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Theme: Ukraine

Editorial

“May the World Listen…”

Oksana Zabuzhko, poet, fiction writer, and essayist, is one of contemporary Ukrainian literature’s foremost voices in...

Leader: Mikael Nydahl, guest editor April 20 2022
Article

Sounds of Peace

Former president of Ukrainian PEN Andrey Kurkov is one of the most translated Ukrainian writers. Kurkov received great international attention with the book Death and the Penguin. Since the beginning...

By Andrey Kurkov February 24 2023
Article

Speech at Mårbacka

Speech at Mårbacka was performed during the Literature Festival at Mårbacka on July 30, 2022. Like many people in Ukraine after February 2022, the author of the speech, Olena Stepanenko, writes russia...

By Olena stepanenko December 03 2022
Article

Why you should not be naïve about Russian culture

Philosopher Volodymyr Yermolenko gives a brief look into the history of ideas to help us reflect on what is happening now. He advocates a critical approach to Russian culture which, according to him...

By: Volodymyr Jermolenko September 16 2022
Article

Reinforced Concrete: From the Kharkiv Diary

In this travel diary, Tetyana Teren writes about the literary city of Kharkiv. The diary was written in June during a train trip she made from Kyiv to Kharkiv together with five Ukrainian PEN writers...

Text: Tetyana Teren September 06 2022
Fiction

Love in the Time of War

What happens to love when the man is at the front or alone and abandoned in his home separated from the woman he loves and the bombs are within reach? When the wife who has been forced to flee...

By Irena Karpa August 26 2022
Interview

An interview with Oksana Zabuzhko

PEN/Opp publishes an exclusive interview with author Oksana Zabuzhko, made by Stefan Ingvarsson. At the time for the interview, Oksana Zabuzhko stayed at a writer's residence in the city of Gdańsk...

Interview by Stefan Ingvarsson August 05 2022
Fiction

41 Days

Oleg Mikhailov is a Russian-Ukrainian playwright. He was born in Yekaterinburg (Russia) in 1975 and has lived in Kharkiv since 2009, where he has been living during the entirety of the war, despite...

By: Oleg Mihajlov May 13 2022
Article

Ukrainian writers – defying the Russian invasion 

As the Russian attack on Ukraine wreaks destruction and creates millions of refugees, many of Ukraine's writers have found themselves turning to activism by joining volunteer groups, the Armed Forces...

Interview: Joakim Medin April 29 2022
Poetry

Poems by Daryna Gladun

The Ukrainian poet Daryna Gladun lived in Bucha until the beginning of March. When she realized that the Russian troops were not only bombing the airport but were also aiming to take over the city...

Poems: Daryna Gladun April 22 2022
Article

Am I panicking enough?

This article, written and published on January 18 in German by the Ukrainian author and publisher Kateryna Mischenko, is a prologue to PEN/Opp's upcoming Ukraine issue, which will be launched in ten...

By Kateryna Mishchenko March 07 2022

Theme: Afghanistan

Editorial

It began with a call for help.

In the beginning of August 2021, when the Taliban still had not consolidated complete control over the country, Swedish...

Leader: Elisabeth Löfgren, Chair, Writers in Prison Committee, Swedish PEN March 04 2022
Poetry

Poems by Mahbouba Ibrahimi

Mahbouba Ibrahimi was born in Kandahar in Afghanistan. Like many other Afghans she grew up in Iran. She has been writing poetry since her teens, but Ibrahimi is also a trained documentary film...

By Mahbouba Ibrahimi December 18 2022
Article

A Thematic Study of Contemporary Poetry in Afghanistan

Sayed Abutaleb Mozaffari has taken an interest in the impact of political events on contemporary Afghan literature. In this article he deals with the relationship between poetry and politics...

By: Sayed Abutaleb Mozaffari October 16 2022
Article

The State of Freedom of Speech and Media in the Past Year

Elyas Nawandish is an Afghan journalist and editor at the popular digital magazine Etilaat Roz. As a journalist, he worked in the past half a decade to promote freedom of expression, propagate...

By: Elyas Nawandish October 09 2022
Fiction

'Dogs Are Not to Blame.'

In modern Afghanistan years of instability and internal displacement have created a challenging environment for writers of all kinds. The majority of Afghanistan’s writers that have been given...

Author: Masouma Kawsari  May 05 2022
Article

Let’s Not Forget Educating Our Children

Aziz Royesh, renowned teacher in Afghanistan, born in 1969 in Kabul. He founded the Marifat School in Kabul. In 2015, he was one of ten nominees for the International "Teacher of the Year Award" by...

Text: Aziz Royesh April 08 2022
Poetry

Taking my root off

Mother has a beautiful girl The sky my colourful shawl The mirror with all its glittering owes me a mouthful of smile *...

A poem by: Mahtab Sahel March 04 2022

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