We are thrilled to announce our new annual literary prize, the PEN Heaney Prize, in partnership with Irish PEN & Estate of Seamus Heaney.

Publisher submissions are open from now until 3 June.
englishpen.org/posts/news/ann…

Watch this video to the end and sing with us.
It was an emotional and powerful moment for me to meet more than 45 amazing women of Iran and Afghanistan who joined United Against Gender Apartheid campaign in our first Zoom meeting.

In this campaign, women are telling the

Reading Dina Nayeri, relieved to know that several others have also been fooled and seduced and coerced by nostalgia, but from a safe distance. Beware o wanderer, the road is walking too.

Please consider donating to our fundraiser for Afghanistan! This is our fourth year in a row and Alhamdullilah the generosity of friends and strangers clothed and fed hundreds of needy Afghan families. I'll be posting pics from our past fundraisers too. gofund.me/23670102

BIG NEWS! We Used To Be Girl Scouts - a new play by Emery Schaffer, directed by Kate Stamoulis (of the fabulous Hey Thanks! Theatre Collective), is on it's way to EDI FRINGE!
I cannot contain my excitement!!!! Tickets are live and ready for you :)
tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/we-us…

Engineers
Coders
Teachers
Scholars
Lawyers
Mechanics
Architects
Doctors
Nurses
Midwives
Advocates

Refugee women are building and rebuilding the world, and paving the way for a sustainable future.

We must #InvestInWomen if we want to live in a better world.

Because Iran is a country of modern, mostly secular-living people of all faith backgrounds (Muslim included) controlled by a brutal theocracy who doesn’t care that much about faith either, just money and power.

Horrified to learn that my friend, prominent Iranian journalist Pouria Zeraati was stabbed outside his home in London. While we wait for an investigation, I hope the Metropolitan Police takes the threats by the Islamic Republic to kill Iranian journalists in exile seriously.…

Get well soon, Pouria Zeraati. More power to you 💚🤍❤️
#JournalismIsNotACrime
#IRGCterrorists

Sabrin Hasbun (Sabrin Hasbun) has won the inaugural Footnote x Counterpoints Writing Prize for writers from refugee and migrant backgrounds.

thebookseller.com/news/sabrin-ha…

Huge congratulations to Sabrin, and many thanks to our wonderful judges, Elif Shafak , Philippe Sands and Dina Nayeri

Many congratulations also to our two incredible runners-up, Simon Weisz for his book Resolution, and Roxana Shirazi for Dead Iranian Girl.

Celebrated Iranian recording artist Faramarz Aslani united us not only with his immense musical talent but by imbuing all around him with hope for a better tomorrow. He was love personified. I am heartbroken by his loss but comforted and inspired by his legacy. 💔

We're excited to present the final installment in our annual 30 Books in 30 Days feature, in which our board members write appreciations of finalists for the NBCC Awards. Here's fiction! bookcritics.org/2024/03/14/30-…

The NBCC Awards, Finalists Reading, and Awards Reception (coming this Thursday!) are brought to you with support from our sponsors: Wildbound PR, New School Creative Writing, Purslane Catering, curious elixirs, Good Vodka, Nomadica, Current Cassis, and The Brooklyn Brewery. Thank you!

Do you live in or near #StAndrews ?
Attend the Annual Sanctuary Lecture at University of St Andrews – 27th March 2024.5:15pm
A chance to hear from writer Dina Nayeri and Dr Roxani Krystalli
City of Sanctuary UK 🧡 Scottish Refugee Council 🧡 University of Dundee Abertay University Dundee&Angus College Edinburgh City of Sanctuary
UofG Unesco RILA 🧡

Faramarz Aslani died, on Norooz. This man sang the song I listened to on my darkest nights. There is no song I love more. RIP to a true artist.
youtu.be/C92_LJLUKBw?si…

Fly to the Fictionable #blog – available in full without subscription – to find Peter Kuper waxing lyrical on the monarch #butterfly , Dina Nayeri on what happens when #fiction turns to memoir, Naomi Wood on her top five #ShortStories and more…

Image: Gary Bendig

Another busy, buzzy couple of days at #LBF2024 - incl so much insight into the interplay between the current publishing, cultural and political landscapes.

I also really loved hearing my fellow panellists’ top tips for author mental health resilience earlier today at Author HQ.

And the culmination of an amazing day of English PEN events at @londonbookfair…. An Iranian restaurant! Alborz near Olympia.