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PEN International, the literary and free expression organisation, has released a letter signed by over 1000 writers worldwide, expressing solidarity with writers, journalists, artists, and the people of Ukraine, condemning the Russian invasion and calling for an immediate end to the bloodshed.
To our friends and colleagues in Ukraine:
We, writers around the world, are appalled by the violence unleashed by Russian forces against Ukraine and urgently call for an end to the bloodshed. We stand united in condemnation of a senseless war, waged by President Putin’s refusal to accept the rights of Ukraine’s people to debate their future allegiance and history without Moscow’s interference. We stand united in support of writers, journalists, artists, and all the people of Ukraine, who are living through their darkest hours. We stand by you and feel your pain. All individuals have a right to peace, free expression, and free assembly. Putin’s war is an attack on democracy and freedom not just in Ukraine, but around the world. We stand united in calling for peace and for an end to the propaganda that is fuelling the violence. There can be no free and safe Europe without a free and independent Ukraine. Peace must prevail.
Among the signatories: Burhan Sonmez, Svetlana Alexievich, Margaret Atwood, Paul Auster, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Anthony Doerr, Jonathan Franzen, Roxane Gay, Aleksandar Hemon, Siri Hustvedt, Mario Vargas Llosa, Yann Martel, Benjamin Moser, Joyce Carol Oates, Orhan Pamuk, Maria Ressa, Marilynne Robinson, Salman Rushdie, Elif Shafak, Colm Toibin, Olga Tokarczuk, Lyudmila Ulitskaya, Ariel Dorfman, Jennifer Egan, Julian Fellowes, Betty Ferber, Pico Iyer, Kaneko Tomoko, Arla Kanerva, Anneli Kanto, John Ralston Saul, George Saunders, Sawada Toshiko, Sawata Seiichi, Jani Saxell, Simon Schama, Colm Toibin, Miia Toivio.
PEN Ukraine together with PEN Belarus, Polish PEN Club and Open Culture Foundation is organizing a public fundraiser to support the creative community of Ukraine.
The funds will go to help Ukrainian writers, journalists, scholars, translators, and artists who have found themselves under threat as a result of the Russian war against Ukraine.
Culture is one of the chief bastions of Ukrainian freedom and we must ensure that members of the Ukrainian cultural community can continue to speak out loudly and without hindrance.
Support now: https://penbelarus.org/en/2022