PEN International, a London-based worldwide body of writers, expressed support for Indian writers protesting “growing intolerance” in the country, on Saturday, the Hindustan Times reported.
During the organisation’s 81st Congress in Quebec, Canada, it also wrote to the Indian President, Prime Minister and the president of the Sahitya Akademi, on October 17.
We stand in solidarity with the more than fifty novelists, scholars, poets, and public intellectuals who have returned their awards to the Akademi and admire their courage.
— Pen’s Letter to the Government of India
The president of PEN, representing the writers present, also wrote to the authorities, expressing concern about the unrest following Kannada scholar MM Kalburgi’s murder. They also called for the killers to be identified and arrested.
PEN is an influential world body, and authors of the calibre of Salman Rushdie, Joseph Conrad, Arthur Miller, Toni Morrison and Orhan Pamuk have been members of the organisation.
The protests by Indian writers against the killings of rationalists and authors are beginning to attract international attention, with the New York Times publishing a primer on the issue earlier this week.
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