English PEN promotes free speech round the globe. It runs Writers in Translation, a programme to promote the translation of vibrant new work from beyond the English-speaking world into English. English PEN has just launched PEN Transmissions, an online zine dedicated to international writing.
PEN Transmissions is planned as a digital home for some of the best writers around the world. Each month, PEN Transmissions will publish a new themed issue featuring original writing and interviews.
Issue One: Women 2018 focusses on women’s writing, bringing together voices from Mexico, the USA, Argentina, Singapore, and the UK.
Issue Two: Hope After Crisis questions what happens to hope after a political crisis, with writers from Poland, Egypt, Eritrea, Norway, the UK, and the USA.
Authors featured in the first two editions include Olga Tokarczuk, Ariana Harwicz, Sharlene Teo, Basma Abdel Aziz, Juliet Jacques, Rowan Hisayo Buchanan, Cristina Rivera Garza and Haile Bizen.
Both issues are now available to read in full here.
Theodora Danek, Writers in Translation programme manager, said: "There are so many brilliant international writers, and we always want to hear - and read! - more from them. At English PEN we are lucky to be in touch with authors from across the globe. In an increasingly polarised world, we want to give voice to writers who aren’t necessarily heard in the mainstream or outside the borders of their countries. That’s why we created PEN Transmissions: a platform for international writers, both established and new."
Antonia Byatt, Director of English PEN, said: "PEN Transmissions will be a place for discovery and sharing – of new writing, of new ideas, of important issues that concern us all. It’s for people who are curious, engaged in a wider political world and, of course, who love great writing!"
