of the Balkans.

Today, the leaders of 10 Balkan PEN centres sat together on a stage and created the Balkans PEN International Network. The founding members are Bosnian PEN, Bulgarian, Croatian, Kosovar, Macedonian, Montenegrin, Romanian, Serbian, Slovenian and Turkish. This is an historic event. It is a message to the world.

Second,the gathering of hundreds of writers from around the world matters because it is a force for imagination and transparency. Our charter is clear. We believe in unlimited freedom of expression. But we also believe that no matter how controversial or difficult our words are, the ultimate purpose is to bring people together. The great Serbian Canadian writer, David Albahari, has rightly written that “knowledge can never catch up with the power of ignorance”. This is true. But the imagination can catch up. Imagination can leap over ignorance. Let me give you an example:When a virtually unknown radio journalist is killed in Mexico –the most dangerous place in the world today to be a writer –they leave, in Ivo Andrić’s words, “a memory clearer and more lasting than that of so many other more important victims”.

This year our former President, Mario Vargas Llosa, won the Nobel Prize for literature. And the founding president of our Independent Chinese PEN Centre, Liu Xiaobo, won the Nobel Peace Prize. Two men of courage. Two masters of the imagination. One of whom remains unjustlyin prison. And several of our centres were central to what is called the Arab Spring. In some cases they are now a keypart of the rebuilding civil society in their country.

The core of what we do is this: imagination and the transparency that imagination creates, and the acceptance of complexity – all of this is above politics and below politics.It’s everything except politics. In a society without this democracy of the mind it becomes possible for lies to install themselves, as if they were language. And as Danilo Kiš put it, “when everyone lies, no one lies”.

We are in the business of open memories, memories that do not oppose people, one against the other.We represent an open idea of how people can live together.

This is the 77th Congress. The Congress in 1933 in Dubrovnik was organized by this Centre. It was a complex, but historic moment for PEN. We were faced by the rising forces of authoritarianism, even within our own centres. The divisions of European society had become the divisions of PEN. Our President, a great writer, H. G. Wells, but also an anti-Semite with confused public views, found himself caught in an atmosphere of impossible divisions. But, complex thought it was, Wells and the delegates found their way through in order to stand with the imagination and transparency and therefore against authoritarianism.

In 1933 we found an ethical shape-long before governments took a stand. And at every PEN Congress since 1933, those ethical standards stand before us as the measure of what we do. I like to think that in leading with wisdom in Dubrovnik, Wells found his own way to a personal understanding of PEN’s ethics. It was a noble moment for him and for PEN.

There are always those who believe that writers can be dragged away from their independence in the public place. And I believe that the next few years will be difficult. There are many strong and negative forces at work. But the meaning of PEN is simple. Our central ethical force is the independence of our imagination and our creativity. And we know what this means because for 90 years we have defended that independence.

Hvala!

LIST OF ACTIONS FOR DISCUSSION IN BELGRADE

Dear Friends,

as many of you already know, the International Secretary Takeaki Hori has announced that also during the Congress in Belgrade there will be a time for an open discussion about matters that the Centres and/or the Members would like to submit to the attention of PEN International’s Officers and Board.

In my opinion this is a very good thing and we have to make the best of it.

It’s obviously very difficult to choose from the huge amount of topics that could become a matter of discussion, also because the time is in any case limited and there is the risk that the discussion slips into particularities.

However, I have tried to make this exercise and I have decided to fly so high as possible, having in mind the general aspects of the activity of our organization.

So I have made a list of ten points I consider to be important – well, I myself had to smile realizing that this could appear a Decalogue, but please do not believe that I take myself for God :0)

The rationale behind this list is that the actions have a logical (and practical) sequence and may be carried out more by an effort of rationalisation than with great expenses and manpower.

Obviously, this is my personal choice and reflects my way of looking at things: we all are not naïve and know that a “program” of this sort can be realized only in a perspective of years.

But only through fair, constructive criticism we may identify weak points and further the organization.

I hope that you may look at this brisk statement of mine with some interest as “food for thought” in view of the future of PEN International. I’m always at your disposal if you would speak about these topics in Belgrade and/or in any other place.

COMMUNICATION HAS TO BE IMPROVED. I’m not speaking of the efforts myself and other members of the Centres are doing to maintain communication channels as open as possible with any possible means, of which Facebook is only an example. The website of PEN International has to become much more interactive and supply information about activities of the Officers, of the Board, of the Head Office, of the Centres and – why not? – of the Members.

WE HAVE TO AVOID OVERLAPPING WITH OTHER NGOs. PEN International is an association of writers and should – in my opinion – characterize itself much more in this sense. Important and vital as the activities of WIPC may be, they do not represent the whole goals of PEN International. The other Committees must have a more relevant role in the activity and chiefly – putting it in simple words – we should become a bit more an Union of writers.

CORPORATE IDENTITY HAS TO BE IMPROVED. This means that the promotion of literature should be our main goal, and the activity of the whole organization should be set out consequently.

BOARD MEMBERS SHOULD BE ENTRUSTED WITH SPECIFIC TASKS. Interaction with the whole of PEN International cannot be left to a Head Office staff, however good it may be. There are a number of matters in which the specific competence, the network of friends and the good will of a single Member of the Board can be of paramount importance, for instance in the coordination of a number of Centres on a regional or linguistic basis. Members of the Board are important resources that PEN International has to fully take advantage of.

A PEN INTERNATIONAL LITERARY PRIZE HAS TO BE FOUNDED. This has not to be a prize “à la carrière” for distinguished, dear old members of the organization, but should be thought as a “scouting prize” for writers of emergent literatures, regardless of age and fame.

A STRONG RELATIONSHIP WITH THE WORLD OF THE READERS HAS TO BE ESTABLISHED. If we are an association of writers, we cannot do without them. There are a number of initiatives that could be taken, from helping the constitution of reading groups to establishing a membership sub-category of “strong readers”.

YOUNG PEOPLE SHOULD BE INCOURAGED TO JOIN PEN INTERNATIONAL. There is a lot of younger writers and poets who have not – at least for the time being – the slightest intention to commit their works to paper, Internet is their pasture. These people represent the future, even if we may not like the idea. Maybe a special membership category could be imagined for them.

EXISTING PEN CENTRES HAVE TO BE EXAMINED AND NECESSARY MEASURES BE TAKEN. There are many examples of “more than sleeping” Centres and/or of Centres which consider their situation as an impregnable position, with potentially harmful consequences for the functioning of the organization as a whole.

PEN PRESENCE SHOULD BE RATIONALIZED IN COUNTRIES IN WHICH DIFFERENT LANGUAGES AND CULTURES CONVIVE. In the medium term – in the long term we are all dead – in many parts of the world transnational Centres will be needed in order to allow the survival of minority communities (and that of minority could be a very relative and elastic concept if even a big community collides with a dominant culture).

FOR ANY OF THESE ACTIONS A BUDGET HAS TO BE ESTABLISHED AND CONTROLLED. PEN International cannot do without a sound cost accounting system enabling the management to control level of expenditure by cost centre and/or job and to make the appropriate route corrections.

Antonio Della Rocca
PEN Trieste
9.8.2011

Serata in ricordo di Luciano Morandini

2011-06-26T23:02:00.005+02:00

Elvio Guagnini ha ricordato la vita, le opere e la personalità di Luciano attraverso un percorso di amicizia durato molti anni. A lui si è associato Marko Kravos, traduttore delle opere di Luciano in sloveno oltre che anch'egli amico di lunga data.

Serata in ricordo di Luciano Morandini

2011-06-17T21:26:00.003+02:00

PEN CLUB TRIESTE

mercoledì 22 giugno
ore 18.30
Antico Caffè San Marco

LUCIANO MORANDINI
ricordando un amico

un ricordo del poeta, socio del PEN Club Trieste, scomparso nel 2009

Elvio Guagnini
ne ripercorrerà la vita e la poetica
Giorgio Amodeo
darà voce alle sue liriche
(dalle raccolte Voci e Il filo dei giorni)

sarà presente Luisa Gastaldo Morandini

Exposition of books of PEN authors at the Biblioteca Civica of Trieste

2011-06-14T13:41:00.002+02:00

Thanks to the cooperation of the Biblioteca Civica of Trieste we are exposing for free consultation books of authors of PEN Trieste Centre and of other PEN Centres in different languages.

BLED 2011 - HIGHLIGHTS

2011-05-13T20:44:00.001+02:00

Il 43° Incontro Internazionale degli Scrittori, organizzato dal PEN Sloveno, si è tenuto a Bled dal 4 all’8 Maggio 2010.

Presenti il Presidente Internazionale John Ralston Saul, il Segretario Internazionale Takeaki Hori, il Vice-presidente Internazionale Boris A. Novak, due Membri del Board, Tarik Günersel (PEN Turchia) e Markéta Hejkalova (PEN Rep. Ceca), il Presidente ed il Vice-presidente del Writers for Peace Committee (WfPC), Edvard Kovač e Teresa Salema e Frank Geary, Interim Executive Director.

Erano rappresentati 29 Centri: America, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Canada, Catalogna, Croazia, Esperanto, Estonia, Finlandia, Francia, Giappone, Grecia, Inghilterra, Italia, Kurdistan, Olanda, Paesi baschi, Palestina, Portogallo, Rep. Ceca, Romania, Scozia, Serbia, Svizzera Francese, Svizzera Italiana e Retoromancia, Trieste, Turchia, Ungheria, Uyguro, ed ovviamente il PEN Slovenia quale ospite.

Presenti pure come osservatori la Société des Gens de Lettres e l’European Writer’s Council ed una rappresentante dell’Università di Haifa.

Il PEN Trieste era presente con 2 delegati, Antonio Della Rocca e Patrizia Vascotto.

Si sono tenute 3 tavole rotonde:

1. Bibliodiversità e futuro della scrittura,, moderata da Marjan Strojan del PEN Slovenia;

2. Censura visibile ed invisibile, moderata da Franca Tiberto, del PEN Svizzera Italiana e Retoromancia ;

3. L’immagine dello straniero nella letteratura – un cammino verso la pace, moderata da Edvard Kovač, del Pen Slovenia e Presidente del WfPC

con molti interventi e discussioni.

IL WfPC ha tenuto la consueta riunione in previsione del Congresso. Sono stati approvati:

1) una dichiarazione in favore della Mexico's National March for Justice and Peace with Dignity (che si è tenuta in Messico l’8 maggio con grande successo di partecipazione) in occasione dell’assassinio del figlio del giornalista e poeta Javier Sicilia e in generale contro la violenza che colpisce tutta la popolazione;

2) una dichiarazione del PEN Turchia che richiede la liberazione dei giornalisti, traduttori e scrittori incarcerati in quel Paese e che afferma il valore di Internet come mezzo di difesa della libertà di espressione;

3) una dichiarazione sui rischi del nucleare incentrata sui recenti avvenimenti del Giappone e quelli di Chernobyl.

In parallelo si sono tenuti degli incontri multilaterali nel corso dei quali si è raggiunto l’importante risultato della stesura di una bozza di dichiarazione congiunta tra una scrittrice israeliana e la rappresentante del PEN Palestina sulla necessità della coesistenza dello stato d’Israele e del costituendo Stato della Palestina. La formulazione definitiva della bozza di dichiarazione è stata rimandata ad una fase successiva, in previsione della sessione congressuale del WfPC di settembre a Belgrado.

Tra le manifestazioni culturali da citare - oltre ai consueti readings di poesia in varie cittadine - la presentazione di 4 esponenti della poesia istriana, nonché l’intervento dello scrittore Marek Halter, anche al Castello di Lubiana, in occasione della traduzione in sloveno del suo romanzo "Marija".

Non è mancato il tradizionale incontro con il Presidente della Repubblica di Slovenia, dr. Danilo Türk, che ha tenuto un interessante discorso sul tema della multiculturalità.

Come già rilevato in altre occasioni, da tempo Bled rappresenta nella vita informale del PEN International un momento di incontro molto importante, anche quest’anno caratterizzato da una forte presenza degli Officers internazionali. Il Presidente John Ralston Saul ed il neo-eletto Segretario Internazionale Takeaki Hori sono stati presenti all’intera manifestazione, rinnovando ed allacciando conoscenze con i delegati e chiedendo il loro parere su varie questioni inerenti la vita dell’organizzazione.

Antonio Della Rocca / Patrizia Vascotto

9.5.2011

.

Claudio H. Martelli, Past President of Trieste PEN Centre, has passed away.

2011-03-15T12:18:00.006+01:00

It is with deep sorrow that I have to announce that my dear friend and colleague Claudio H. Martelli, Past President of PEN Club Trieste, has passed away yesterday night after a long, brave fight with his illness.

Claudio – a many-sided personality, if any - has been a poet, a writer, an essayist, an author of theatre, a journalist, a publisher of books and of his review Trieste Artecultura.

He has been for decades a scholar and a critic in the field of figurative arts and he has edited and published a Dictionary of the Artists of Trieste, Gorizia, Istria and Dalmatia. His poems have been published in many anthologies in Italy and abroad.

A founder of the Trieste PEN Centre in 2003, he has been its first Vice President and the second President. Recently he decided to step down in view of his state of health. At present he was Past President and we all hoped to avail ourselves of his experience for a long time.

I would like to recall that it has been Claudio who conceived the idea of our InterPENbooks, that found its first realization in 2008 in cooperation with the Slovene PEN and will shortly see the second issue in cooperation with the Croatian PEN.

We and his relatives will remember him as a good man as well as a firm believer in the principles of PEN and a passionate advocate of the multicultural, multiethnic and multilingual approach of the Trieste PEN Centre of International PEN.

Antonio Della Rocca
on behalf of the PEN Club Trieste

PEN Club Trieste Officers 2011/2013

2011-02-28T10:44:00.003+01:00

After the General Meeting held on February 12, 2011, for the three-years period 2011/2013 the Officers of the PEN Club Trieste are:

Antonio Della Rocca – President
Marina Silvestri Ferrari – Vice President and Treasurer
Patrizia Vascotto – Secretary General

Claudio H. Martelli and Juan Octavio Prenz as Past Presidents are part of the Steering Committee, together with the Officers and Ivan Bujukliev, Carla Carloni Mocavero and Rina Anna Rusconi.

Antonio Della Rocca represents the Trieste PEN Centre in the Writers for Peace Committee, while the following PEN Trieste members are in charge of the liaison with:
Writers in Prison Committee – Julius Franzot
Translation & Linguistic Right Committee – Ana Cecilia Prenz
Women Writers Committee – Lina Morselli

Starting as of March 1, 2011 the email address of the PEN Trieste Centre is

pen.trieste@yahoo.com
or
dellarocca.pentrieste@yahoo.com

For messages concerning this blog please convey your mail to
adellarocca@gmail.com

ASSEMBLEA DEI SOCI DEL PEN CLUB TRIESTE

2011-01-31T16:49:00.001+01:00

A tutti i Soci / Socie del PEN Club Trieste
Loro indirizzi

Cari Consoci / Consocie,

l’Assemblea Ordinaria dell’Associazione PEN Club Trieste è indetta il giorno sabato 12 febbraio 2011 alle ore 10.00 in prima ed alle ore 11.00 in seconda convocazione presso lo Storico Caffè San Marco, Via Battisti , con il seguente Ordine del Giorno:

1. Relazione della Presidenza
2. Relazione finanziaria
3. Elezione del Presidente e del Comitato Direttivo
4. Varie ed eventuali

Si ricorda che la partecipazione all’Assemblea è riservata, in base all’art. 9 dello Statuto, agli iscritti all’Associazione in regola con il versamento delle quote sociali relative.

Si rammenta inoltre che è possibile farsi rappresentare all’Assemblea da altro socio mediante delega scritta ed autografa. Il numero di deleghe per la medesima persona è fissato nel numero massimo di tre.

Mi è gradita l’occasione per porgervi i più cordiali saluti.

p. il Presidente
Antonio Della Rocca
Vice Presidente

Pagine Facebook del PEN Club Trieste e del PEN International

2011-01-27T15:23:00.009+01:00

Tre mesi fa, a fine ottobre 2011,ho aperto due pagine su Facebook, una dedicata al PEN Club Trieste ed una come Gruppo del PEN International on Facebook.

La prima ha come obiettivo di informare soci, colleghi di altri Centri PEN ed il pubblico di Facebook in generale dell'esistenza e dell'attività del nostro Centro.

Gli obiettivi della seconda - rivisti dopo tre mesi di esistenza piuttosto vivace - sono riassunti nel documento che ho pubblicato sulla pagina e che riporto qui per comodità dei frequentatori.

A QUASI-MANIFEST FOR PEN INTERNATIONAL ON FACEBOOK

Dear Friends,

this Group has been opened – to say founded would sound a bit bombastic – three months ago. I confess that at that moment I had no idea that it would have been so successful, because to have 104 members is a goal I did not think could be reached in so small a time.

In view of this (little) success I feel it could be opportune to try to define what we are, what we are doing (or trying to do) and why.

This is not a manifest, which I don’t have neither the authority nor the wish to write: anyone of you is absolutely free to comment and to disagree, and your comments will help us to decide whether we have taken the right path or if we have to adjust the course.

The Group is an open one, dedicated to PEN members but not exclusive. One of the reasons of this document is to give to people asking to become members of the Group a clear idea of what kind of contents we are interested into and avoid to become a mess of passers-by.

There is no limitation to the contents, but these are supposed to be related to our quality of PEN members: literary topics and issues about translations or linguistic rights, as well as about freedom of expression – including the safeguard of writers -, keeping and promotion of peace. We know what’s it all about.

In my opinion we should also try to inform and keep informed about the initiatives of our respective PEN Centres, to signal the works of our colleagues which are already translated to other languages (and those we deserve to be), to maintain communication channels open between PEN Centres of different parts of the world.

This activity, at that degree of detail, is not in contrast with the activity developed by the PEN International website, which has to achieve many more institutional goals. Our role has to be one of support, in all the small areas this website cannot cover. It could be a role of incitement too, why not?

In order to do so, we should try to attract – I would say to lure, because many of our colleagues don’t like Facebook, worse, they don’t trust it – into this social network as many members of PEN as possible. Not because it is a heaven, only for the practical reason that it’s the most widespread one, and it allows more space for discussion than e.g. Twitter.

People fear a loss of personal data, a breach in privacy. Apart from the fact that nobody can steal data you do not put online, in my opinion there is no opportunity without a certain degree of risk, and vice versa. I personally have considered the possibility to vastly improve my communication a game worth the candle.

Anyway, we should try to find out as many PEN members as possible that are already more or less active on Facebook and ask them to join our Group. You all are well aware that a number of the present 104 members are leading members or Officers in their respective Center: some are even Officers of PEN International. However, this Group is designed to accept any member and also non-members that are genuinely interested in our activity.

Writers are busy people, so it’s physiological that they at best have a look at the page and don’t interact: even so, our page is very lively.

It would be fantastic if in average everyone of us would visit the page once a week, possibly leaving a short message or at least utilizing the “Like” button, if he/she actually likes some post.

May I recall that not only English, but also French and Spanish are official languages of PEN?

But in the very end we have to ask ourselves non only what we can do in order to further our communication, and how to do it.

The real question is: why are we trying to build a sort of virtual Speaker’s Corner in a Facebook’s Hyde Park, where everybody can climb on a wooden box and start communicating to everybody else in transit his/her ideas and debate with them?
In my opinion this kind of exercise is vital if we want PEN to become a so-called flat organisation.

An international body with 145 Centres in 104 countries is too big to rely on two-way communication protocols like ordinary or electronic post. In the world of today we need easier and user-friendly forms of expression and it would be a mistake not to utilize the existent ones.

We have to debate openly if we agree with the present form of organization or if we would prefer some other organizational model, if we think this organization is apt to represent the Centres, the members, the geographical and linguistic areas and their interests, if the full membership can be granted to readers and to young people and in which form.

In the Congress of Tokyo there has been an attempt to free discussion that has to be further implemented.

Maybe democracy is too big a word for it, but I think you know what I mean. The same fact that you have decreed a certain success to this Group is a good proof for that.

Thanks to you all for your attention and for your cooperation.

Un'amica che speriamo di ritrovare: Roberta Ferrazza

2011-01-19T18:53:00.006+01:00

L'11 gennaio 2011 si è tenuta a Lubiana, nei nuovi locali dell'Istituto Italiano di Cultura in Slovenia, alla presenza dell'Ambasciatore Pietromarchi, degli Ambasciatori francese e svizzero, di membri del PEN Slovenia e di un folto pubblico, un incontro di saluto alla Direttrice dr.ssa Roberta Ferrazza che lascia l'incarico dopo quasi tre anni.
Roberta - che vedete alla cerimonia di presentazione dell'InterPENBook 1 a Lubiana nel maggio 2009 - è stata un punto di riferimento per il nostro PEN e per quello sloveno durante questi anni, oltre che una cara e preziosa amica.
Ci piace pensare che il suo prossimo incarico la porterà in un Paese di suo gradimento, in cui potrà collaborare con il PEN locale con lo stesso entusiasmo che ha mostrato nei nostri rapporti. E chissà, forse ci riincontreremo.
Buona fortuna, Roberta !

Words Beyond Borders - Writers for Peace International Conference

2010-12-08T21:39:00.000+01:00

Words Beyond Borders - Writers for Peace International Conference
Haifa, Israel, December 1 - 4, 2010

The International Conference of Writers for Peace took place in Haifa with 40 writers from 13 countries in attendance.

The objective of the conference was to discuss issues concerning peace and freedom of expression. It brought together people from many parts of the world to meet each other and become friends, if they weren't already.

The choice of time and place, coinciding with the Holiday of Holidays Festival — which celebrates Ed Al-Adha, Hannukah, and Christmas — underlines the intention to carry on a free and frank discussion of issues specific to the region.

Many themes were discussed in this spirit, such as Language of Writing, Literature Facing the Challenges of our Time —Environment and Peace, Liberty of Conscience and Freedom of Expression, Writers in Periods of Conflict, Human Rights. Writers from different places, with profoundly different opinions told their personal stories, but they were all united in understanding the necessity and urgency of searching for a peaceful solution to the problems of Israelis and Palestinians.

The reduced participation of Arab and Palestinian writers, despite the insistent invitations, remains an open issue. But such participation in future meetings is very necessary. Half of the hall should not be empty again.

Writers and intellectuals should continue to pursue dialogue with each other even in complex situations, making full use of freedom of expression and in complete independence of political authorities.

The main issues of the Haifa Conference can be summarized in the following three points:

1) Freedom of conscience is only a first step but no guarantee of freedom.

2) It remains to be seen whether Israeli and Palestinian writers will fight for freedom of expression to make peace or whether they will tolerate the various kinds of censorship.

3) If peace is to become a basic human right, it needs to be constructed through education, attention, dialogue, and artistic creation.

Similarly, during these last few days we have seen countries such as Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Cyprus, and Greece sending assistance and support to Haifa to extinguish the fire that has ravaged the region and caused 40 deaths. Such solidarity reveals that there can always be a will to work together in emergency situations. If people are able to come together under such tragic conditions, they can also cooperate in order to make peace.

Meeting in Haifa

2010-11-29T16:32:00.001+01:00

From December 1st to 4th I will be – among many other PEN members - in Haifa to attend to the International Meeting of writers for Peace and Freedom of Expression, organized by Ethos under the artistical direction of Prof. Bluma Finkelstein, University of Haifa.

The subject of the meeting is “Words beyond Borders” and many writers and poets of different countries will take part in it.

This initiative is includes in the so called “Holyday of Holydays”, which takes place every year in Haifa during the month of December.

The “Holiday of Holidays” is a festival celebrated when Hanukkah, Christmas and the Ramadan are celebrated by Haifa’s 3 religions. The festival is organized by “Beit Hagefen” Center for Arab-Jewish studies, and is spread over 5 Saturdays starting at the last Saturday of November.

The festival takes place at Wadi Nisnas, which is a Christian-Muslim-Jewish mixed neighbourhood in Haifa, and its main aim is to bring the three religions in Haifa closer, and celebrate the pluralist social structure of Haifa. The festival includes activity for children, as well as poetry and literature tours in Wadi Nisnas.

PEN Trieste mourns for János Benyhe, Secretary General of PEN Hungary

2010-10-28T11:40:00.005+02:00

It was with sorrow that today I found on Facebook this communicate:

With a heavy heart I inform you that our sec.gen János Benyhe passed away 23rd October. His sudden death shocked all of us. He was an extraordinary person of huge knowledge, high spirited with a strong sense of humor. He put his heart and soul into PEN, and suffered a lot of our present, hopeless situation. He was a certain "irreproducible" person.

Zsófia Dobozy
Hungarian -PEN

PEN Trieste and the undersigned - who still considers himself a friend of János Benyhe even if he passed away - join the family, the friends and the colleagues of PEN Hungary in their mourning.

I remember having been surprised not having seen him in Tokyo and I regret infinitely not having had an occasion to see him a last time. A loss for his country - let's remember that he has been an Ambassador to Brazil among his many activities - and for PEN International too. I will remember him as a man of rare humanity.

A. Della Rocca

76° Congresso PEN International a Tokyo 2010 - Highlights

2010-10-10T18:31:00.005+02:00

Il Congresso è stato organizzato su lavori preparatori e Assemblea Generale dal 23 al 30 settembre, con escursione a Kyoto dall’1 al 3 ottobre 2010.

La caratteristica peculiare di questo Congresso – organizzato in maniera impeccabile dal PEN Giappone – è stata la presenza record di 86 Centri su 142 con oltre 250 partecipanti. Un ringraziamento va al Presidente del PEN Giappone Takashi Atoda, al Managing Director Jiro Asada ed all’Assistant Secretary General Tsutomu Ide, oltre che a tutto lo staff.

L’Assemblea Generale propriamente detta è stata preceduta da 4 giornate di seminari e workshops sui diversi argomenti in discussione in sede di Assemblea e di riunioni dei Comitati. Sono stato presente dal 26 settembre al 4 ottobre.

Il nostro Socio Sergio Penco è stato ricordato nominativamente insieme ad altri colleghi mancati all’inizio lavori.

Ho partecipato attivamente alle riunioni del Comitato Scrittori per la Pace.

Forse la novità più eclatante di questo Congresso è stato l’inserimento in agenda – annunciato dall’International President John Ralston Saul - di tre ore dedicate ad una discussione aperta, al di là dell’ordine del giorno formale, quindi senza mozioni e senza votazioni, sui problemi del PEN International così come visti dai Delegati dei Centri. Si tratta di un aspetto estremamente importante per una gestione trasparente dei cambiamenti che si ritengono necessari nell’organizzazione. Grazie ad un rigido contingentamento dei tempi (1 solo intervento di 2 minuti ciascuno), circa 30 Delegati hanno potuto esporre delle interessanti idee, che poi sono state discusse in 4 workshops e daranno origine ad un rapporto dedicato al Board, che verrà comunque diffuso.

Il sottoscritto – che non è stato estraneo al processo che ha portato alla decisione di consentire questa aperta discussione - ha fatto presente la necessità di trovare modo e maniera di avvicinare i giovani scrittori che non pubblicano in hard copy ma su Internet, magari con la costituzione di un PEN Junior.

Il metodo di contingentamento dei tempi degli interventi ha permesso di gestire in maniera molto più agevole le votazioni e la discussione dei vari argomenti che l’Assemblea doveva necessariamente approvare.

Tra i compiti dell’Assemblea Generale era compresa l’elezione del nuovo International Secretary al posto di Eugene Schoulgin (PEN Norvegia) che ha rinunciato a ricandidarsi ad una carica operativa per motivi di natura personale, e che è stato eletto a grandissima maggioranza International Vice President.

I due concorrenti – entrambi di grande caratura - erano Takeaki Hori (PEN Giappone). E Kristin T. Schnider (PEN Svizzera Tedesca).
È risultato eletto International Secretary a grande maggioranza Takeaki Hori (PEN Giappone).

Takeaki Hori è uno scrittore ed un antropologo: ha pubblicato molte opere su problemi culturali, sociologici ed ambientali. Ha insegnato in diverse università ed è stato consulente di importanti aziende. Ha esperienza in campo giornalistico. È Executive Director del PEN Giappone dal 2003 ed è stato membro dell’International Board per due mandati.

È stato inoltre riconfermato International Treasurer Eric Lax (PEN USA West).
Erano in scadenza 4 posti nell’International Board, ai quali concorrevano 13 candidati, avendo rinunciato a ripresentarsi Mike Butscher (PEN Sierra Leone).

Riporto di seguito il brevissimo discorso trilingue che ho pronunciato in sede di presentazione della mia candidatura:

“John, Eugene, Eric, dear Colleagues, dear Friends,

first of all let me thank Marjan Strojan for his friendly presentation and Takashi Atoda for the organization of the 76th Congress in Tokyo.

I imagine you will appreciate a short speech.

Only very few words are needed to tell you what is the heart of my thinking about PEN: if we don’t do by ourselves what we have to do, nobody will do it in our place.

Tenemos que mejorar nuestra organización considerándola un medio para conseguir nuestros objetivos. Por una parte importante de ellos ya tenemos instituciones importantes como los Comités.

Pienso que la junta directiva internacional tenga que promover entre nuestros centros una comunidad de círculos o redes virtual - llámelos como quieran - y no simplemente en base a la geografía sino a nuestros intereses específicos en términos de servicio a la literatura.

Autrement dit, nous devons COMMUNIQUER, COMMUNIQUER, COMMUNIQUER sans cesse pour que des nouvelles initiatives ne se perdent pas et pour que le processus de traduire e de publier entre nous ne devienne qu’une routine.

S’il s’avère que nous avions succès en faisant ça, croyez moi, l’intendance suivra.

Thank you for your time.”

I candidati hanno ottenuti voti:

Philo Ikonia (PEN Kenya) 61
Haroon Siddiqui (PEN Canada) 47
Lee Gil-Won (PEN Corea) 35
Tarik Günersel (PEN Turchia) 33 (mandato ridotto di 2 anni per questioni statutarie)
Sylvestre Clancier (PEN Francia) 29
Sibila Petlevski (PEN Croazia) 29
Jens Lohmann (PEN Danimarca) 23
Antonio Della Rocca (PEN Trieste) 21
Judith Buckrich (PEN Melbourne) 17
Nelson Wattie (PEN Nuova Zelanda) 16
Luis Gonzalez Tosar (PEN Galizia) 14
Emy Kasamatsu (PEN Paraguay) 8
Luis Ignacio Larcada (PEN Scrittori cubani in esilio) 6

Il Board attualmente comprende quindi 7 Membri: Lee Gil-Won (PEN Corea), Tarik Günersel (PEN Turchia), Markéta Hejkalová (PEN Repubblica Ceca), Philo Ikonia (PEN Kenya), Mohamed Magani (PEN Algeria), Haroon Siddiqui (PEN Canada), Lyan Yang (PEN cinese indipendente).

Lo staff del PEN International comprende quindi oltre all’International President John Ralston Saul (PEN Canada) l’International Secretary Takeaki Hori (PEN Giappone) e l’International Treasurer Eric Lax (PEN USA West). Fanno funzioni interinali congiunte di Executive Director Frank Geary e Sara Whyatt. È in corso la ricerca del nuovo Executive Director.

È stata ratificata la rielezione alla Presidenza del Comitato Writers for Peace di Edvard Kovač (PEN Slovenia).

Rimangono in carica:

- Josep-Maria Terricabras (PEN Catalogna) per il Comitato Translations & Linguistic Rights;
- Marian Botsford Fraser (PEN Canada) per il Comitato Writers in Prison;
- Kadija George (PEN African Writers Abroad) per il Comitato Women Writers;
- Carl Iver Mortensen (PEN Norvegia) per il Network Writers in Exile.

L’assemblea ha approvato le Relazioni dell’International President, dell’International Secretary uscente, dell’International Board, dell’International Treasurer e dell’Ufficio dell’Executive Director, così come i Rapporti dei Comitati.

È stata approvata la costituzione del Centro Cambogia.
Sono stati dichiarati chiusi 3 centri (Benin, Libano e Azerbaigian).

Sono state approvate anche le relazioni dell’Emergency Fund e della Fundación Iberoamericana del PEN Internacional.

È stato presentato ed approvato il Congresso 2011 che si terrà a Belgrado, Serbia, tra il 4 e l’11 settembre 2011 (date da confermare).

Il Congresso del 2012 si terrà a Seoul, Corea, ma la decisione definitiva spetta al Congresso del 2011.

Sono state inoltre approvate diverse risoluzioni su vari argomenti toccanti la libertà di espressione nel mondo.

Sul piano dell’attività nei rapporti internazionali abbiamo confermato, rinnovato ed aperto contatti con i Centri PEN di:

• Afghanistan, Albania, All-India, Algeria, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgio (francofono e fiammingo), Bielorussia, Bishkek, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cambogia, Canada, Catalogna, Cinese Indipendente, Colombia, Croazia, Curdo, Danimarca, Egitto, Esperanto, Estonia, Etiopia, Finlandia, Francia, Galizia, Germania, Ghana, Giappone, Giordania, Guadalajara, Guinea, Haiti, Inghilterra, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Korea, Kossovo, Lituania, Macedonia, Marocco, Melbourne, Messico, Mongolia, Nepal, Nigeria, Norvegia, New Zealand, Olanda, Québec, Palestina, Polonia, Portogallo, Romania, Repubblica Ceca, Russia, San Miguel de Allende, Scozia, Scrittori africani all’estero, Scrittori cubani in esilio, Scrittori ungheresi all’estero, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Slovacchia, Slovenia, Somalia, Sudafrica, Svezia, Svizzera francese, Svizzera italiana, Svizzera tedesca, Sydney, Tatarstan, Tibet, Tunisia, Turchia, Uganda, USA, Uyghuro, Vietnam, Zambia.

Di seguito troverete copia della Press Release del Presidente per opportuna conoscenza

A. Della Rocca

PRESS RELEASE
29 September 2010

WORLD’S LEADING ADVOCATE FOR FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION CONDEMNS IRAN,
TAKES FORMAL ACTION AT CHINESE EMBASSY IN TOKYO,
ELECTS FIRST ASIAN INTERNATIONAL SECRETARY

More than 250 writers from several dozen countries, gathered in Tokyo for the 76th annual Congress of PEN International, expressed profound outrage at the sentencing yesterday of 35-year-old Iranian-Canadian blogger Hossein Derakhshan to 19.5 years in prison on charges that include ‘propagating against the regime’, ‘insulting religion’, spreading ‘anti-revolutionary’ propaganda and obscenity.

‘This outrageous sentence of a writer for the expression and transmission of his ideas is grossly unjust,’ said John Ralston Saul, President of PEN International. ‘This is the new totalitarianism. Instead of banning books, they are attempting to control the Internet; what became a mechanism for freedom in its early days is now under attack around the world.’

News of the sentence came as delegates from 86 PEN Centres around the world concluded their weeklong meeting, during which they considered both the relentless, escalating threats to freedom of expression in many forms and the essential role that the literatures and languages of the world play in sustaining our common humanity.

At the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Tokyo, PEN International announced the delivery of a strongly worded statement to the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Japanese capital. The statement expresses ‘alarm’, ‘concern’ and ‘shock’ over China’s status as one of the world’s most prolific jailers of writers and journalists, and decries the ‘arbitrary’ arrests they face; the use of ‘administrative detention, including the infamous “Re-education Through Labour” system to jail dissident writers for up to 3 years without due process’; escalating censorship; and the increasing persecution of Independent Chinese PEN Centre (ICPC) members Shi Tao and, most recently, Liu Xiaobo.

Liu’s case in particular was much discussed during the Congress. Currently serving a sentence of 11 years, he has come to symbolise China’s systemic repression of its people’s deep yearning for democratic freedoms to match the country’s economic liberalism. He is one of more than 40 writers serving sentences in China (including the Tibet, Xinjiang–Uighur and Inner Mongolia autonomous regions).

Mexico was also a topic of much concern. A state of undeclared war has festered there since 2006, in which more than 20,000 people – many of them journalists – have died as a result of the unchecked powers of drug cartels. ‘In Mexico, words such as “kidnapping”, “torture” and “summary execution” have become commonplace, heard daily,’ said Saul, ‘and all these crimes go unpunished.’

In Iran, more than 40 writers, journalists and bloggers in addition to Derakhshan have been detained or face charges. ‘The extreme sentence handed to Derakhshan, in part for insults to Islam, is symptomatic of another great concern to PEN International,’ said Marian Botsford Fraser, Chair of PEN’s Writers in Prison Committee. ‘The right to criticise religion is a right equal to the right to practise one’s religion. When governments attempt to limit the rights of citizens, they are not seeking to protect faith or belief. They are seeking increased power over the citizenry.’

PEN International holds that legal restrictions on defamation would not only do little to foster mutual understanding and respect, but can also be used to stifle creative freedom as well as suppress minority views and religions.

Congress delegates also elected a new International Secretary, Takeaki Hori of Japan. Hori has sat on PEN International’s Board since 2004, and is the first person from Asia to take up this critical post within in the NGO.

‘This is a historic moment,’ said Saul. ‘and a statement of how international PEN International is. The vast majority of Centres are outside the West, which is a complete reversal from when the organisation was founded, and in its early years … We’re probably the oldest real NGO, but we’re constantly re-inventing ourselves.’

Hori concurred. ‘We have reached a stage where every Centre in every region now has a continuous connection to the mission of PEN International, not just in terms of new technology, but philosophically. PEN International is in the hands of our entire family. This is a symbolic transition to a truly globalised organisation.’

Appropriately, the Congress was held in Tokyo on the 75th anniversary of the Japan PEN Centre’s founding. Hori, a member of Japan PEN for over 25 years, claims a remarkably diverse background. Known as a writer on environmental issues, he is also a professor of social anthropology, journalist, founder of an offshore fishery and former vice president of the US–Japan Foundation, among many other roles.

In other developments within PEN International, members Philo Ikonya of Kenya, Lee Gil-won of South Korea and Tarik Günersel of Turkey were newly elected to the Board, and Haroon Siddiqui of Canada was re-elected for another three-year term.

PEN International celebrates literature and promotes freedom of expression. Founded in 1921, its global community of writers now spans more than 100 countries. PEN programmes, campaigns, events and publications connect writers and readers wherever they are in the world.

International PEN - Tokyo Congress 2010

2010-09-03T11:52:00.006+02:00

End of September 2010 the 76th Congress of International PEN will take place in Tokyo.
Among many other aspects, this will be the occasion for electing a new International Secretary, the International Treasurer and 4 Members at Large of the International Board, as well as the Chair of the Writers for Peace Committee.
There is also a proposal for the election to International Vice President (for services to PEN) of Eugene Schoulgin, who will not run again for International Secretary.
Antonio Della Rocca, Vice President of Trieste PEN Centre, will be a Delegate to the Congress and is candidate to a post in the Board.
He has decided to exploit the resources of Internet and to put at disposal of all PEN Centres - and in particular of the Centres that will not attend the Congress - a short video with a short speech about some aspects of his candidature, in order to allow the Centres which will vote via postal ballots the possibility of having an almost direct contact with a candidate.

Writers for Peace Committee responds to events of 31st May

2010-06-15T16:46:00.001+02:00

Statement of the Writers for Peace Committee of International PEN Concerning the Tragic Events of May 31, 2010

The Writers for Peace Committee follows the Lugano Declaration in condemning individual terrorism as well as State terrorism; we declare that those who resort to violence, even for a good cause, "annull the missions to which they are dedicated and lose all claims to legitimacy" (quoted from the Statement of the 50th Congress of International PEN in Lugano, Switzerland, May 1987).

We declare that:

1. Nothing justifies the violence and murders that the army of the State of Israel have perpetrated against the people on the ships that brought humanitarian aid to Gaza. The use of firearms was entirely out of proportion and unsuitable as a response to the resistance put up by the people on board. We strongly condemn these murders and regret the deaths.

2. We protest against the grave violation of the right to freedom of expression of the journalists on board.

3. We demand that the government of the State of Israel agree that an international committee investigate and throw light on the events and establish responsibility.

4. To prevent the recurrence of such events, we demand that the State of Israel and the Palestinian Authority accept the international monitoring of all ships so that the blockade can be lifted.

5. We ask that the two States, that of Israel which is already in existence, and that of the people of Palestine which has yet to be established as soon as possible, recognise one another. We believe that the only way to achieve the peaceful coexistence of the two States is through dialogue.

6. It is the role of the international community through its institutions to make this political dialogue possible. It must draw on the resources of the respective cultures, particularly the literary ones, of the two peoples whose writers never cease to bear witness, and who are committed to the accomplishment of peace.

June 14, 2010

Verses of good neighbourhood

2010-06-11T08:08:00.004+02:00

VERSI DI BUON VICINATO - DOBROSOSEDSKI VERZI
(verses of good neighbourhood)

The Slovene PEN has invited to Ljubljana, designated UNESCO World Book Capital for 2010, some poets of the Trieste PEN Club, Juan Octavio Prenz, Claudio Grisancich, Claudio H. Martelli and Antonio Della Rocca, who were presented by Marko Kravos.

Manca Udovič took care of the musical accompaniment, Jasmina Arambasić read the translation of the poems.

The event has taken place in the garden of the Slovene Writers Association, at the Gajo Jazz Club, on June 8, 2010.

(Photo by Ivo Frbezar)

BLED 2010 - HIGHLIGHTS

2010-04-30T13:47:00.001+02:00

Il 42° Incontro Internazionale degli Scrittori, organizzato dal PEN Sloveno, si è tenuto a Bled dal 24 al 28 Marzo 2010.

Presenti il Presidente Internazionale John Ralston Saul, il Segretario Internazionale Eugene Schoulgin, il Vice-presidente Internazionale Boris A. Novak, due Membri del Board, Markéta Hejkalová e Kristin T. Schnider, il Presidente ed il Vice-presidente del Writers for Peace Committee (WfPC), Edvard Kovač e Teresa Salema, ed il Presidente del Translations and Literary Rights Committee (TLRC), Josep Maria Terricabras.

Erano rappresentati 25 Centri, Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Catalogna, Croazia, Rep. Ceca, Estonia, Esperanto, Francia, Germania, Ungheria, Israele, Macedonia, Portogallo, Russia, Scozia, Slovacchia, Svezia, Svizzera Romanda, Svizzera Tedesca, Svizzera Italiana e Retoromancia, Trieste, Uyguro, Vietnamese writers abroad, Writers in exile (American branch) ed ovviamente il PEN Slovenia quale ospite.

Si sono tenute 3 tavole rotonde:

1. Globalisation: an opportunity for all or a new colonisation for many, moderata da Tone Peršak del PEN Slovenia;
2. Literature and Globalisation, moderata da Sylvestre Clancier, del PEN Francia;
3. Peace between diurnal and nocturnal dreams, moderata da Edvard Kovač, del Pen Slovenia e Presidente del WfPC

con molti interventi e discussioni.

IL WfPC ha tenuto una serie di riunioni, incentrate su una iniziativa che prevede un possibile incontro a Haifa tra scrittori israeliani e palestinesi, oltre che a questioni specifiche del Committee, come le relazioni del Presidente e del Vice-presidente sull’attività svolta, l’appoggio all’attività del PEN Uyguro ed al PEN Russia, la cooperazione con il TLRC e il rinnovo della carica di Presidente in occasione del Congresso di Tokyo (settembre 2010).

Il PEN Trieste - che è membro del WfPC - è stato citato per due episodi di collaborazione con la Presidenza nei confronti di paesi latinoamericani.

Tra le manifestazioni culturali da citare - oltre ai consueti readings di poesia in varie cittadine - la presentazione di 4 esponenti della poesia della Val di Resia e di un volumetto di poesie nel linguaggio locale di matrice protoslava, tradotte in inglese e sloveno, nonchè l’intervento dello scrittore albanese Ismail Kadaré, anche al Castello di Lubiana, tramite l’interessamento del PEN Albania.

Non è mancato il tradizionale incontro con il Presidente della Repubblica di Slovenia, dr. Danilo Türk, che ha tenuto un interessante discorso sul tema della globalizzazione.

Da tempo Bled rappresenta nella vita informale dell’International PEN un momento di incontro molto importante, quest’anno caratterizzato da una forte presenza degli Officers internazionali. Il neo-eletto Presidente John Ralston Saul ha tenuto a partecipare all’intera manifestazione, rinnovando ed allacciando conoscenze con i delegati e chiedendo il loro parere su varie questioni inerenti la vita dell’organizzazione.

Questa attività, in sé sempre importante, ha avuto quest’anno un risvolto particolare in conseguenza delle dimissioni presentate poco prima dell’evento dall’Executive Director, Caroline McCormick, e dalla recentissima notizia che Eugene Schoulgin ha deciso – per motivi strettamente personali – di non riproporsi a Tokyo come candidato alla carica di International Secretary.

31.3.2010

International PEN mourns for Georges Anglade

2010-01-14T19:37:00.005+01:00

Georges Anglade and his wife died in the earth quake in Haiti.
Georges was a personal friend of mine, and I as well as the other members of the PEN Club Trieste join John, Eugene, Caroline and all the PEN people worldwide that knew him in the mourning for this big friend.
Yes, he was a big man, both in physical size as in spirit.
A. Della Rocca

14 January 2010

Dear Friends,

It is with great sadness that we write to inform you that Georges Anglade and his wife Mireille Neptune, have been killed in the earth quake in Haiti.

We are awaiting news of the other members of Haitian PEN and will of course ensure that we keep you up dated.

In the only too short time we had to get to know Georges and Mireille, they had become an essential part of our PEN family. Georges’ strength and leadership in establishing a PEN Centre in Haiti was an inspiration to us all and his warmth and generosity made him a great friend.

We will be discussing ways of celebrating their lives and work and would welcome thoughts from you as to how best to do so. If you would like to send us your own personal memories of Georges to post on the International PEN website we would be pleased to do so.

With our warmest wishes at this sad time,

John Ralston Saul - President
Eugene Schoulgin - International Secretary
Caroline McCormick - Executive Director

In Memoriam of Sergio Penco

2009-12-03T22:01:00.006+01:00

Sergio Penco died at the beginning of December 2009. He was born in Trieste in 1943. He has been a member of the PEN Club Trieste since the foundation.

After his books of poems “Guadalajara” (Rebellato Editore, 1978); “Ballate dal Mary Celeste” (Istituto Giuliano di Storia C.D., 2002); “Ballate di Cane Nero” (Sciascia Editore, 2002) e “Con una rosa dei venti tra i denti” (Hammerle Editori, 2009), in November 2009 he presented his last book “Poesie Inedite”.

His poems have been translated to English, French and Slovene. He has been active on many magazines, also abroad, and was published in many anthologies.

For his poetry he was awarded many prizes, to mention only the first places we recall “Il Leone di Muggia” (twice), “Etniepoesie”, “Carlo Ulcigrai” e “Ca’ Domnicu”.

We remember him for his love of the see, his bashful nature, his caustic and at the same time profound way of conceiving poetry.

Ciao, Sergio.

Dei triestini

Dei triestini ho l’irridenza e il senso
del provvisorio. Dei triestini
ho quell’istinto predatorio
di levantini e greci, di tedeschi,
e poi di carsolini,
un po’ indeciso, vacillante e cupo,
a mezza strada tra Godot e il lupo.
Dei triestini ho l’ansima, il tormento
e lo spavento delle foibe.
Dei triestini ho la fierezza altera
delle osterie bercianti e della bora,
dei triestini ho la risata
pingue che spazza il tarlo e la malora,
che nasce sola e vive circolare,
quella che sgombra, spacca e sfanfarona
a lungo, e il sangue si fa mare.
Dei triestini ho il pelo sullo stomaco,
le zanne
e il gusto per le donne.
Ma delle volte, quando si contrae
il cuore, e sbianca, e si raggrinza,
freddo da non avere battiti,
e l’occhio destro si improvvisa acuto,
io vedo in là negli anni, e allora intenso
e colorato è il mio ricordo orale
di tempi e luoghi che non ho vissuto,
ed è Parigi, Pola, e sembra, Umago,
essere Londra, essere Chicago.
Dei triestini ho le salsicce, e il vino
catartico, rituale.

from: Con una rosa dei venti tra i denti (Hammerle 2009)

The PEN Club Trieste Prizes 2009 conferred to Hugo Beccacece (Argentina) and Tonko Maroević (Croatia)

2009-11-30T19:40:00.005+01:00

Tonko

Hugo

It is already known that, due to the present worldwide difficult financial situation, the activities related to the development of the IV International Conference 2009 of the PEN Trieste Centre had to be postponed and – so to speak – diluted in time. We are happy to announce that some realizations are nevertheless under way.

For instance – as already related in Italian - we took an active part to the 75th Congress of International PEN in Linz and had the pleasure to have in Trieste the Argentinian poet Rodolfo Alonso for a poetry reading.

On Saturday 28 November 2009, in the historical Caffè San Marco in Trieste the PEN Trieste Centre has awarded two Prizes in its name to two distinguished writers and poets, following what is already a small tradition.

In fact, in 2006 a PEN Prize to the career was already presented to Claudio Magris, in 2007 to Boris Pahor and in 2008 to Renzo Rosso.

All of that has happened through the years thanks to a strict cooperation with the International Literary Prize Scritture di Frontiera - dedicated this year to Umberto Saba - organized since 1998 by the Association Altamarea of Trieste, Chairperson dr. Rina Anna Rusconi, a co-founder of PEN Club Trieste in 2003 and a member of its steering committee.

This year the choice of PEN Trieste was to honour Hugo Beccacece, an Argentinian writer of Italian ancestry, and Tonko Maroević, a long-time friend and colleague of the PEN Croatia.

Hugo Beccacece is presently editor-in-chief of the argentinian Magazine ADNcultura of the Buenos Aires newspaper La Nación. He has hold tenure as a philosophy professor at the National University of B.A. and has been a member of the National Academy of Sciences of Argentina. He is a writer, an essayist and a poet well known beyond the borders of Argentina. The PEN Trieste Centre intends thus to reward Beccacece’s activity in the field of literature, underlining the importance literary interrelations have in the present world.

Tonko Maroević, a professor at the University of Zagreb and a member of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, is a renowned Croatian essayist, translator (mostly form Italian) and poet, an expert in Croatian art, an established connoisseur of Italian poetry. He is given the PEN Trieste Prize as an acknowledgment to his long research work in many literary fields.

The PEN Trieste Centre expresses his gratitude towards the Camera di Commercio, Industria e Agricoltura di Trieste and the Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia for their support.

75° Congresso del PEN Internazionale a Linz, 19/25 ottobre 2009

2009-11-09T09:46:00.005+01:00

HIGHLIGHTS

Il Congresso è stato organizzato in due fasi: Assemblea Generale e lavori preparatori dal 19 al 22.10, Festival “Free the Word” dalla sera del 22 al 25.10 compreso.

L’Assemblea Generale è stata preceduta da una giornata di workshops sui diversi argomenti in discussione in sede di Assemblea e di riunioni dei Comitati, oltre alla presentazione dei candidati.

Ho partecipato attivamente al workshop sul piano di attività triennale, alla riunione del Comitato Scrittori per la Pace ed alla presentazione dei candidati alla Presidenza Internazionale.

Julius Franzot, anche lui delegato al Congresso, ha preso numerosi contatti ed ha avuto modo di assistere e partecipare a riunioni di Comitati e workshops.

Il nostro Socio Luciano Morandini è stato ricordato nominativamente insieme ad altri colleghi mancati all’inizio lavori.

Tra i compiti dell’Assemblea Generale era infatti compresa l’elezione del nuovo Presidente Internazionale al posto di Jiří Grušá (PEN Austria), in scadenza del suo secondo mandato. Amin Maalouf (PEN Francia) ha rinunciato alla candidatura per motivi di salute.

È quindi stato eletto a grande maggioranza John Ralston Saul (PEN Canada). Ho motivo di ritenere – dal curriculum vitae di John, dalle sue dichiarazioni formali e contatti informali avuti prima e dopo l’elezione – che la sua Presidenza sarà caratterizzata da una maggiore attenzione ai problemi della promozione della letteratura e da una forte attenzione alla “regionalizzazione” della gestione delle relazioni inter-Centri.

L’Assemblea ha inoltre eletto Membro del Board Internazionale Markéta Hejkalová (PEN Repubblica Ceca) al posto di Cecilia Balcázar (PEN Colombia) in scadenza.

Il Board attualmente comprende quindi 7 Membri: Michael Butcher (PEN Sierra Leone), Markéta Hejkalová (PEN Repubblica Ceca) Takeaki Hori (PEN Giappone), Yang Lyan (PEN cinese indipendente), Mohamed Magani (PEN Algeria), Kristin T. Schnider (PEN Svizzera tedesca) Haroon Siddiqui (PEN Canada)

Lo staff di Londra è invariato e comprende il Segretario Internazionale Eugene Schoulgin (PEN Norvegia), il Tesoriere Internazionale Eric Lax (PEN USA) ed il Direttore Esecutivo Caroline McCormick.

Sono state inoltre ratificate le elezioni alla Presidenza del Comitato Women Writers di Kadija George (PEN African Writers Abroad) al posto di Judith Buckrich (PEN Melbourne) e del Comitato Writers in Prison Marian Botsford Fraser (PEN Canada) al posto di Karin Clark (PEN Germania).

Rimangono in carica Edvard Kovač (PEN Slovenia) per il Comitato Writers for Peace, Josep-Maria Terricabras (PEN Catalogna) per il Comitato Translations & Linguistic Rights e Carl Iver Mortensen (PEN Norvegia) per il Network Writers in Exile.

Sono stati inoltre eletti nel Search Committee Ekbal Baraka (Egitto), Emanuele Bettini (PEN Italia), Elisabeth Nordgren (PEN Finlandia), Philippe Pujas (PEN Francia) e Judith Rodriguez (PEN Melbourne). È da ritenere che Judith mantenga la presidenza fino al Congresso 2010.

L’assemblea ha approvato le Relazioni del Presidente Internazionale uscente, del Segretario Internazionale, del Board, del Tesoriere internazionale e del Direttore Esecutivo, così come i Rapporti dei Comitati e un piano di attività triennale , argomento di grande interesse e non sufficientemente sviluppato in sede di Assemblea, sul quale rimane quindi aperta una discussione tra i Centri alla quale parteciperò con una nota di prossima redazione.

È stata approvata la costituzione di 4 nuovi centri (Albania – con la nostra collaborazione- Bahrain, Mongolia e Tunisia) mentre la costituzione del Centro Cambogia è stata rimandata al Congresso del 2010. Sono stati dichiarati “dormienti” - con modalità differenti – 4 Centri (Benin, Yiddish, Azerbaigian, Libano) e chiusi altri 2 centri (Congo, Sudan).

Sono state approvate anche le relazioni dell’Emergency Fund e della Iberian American PEN Foundation.

È stato presentato dal PEN Giappone il prossimo Congresso che si terrà a Tokio tra il 23 e il 30 settembre 2010.

Il PEN Korea ha presentato una proposta ufficiale per il Congresso del 2012, da valutare (sarebbe la terza volta per Seoul) mentre il PEN Serbia si è proposto per il Congresso del 2011, proposta che verrà valutata e discussa durante il Congresso 2010.

Sono state inoltre approvate diverse risoluzioni su vari argomenti toccanti la libertà di espressione nel mondo.

Sul piano dell’attività nei rapporti internazionali ritengo vada sottolineato che:

• abbiamo cooperato – come già detto – con Londra, con il PEN Turchia e con Terry Carlbom alla rinascita del PEN Albania;

• mi è stato chiesto di interessarmi assieme a Londra ad una possibile rinascita del PEN Estonia in collaborazione con il PEN Belgio/Fiammingo tramite una scrittrice estone germanofona presente al Congresso;

• mi è stato richiesto di aderire a titolo personale alla Fundación Ibero-Americana in quanto “hispanoparlante”;

• abbiamo confermato, rinnovato ed aperto contatti con i PEN Algeria, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgio (francofono e fiammingo), Bosnia, Bulgaria, Canada, Catalogna, Cinese Indipendente, Colombia, Croazia, Danimarca, Egitto, Etiopia, Finlandia, Francia, Galizia, Germania, Giappone, Guadalajara, Haiti, Italia, Kazakhstan, Korea, Macedonia, Marocco, Melbourne, Mongolia, Nepal, Norvegia, New Zealand, Olanda, Québec, Polonia, Portogallo, Rep. Ceca, Russia, San Miguel de Allende, Scrittori africani all’estero, Scrittori cubani in esilio, Scrittori ungheresi all’estero, Serbia, Slovacchia, Slovenia, Svezia, Svizzera francese, Svizzera italiana, Svizzera tedesca, Kirgizstan, Tatarstan, Tibet, Turchia, Ungheria, USA, Uyghuro.

Alla chiusura dei lavori dell’Assemblea sono seguite una visita collettiva al campo di concentramento di Mauthausen ed una cerimonia di inaugurazione del Festival con la partecipazione del Presidente Federale della Repubblica Austriaca e del Presidente del Land Alta Austria.

Non ho partecipato integralmente al Festival ma non ne ho tratto – e non sono il solo - una impressione positiva in termini di interesse letterario.

A. Della Rocca

Reading of Rodolfo Alonso in Trieste, November 5,2009

2009-11-05T15:50:00.006+01:00

Nell'ambito della IV Conferenza Internazionale del PEN Club Trieste abbiamo invitato a Trieste con il supporto della locale Camera di Commercio il poeta argentino Rodolfo Alonso per un reading di poesia che si è tenuto allo storico Caffé San Marco a Trieste il 5 novembre 2009. Hanno presentato il poeta il Presidente Claudio H. Martelli, il Past President Juan Octavio Prenz e la socia Marina Moretti, esponente di Ineuropa.

Rodolfo Alonso negli anni cinquanta partecipò, quale membro più giovane, alla rivista avanguardista "Poesía Buenos Aires". È lì che apparvero le sue prime poesie, scritte a partire dal 1952. Dalla prima raccolta poetica, Salud o nada (1954), le sue opere raccoglieranno sempre ampio riconoscimento. Il celebre Istituto Di Tella lo include nella sua unica selezione di Poesía Argentina (1963), insieme a Raúl Gustavo Aguirre, Edgar Bayley, Alberto Girri, Julio Llinás, Francisco Madariaga, Enrique Molina, H.A. Murena, Olga Orozco e Aldo Pellegrini. Sarà inoltre selezionato per l'importante Antología consultada de la joven poesía argentina (1968), dove troveranno il loro riconoscimento Alejandra Pizarnik, María Elena Walsh e Juan Gelman, tra gli altri.
Rodolfo Alonso ha pubblicato più di 25 libri, la maggior parte di poesia ma anche di saggi e narrativa. Oltre a questo, fin da giovanissimo, si è fatto notare per la sua attività di eccellente traduttore dal francese, italiano e portoghese. È sua la prima versione in spagnolo dei quattro eteronimi di Fernando Pessoa (1961) e di recente nuovamente pubblicata. Tra i tanti ha tradotto anche Giuseppe Ungaretti, Marguerite Duras, Cesare Pavese, Éluard, Drummond de Andrade, Eugenio Montale, Prévert, Apollinaire, Murilo Mendes, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Rosalía de Castro, Manuel Bandeira, Baudelaire, Valéry, Mallarmé, Olavo Bilac. Altrettanto immediato è stato il suo riconoscimento all'estero. Antologie della sua opera sono state pubblicate in Belgio, Portogallo, Spagna, Messico, Colombia, Francia, Brasile, Venezuela e Cile. Nel 1997, insieme a Juan Gelman, ha ricevuto il Premio Nacional de Poesía. Nel 2002 ha ricevuto in Venezuela l'Orden Alejo Zuloaga, massimo riconoscimento dell'Università di Carabobo. È stato insignito delle Palmas Académicas dell'Academia Brasileña de Letras nel 2005. Ha vinto il Premio Único de Ensayo Inédito de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, sempre nel 2005, e il Premio Festival Internacional de Poesía de Medellín nel 2006.

I suoi libri più recenti, di poesia e saggistica, sono: Antología poètica (1996); Defensa de la poesía (1997); Elle, soudain (bilingue, Parigi, 1999); El arte de callar (2003); Antologia pessoal (bilingue, Brasilia, 2003); A favor del viento, (poesia riunita 1952-1956); Canto Hondo (antologia, Venezuela, 2004); La voz sin amo (2005); Poesía Junta (antologia, Messico, 2006); Poemas pendientes (Bogotá, 2006) e República de viento (2007). Traduzioni più recenti: Los demonios del amor, di Guillaume Apollinaire (1998); Estrella de la vida entera, di Manuel Bandeira (2003); Poemas escogidos, di Giuseppe Ungaretti (2003); Mensaje, di Fernando Pessoa (2004); Cartas sobre la poesía, di Stephane Mallarmé (2004); Aforismos y afines, di Fernando Pessoa (2005); Poesía escogida, di Olavo Bilac (2005); Antología poetica, di Fernando Pessoa (2005); Escritos autobiográficos, automáticos y de reflexión personal, di Fernando Pessoa (2005); Antología, di Carlos Drummond de Andrade (2005); No saciada sed, antologia di Charles Baudelaire (2005); Antología poetica, di Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen (2005); Antología esencial, di Paul Éluard (2006); La región sumergida, di Tabajara Ruas (2006).
Attualmente sta preparando l'antologia: Poetas italianos del siglo XX.

In Memoriam of Luciano Morandini

2009-10-02T12:46:00.003+02:00

Luciano Morandini, a poet and a writer, died on September 17, 2009 at the age of 81. He was a member of the PEN Club Trieste since the foundation.

A versatile personality, he was one of the most relevant figures of the after-war period in Friuli. A poet, a writer, a teacher, an columnist, director of many cultural and literary revues, a friend of Pier Paolo Pasolini, a socialist, he was also active in the political life of his region in the first part of his life.

Of himself he said: “I’m a ghost poet. I exist for myself, but I have no interest whatsoever in what others – the critics – write about me.”

In March 2008, in the occasion of his 80th anniversary, his book of poems in Italian and Slovene “Camminando camminando / Iti hoditi “ (ZTT-EST, Trieste) was presented at the Istituto Italiano di Cultura of Ljubljana with the attendance of the well known Slovene poet Ciril Zlobec, his friend of a life, and of the translator Marko Kravos, member of the Slovene PEN and associate of the PEN Club Trieste.

Ciao, Luciano.

Da “Camminando camminando” (Campanotto, 2004 e ZTT-EST, 2008)

All’alba

Se la nebbia svanisse
al centro delle parole
e l’occhio balzasse
oltre le montagne
se facce di mercanti
sprofondassero in riflessi
di vetri frantumati
fili e fiocchi luccicanti
un suono nel bosco
sveglierebbe nascosti amori
oh se la nebbia sparisse
e sgorgasse luce
liberazione d’angeli
sepolti tra mille scorie

Nostalgia d’altra storia

C’era una volta l’amicizia
l’attenzione fraterna
alla reciproca parola
scomparve
e fu sepolta senza corone
rimase la nostalgia
l’eco delle sue parole
nell’antico vicoletto
dove a notte racconta
illuminava un'insegna

Immagine quotidiana

Sporge dalle pagine dei giornali
mutano le pose
mi fa notare
oggi mano al fianco
non grinta o faccia truce
ma di plastica il solito sorriso
e agghindati cloni intorno
obbedienti al divo padre
furbo populista

Da “Voci” (Hammerle, 2008)

Cuore mio schiaffeggiato
tua regola sia la misura
opponi al dolore
l’immagine della vita vera
alla felicità la sapienza
dell’umana storia
rialza il capo a ogni offesa
strenuamente

****

Laggiù tra altri mari
forse qualcuno vedrà
la città promessa
mite nei gesti e nelle opere
verrà scorrendo i lustri
il grande giorno
saranno chiuse allora
da uomini sapienti
con serrami di ferro
le terribili porte della guerra

****

Per me la sedia più bassa
vicina alla terra
al battito della storia
la più lontana dai troni

****

4th Regional Conference of Trieste PEN Centre - postponed

2009-08-26T12:55:00.005+02:00

Due to organizational and financial reasons we regret to inform that the 4th Regional Conference of our Centre - originally foreseen for the beginning of October 2009 - has to be delayed.

We hope to be in the conditions to restart this project with the original goals in a reasonable span of time, having found other and different financial resources.

4th REGIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE TRIESTE PEN CENTRE

2009-05-28T23:09:00.007+02:00

The 4th Regional Conference of the Trieste PEN Centre will take place approximately in the period 1-4 October 2009 in Trieste.

The theme already fixed – “The literary routes of the Mediterranean” - gives to the by now consuetudinary term “regional” a still more wide meaning, going out of the European borders in order to look for consonances in countries on the shore of the internal sea, countries to which as a harbour we feel bound by centuries of relationships of knowledge, culture, linguistic medley, trade.

This communicate will be followed in some weeks by a provisional program and more precise logistic indications, but it is intended to notify all interested parties we can reach by e-mail of the main coordinates of the initiative.

2009-05-18T21:11:00.002+02:00

From right: Juan Octavio Prenz, Claudio H. Martelli and Antonio Della Rocca

PEN Club Trieste: the Officers

2009-05-18T18:45:00.005+02:00

As of January 2008 the Officers of the PEN Club Trieste are:

Claudio H. Martelli - President
Antonio Della Rocca - Vice President
Erika Mattea Vida - Secretary
Roberto Fabris - Treasurer

Juan Octavio Prenz as Past President is part of the Steering Committee, together with the Officers and Ivan Bujukliev, Carla Carloni Mocavero, Claudio Grisancich, Elvio Guagnini, Luciano Morandini, Marina Moretti and Rina Anna Rusconi.

The seat is in Piazza Giotti 1, c/o Artecultura, 34133 TRIESTE, tel. +39 040 767075 mail to
info@artecultura.it
or
dellarocca.pentrieste@yahoo.com

For messages concerning this blog please convey your mail to
adellarocca@gmail.com

1st InterPENbook presented in Ljubljana

2009-05-18T14:09:00.005+02:00

On May 7, 2009 at the Istituto Italiano di Cultura in Ljubljana in cooperation with the PEN Slovenia the first InterPENBook was presented by Tone Peršak, Vice President of the PEN Slovenia, and Antonio Della Rocca, Vice President of the PEN Club Trieste.

This book contains poems of 10 Triestine and 10 Slovene poets, all translated from the original language into the other and can be considered a good picture of the current poetic production on both sides of the former border.

It will be distributed among the schools and libraries of the zone near to the former border in order to allow people, in particular students, to get a close knowledge of the other culture.

The idea of such an initiative came out during a past Conference in Trieste in a talk between Claudio H. Martelli and Tone Peršak.

We are grateful to Roberta Ferrazza, Director of the IIC Lubiana, for her kind cooperation in this matter.

PEN Club Trieste: what's it all about?

2009-05-18T12:32:00.001+02:00

The PEN Club Trieste was founded in 2003 and its constitution was ratified by the 69th Congress of International PEN held in Ciudad de México, November 2003.

Originally founded in 1921 to promote literature, today International PEN ( P.E.N. being an acronyme for Poets, Essayists and Novelists ) has 144 Centres in 102 countries across the globe. It recognises that literature is essential to understanding and engaging with other worlds; if you can't hear the voice of another culture how can you understand it?

International PEN’s primary goal is to engage with, and empower, societies and communities across cultures and languages, through reading and writing. Members believe that writers can play a crucial role in changing and developing civil society. International PEN does this through the promotion of literature, international campaigning on issues such as translation and freedom of expression and improving access to literature at international, regional and national levels.

The membership is open to all published writers who subscribe to the PEN Charter regardless of nationality, language, race, colour or religion.

The International PEN Charter affirms that:

1. Literature knows no frontiers and must remain common currency among people in spite of political or international upheavals.

2. In all circumstances, and particularly in time of war, works of art, the patrimony of humanity at large, should be left untouched by national or political passion.

3. Members of PEN should at all times use what influence they have in favour of good understanding and mutual respect between nations; they pledge themselves to do their utmost to dispel race, class and national hatreds, and to champion the ideal of one humanity living in peace in one world.

4. PEN stands for the principle of unhampered transmission of thought within each nation and between all nations, and members pledge themselves to oppose any form of suppression of freedom of expression in the country and community to which they belong, as well as throughout the world wherever this is possible. PEN declares for a free press and opposes arbitrary censorship in time of peace. It believes that the necessary advance of the world towards a more highly organised political and economic order renders a free criticism of governments, administrations and institutions imperative. And since freedom implies voluntary restraint, members pledge themselves to oppose such evils of a free press as mendacious publication, deliberate falsehood and distortion of facts for political and personal ends

International PEN is a non-political organisation and has special consultative status at UNESCO and the United Nations.

* * *

The foundation of PEN Club Trieste was approved in 2003 bearing in mind the peculiar - multiethnical, multilingual and multicultural - characteristics of our city.

As stated in occasion of our second Regional Conference, we do not consider the multiethnical, multilingual and multicultural situation of our city to be an unicum, but we strongly believe this to be perhaps the key to the future of many other PEN Centres, in a world where every passing year confirms the national element to be only one – and maybe not the more important one – of the characteristics connoting writing people.

One of the FAQ’s about the Conferences we have held till now in Trieste is: why do you call it a “regional” Conference? We make a point of it, “international” could be more appropriate, but we prefer to think of ourselves as the barycentre of an enlarged region, where languages, people, ideas could and should travel freely, with no borders. It will take another bit of time, but it shall happen.

The PEN Club Trieste firmly believes that under such a vision poets and writers shall play a role of paramount importance: that of constructors of bridges which shall contribute to overbridge the many trenches the past has left in Europe and in the world.