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Theme: #10 2013

Fiction

Iran: The day we pack our bags

For many years, author Roya Zarrin held a popular yoga class in her hometown in Iran. But since it was also a place where forbidden literature could be discussed fairly openly, it attracted the...

Text: Roya Zarrin October 24 2013
Fiction

Egypt: The fanatic heart

The situation in the divided Egypt is full of uncertainty—also for those living in the midst of the crisis like author Somaya Ramadan: “How do you act on the courage of your own convictions if you do...

Text: Somaya Ramadan October 24 2013
Article

Belarus: A renaissance generation on the run

The well-educated are among the first to leave a repressive dictatorship. In countries like Belarus or Eritrea, the escalating oppression cuts holes in the very fabric of society. How are these to be...

Text: Pavel Marozau October 24 2013
Article

Sierra Leone: Reading yourself—and the other

Freedom of speech is also about being given access to literature itself. “Alphabetization” is not just about cracking the reading code—it also about getting a hand to reach the higher branches in the...

Text: Mohamed Sheriff October 24 2013
Poetry

Syria: Curses

Put on your clothes and leave You can walk out naked if you wish The blood of the dead that does not disturb your sleep...

Text: Amira Abul Husn October 24 2013
Fiction

Syria: The barricades

The woman with the expressive face There she stands with a look of intense surprise on her face on an ordinary morning...

Text: Hazim Alazmah October 24 2013
Poetry

Syria: Die from the stabs of despair

1 Yesterday evening I wrote a short poem about a mortar shell and hoped that it would fly off to neverwhere. When the...

Text: Ali Safar October 24 2013
Poetry

Syria: Cowboys, gangsters and pirates

When I was a child I hated Hollywood films I hated watching violence and police chases I hated films about famous...

Text: Lina Tibi October 23 2013
Fiction

Syria: Thirteen scenes from hell

Scene 1 “Look at those aged female paratroopers—they get promoted and are now called lionesses, the armed forces’...

Text: Housam Al-Mosilli October 23 2013
Article

USA: Larry Siems about NSA and digital surveillance

What kind of harm really comes from the surveillance exposed by Edward Snowden and other activists? We need to know more, says Larry Siems, writer and director of PEN America's Freedom to Write...

Text: Larry Siems October 23 2013

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