 Thank you. Thank you very much indeed a very very warm welcome this evening to the British Library. I'm Roli Keating the Chief Executive here and it is wonderful to see you all gathered for this year's annual Pen Pinter Prize Award which once again we are honored to host in partnership with our friends at English Pen. Welcome to everyone here at the British Library and also of course to everyone watching online wherever you are around the world. This is the 14th Prize and it's named in honour of course of playwright author Harold Pinter who would today have been celebrating his 92nd birthday. He is as we all know one of the great figures of post-war theatre and literature and we are very proud to hold his archive here, one of the most precious of the modern archives we hold here at the library. More than 150 boxes of manuscripts, scrapbooks, emails including an extraordinary intimate run of letters from Samuel Beckett, a draft of Harold's unpublished autobiographical memoir of his youth, The Queen of All the Fairies and most pertinent for tonight very extensive material relating to Harold's commitment to human rights including his journalism, his poetry, his direct action. Now tonight we are absolutely delighted, we couldn't be more pleased that this year's Pen Pinter Prize is going to be awarded to Mallory Blackman. She will share the award as ever with an international writer of courage to be announced later this evening which will be a moment for all of us to acknowledge those writers all around the world who do not have the freedom to speak, to publish, to easily express opinions other than at great personal risk. Mallory is quite deservedly one of the most popular and vital authors that we're lucky to have here in the United Kingdom and I'm very very pleased to be able to let you know tonight that the library the British Library will be presenting an exhibition devoted to her work about one year from now and indeed not only that but Mallory I think you'll be back on this stage quite soon next month in fact talking about your new memoir just saying in conversation with Jackie Kay and some early copies of that memoir signed by the author I hear are available in the bookshop tonight. Now without further ado it's my pleasure to hand over to the chair of English Pen to begin tonight's ceremony Ruth Borthwick. Thank you. Thank you everyone it's great to see you all here this is a different place from our usual home and it seems an extremely grand and fitting place to celebrate this particular prize. I'm Ruth Borthwick the chair of English Pen and on behalf of English Pen and Lady Antonio Fraser I'm delighted to welcome you all to the 14th Pen Pinter Prize ceremony. The prize was established in memory of Harold Pinter and it's awarded annually to a writer of outstanding literary merit resident in the UK the Republic of Ireland or the Commonwealth who in the words of Harold Pinter's Nobel Prize for Literature speech casts an unflinching unswerving gaze upon the world and shows a fierce intellectual determination to define the real truth of our lives and our societies. It's especially wonderful to hold the ceremony here our thanks as always to the British Library for hosting the awards and to our funders who make the evening possible the Blavatnik Foundation and Ruth Maxded. Thank you to Martin Rausen who traditionally joins draws a cartoon on a cricketing theme in homage to Harold Pinter who is a great fan of cricket and this cartoon is presented to the winner. Thank you to four communications for helping publicize the prize and to the English Pen staff who have worked tirelessly on this event and all our work throughout the year and thanks of course to my co-judges for this year's prize Margaret Busby and Daniel Hahn. As Rowling has said the British Library is the home of Harold Pinter's wonderful archive. He was the vice president of English Pen and he committed himself to advance the defense of freedom of expression for all writers and readers and that legacy of that commitment is extremely special. On Thursday the 29th of September we received the horrific news that City Danga Remba the winner of last year's prize was convicted for staging a peaceful protest in Zimbabwe. We condemn this verdict and demand all charges against her be dropped. On being awarded the 2014 Pen Pinter Prize Salman Rushdie said people are entitled to judge a book as kindly or harshly as they choose but when they respond to it with violence or threat of violence the subject changes and the question becomes how do we face down such threats? This question is horribly ever present for writers in our world today. English Pen was founded over 100 years ago and its work to defend writers freedom has never been more urgent. Writers are the canary in the coal mine, the measure of how democratic our societies really are. It's only by joining together as writers, publishers, translators, booksellers and readers that we can face down the threats effectively. We owe this work to the support of our members, a community of writers and readers who helped us protect freedom of expression whenever it's under attack. We invite you all to join us and become members of English Pen to help continue this work that is such of such vital importance. This award carries with it the responsibility of choosing in collaboration with English Pen's Writers at Risk program an international writer of courage with whom to share the prize. You'll see there is an empty chair on stage this evening. This has been used by pen centres around the world to symbolise the absence of those writers and activists whose courageous defence of freedom of expression has led to their imprisonment and persecution. Tonight the chair represents the 2022 international writer of courage who for these same devastating reasons cannot be here in person but whose resilience, humanity and dedication we want to honour. This year's international writer of courage has advocated tirelessly and with great courage for the protection of human rights in their country for which they have been persecuted and imprisoned. Their name will be announced during the event by Mallory and their work paid testament to. So it's a great privilege to be with you here this evening where we present Mallory Blackman with the Pen Pinter Prize. The fact that Mallory is the first children's and young adult author to win this award is particularly pertinent at this time when texts that cast an unflinching unswerving gaze upon the world are being removed from American schools and library shells. Our colleagues at Pen America have just published a report of book bans in schools which finds that over 1600 titles have been banned in the USA in the past year and these school boards are completely undemocratic and it's extremely hard for people to intervene and challenge these decisions. Mallory's many industry shaping achievements have been beautifully captured by illustrator, author and character designer Dapo Adiola. Dapo was this year awarded illustrator of the year at the British Book Awards after rocketing into the picture book world with his greatly acclaimed debut Look Up written by Nathan Byron. He has also collaborated with Mallory on their picture book We're Going to Find the Monster and we're delighted to present his stunning, specially commissioned artwork tonight. It's now my pleasure to hand over to fellow children's writer Verna Wilkins who will deliver the Enconium or praise song for Mallory Blackman. Verna is the founder of the award-winning publisher Tamarin Books which she ran for 23 years. She's also the writer of 30 picture books and eight biographies aimed at young people and was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2021. Please welcome Verna to the stage. Good evening all and thank you English Pen for inviting me today. Thank you. It is an honour, a privilege and a real pleasure indeed to be invited to speak at this momentous occasion to congratulate Mallory Blackman for winning this prestigious award, the Pen Pinter Prize 2022. Mallory's stories have reached many thousands of children and young adults here in the UK and in many parts of the world. She has written more than 60 children's books which have been translated into 15 languages, over 15 languages. She has also written short story collections, TV scripts, stage plays and radio scripts. Her excellent and varied body of work has won numerous awards throughout her ongoing illustrious career. The Times newspaper once described Mallory as a national treasure. Amazing. Very good. And looking at the amazing body of work she's produced and her list of accomplishments, I am more than happy to endorse that statement. Mallory, you're much loved, much needed and much appreciated. I have personal experience of her ability to bond with children and not only through the written word. I was very keen for my grandson when he was only eight to meet Mallory as he loved her books so much. We arranged to meet at the Rainforest Cafe in central London. We arrived early and I was aware that he was almost shivering with anticipation. Grandma, grandma, what can I say to an award-winning author? Well, here she is, I said, as Mallory appeared at the door she came towards us with her huge smile and said, Max, it is so good to meet you. His jaw dropped and he melted into the hug. He's now 24 years old and I spoke to him a few days and told him that I was speaking here and he remembered and he was relating things that happened on that day all those years ago. He's read most of her books, he read all the early picture books and followed the Noughts and Crosses list as well. Thank you. Now back to the plot. By the time she was eight Mallory had read nearly all the fiction books in the school library. She could recite the first two pages of the silver chair by C.S. Lewis nearly off by heart. She discovered the Chalet series, the Narnia books and then moved on to Jane Eyre, Rebecca, and many more from her frequent visits to the local library. English was her best subject and she scored top marks in all her English tests. Well, school life progressed fairly uneventfully. Until in 1979, when Mallory was 17, it was time to look to the future. She told her career's teacher that she hoped to be an English teacher and would like to go to university. The career's teacher stopped her in her tracks and advised her instead to do business studies as she was not sure that Mallory would even pass her English A level, a dreadful disappointment, but that prodigious talent was not to be diminished. Despite that bad advice, Mallory eventually found her true calling. She worked for a while as a computer programmer and then severely combated some ill health and eventually that outstanding talent found a way to flourish. As a child, Mallory's early picture books were Cinderella, Goldilocks, Little Red Riding Hood, all white characters. As an adult, she was well aware of that sin of omission. Children of color were not recognized as a valid part of the market for children's literature, where characters and stories could and should reflect their own lived experience. As a writer, she was determined to redress the balance and give black children a high positive profile in her books. She sent her manuscripts to many publishers but received countless rejections. Undeterred, she carried on. Eventually, as classrooms around the country became more multicultural, her books began, her book list started to grow and educators called for her books, which reflected the content of their classrooms. With the publication of her first picture books and as demand grew and the book started featuring on reading lists in schools and in schools, in public libraries and in some book shops, I was lucky enough to meet Mallory at the time when her books were becoming quite popular and told her about my work with Tamarind, a small publishing company I'd set up with the sole intention of publishing books with children of color as the main protagonists. I couldn't afford to pay authors very much and Mallory kindly offered two of her manuscripts to me for a very, very small fee. With her name on those books, it lifted the profile of the Tamarind list and I would forever be grateful for her support. Not long after being so generous, Mallory then allowed me to write her biography for the nine plus non-fiction Tamarind list. She gave her precious time to be interviewed and photographs and her biography is still in print in many schools after more than 20 years in print. Some of Mallory's stories highlighted issues in society very well and her expertise was clear with the story Pig Heart Boy, a brilliantly sensitive book dealing with organ transplant using genetically modified animal organs for use in humans. Huh, if anyone could deal with a children's book on that subject Mallory Blackman could and she did. It was an amazing piece of work. Now during my school visits I encountered many children who were Mallory's fans and I was asked on many occasions if I knew her I boasted writing books for children is a difficult process. I know what it takes to get a 24 or 32 page book working well. Mallory was producing excellent stories and at the same time she was composing music, writing TV and radio scripts and playing computer games in her spare time. Spare time? I believe she worked some magic to get more than 24 hours in her day. In 2002 Mallory was awarded an OBE for her service to children's literature and from 2013 to 2015 Mallory held the prestigious title of Children's Laureate where she was acknowledged as one of the most imaginative and convincing writers of her time. As her work progressed there were comments and criticism in some areas that Mallory as a successful author did not deal with issues of race and color. Mallory had always said that she wanted to write about children of color getting on with their lives, having adventures, solving their dilemmas as characters in all the books she read as a child. Eventually however Mallory decided to take the issue head on. Noughts and crosses dramatically explored the themes of race, love and violence in an astutely depicted dystopian world. Such was its success that it inspired a further five books. There were all exquisitely created and drew comparisons with George Orwell's 1984 with the Guardian placing Noughts and Crosses on its its list of the hundred best books of the 21st century. TV adaptation of that book was an enormous success. Many people commented on the fact that the book and the program set them seriously thinking of issues around systemic racism, police brutality and racial and class prejudice. In conclusion I would like to repeat that all saying the pen is mightier than the sword. Mallory has helped children's literature publishing. She made it a less flawed and more representative industry. This is just one part of her commitment to showing a fierce intellectual determination to define the real truth of our lives and our societies which as you have already heard is what the pen enterprise was made to recognize. Thank you Mallory for giving us this amazing body of work which will support us in the world's broad field of battle in this bivouac of life and moreover we are entertained enlightened and we can move forward with an enhanced sense of self and personal value. Now it's a great pleasure to hand over to one of the Pen Pinter Prizes most passionate patrons Antonia Fraser esteemed author, biographer and historian the willow of the late Harold Pinter to present Mallory Blackman with this year's Pen Pinter Prize and a specially commissioned cartoon by cartoonist and writer Martin Russel. Thank you for listening. Sorry in Mallory's wonderful book memoir which I've just had the honor of reading she says writers are life's vampires now Mallory you are a very charming vampire I don't everyone agrees one of the most charming vampires that we've met and I'm only sorry that Harold couldn't meet you and present you with the prize himself because he would have absolutely loved to meet you because oddly or not oddly you've got a lot in common you both had to be writers but you both met tremendous obstacles you know Harold's first play was his story of the stage get lost you know and I've been reading about your troubles and I've just thought what an incredibly suitable recipient you are for the Pen Pinter Prize can I invite you? Of course thank you That's so kind, thank you. One vampire we'll give another vampire. This one, that is amazing thank you so much. Thank you. Do I have an envelope? And then here's a little something. Oh thank you, thank you. Don't give, use it for yourself. I will do thank you that is that is so amazing thank you so much. Hello, hi everyone and thank you for coming out tonight. I am thrilled and more than a little stunned to be standing before you today having been awarded the Pen Pinter Prize 2022. I am only too aware that I am slipping into some very very large shoes indeed. The list of the past Pen Pinter Prize winners is a list of the notable and phenomenal. From the first winner Tony Harrison in 2009 to last year's winner Sitsi Dangaremga. My sincere thanks to author and supporter of the prize Lady Antonia Fraser, Daniel Gorman, director of English Pen, the Pen Pinter Prize judges Margaret Busby, Daniel Hain and chair of English Pen Ruth Boothwick and all those at English Pen who are responsible for me standing here today. And I am very aware of the legacy left by Harold Pinter who cared passionately about freedom of speech and human rights. That's why I'm honored to share this prize with this year's international writer of courage to be announced later. There are many fearless authors who write for young adults and children tackling complex issues in an entertaining, informative, understandable and unflinching way. That's why I know that although I may be the first author of children and YA books to receive this prestigious award I certainly won't be the last. I hope this speaks to a recognition of not just the ever-growing depth and breadth of stories available to all our children but also the undeniable quality of the stories available. Now I must confess I feel a bit of a fraud standing here. I feel you're all expecting me to talk about how you square the circle of freedom of expression versus freedom to say whatever you want no matter how inflammatory, hateful or hurtful. I admit I have yet to find a way to make those parallel lines meet. I never set out to be a mouth almighty even though my family will tell you I am either in my writing or when I speak. My heaven is to sit down at a computer and create stories. But no author writes in a vacuum. The real world impinges and impacts as it does, as it should, as it must. It would not be healthy for any writer to find themselves detached from the real world. I am a citizen of Britain but I am also a citizen of this planet. What happens on the other side of the world has an impact on me and all of us. Freedom of expression and freedom of speech are rights and privileges that must be fought for. But should we be free to say whatever we want? Is that what freedom of speech means? If you have a point of view and I disagree with it then I should be perfectly at liberty to say so. I would argue that intent matters and the context within which that intent sits matters too. But freedom of speech doesn't mean freedom from consequences. If my speech is filled with hate, vitriol and bigotive invective then shouldn't I be held accountable for it? If my speech is designed to marginalize or divide or incite hatred to the extent that others are harmed shouldn't I be held responsible for my words? But here's the crucial thing. We authors will frequently, if not always, create characters who espouse views or who do things that readers don't necessarily like or agree with. That's a facet of our job. It doesn't give anyone anywhere the right to threaten us because one or more of our characters speak or live or love in a way that meets with disapproval. Quite simply, if you don't like the idea of one of my books, other books I've written are available. Other books by other authors are available. Move on. All I've ever sought to do with my stories is tell the truth. The truth behind being marginalized or misunderstood, being a sinner or being sinned against. Not all my books are about overtly political issues but I feel that it's incredibly important to be honest in the ones that do tackle those topics. Honesty means presenting characters with their complex thoughts, feelings and emotions truthfully and situations and societies in believable, relatable and accessible ways. When I present societies or situations that are uncomfortable or unsettling, it's so that they may be better understood, yes by my readers but sometimes particularly by me. I entitled this talk just saying which is also the title of my autobiography published next week and yes that is a shameless plug because for far too many of us finding our voice and speaking our truth has not always been encouraged. Indeed, far too often our voices are actively suppressed. A love of reading made me want to create my own stories in the first place. As a child and a teenager I must have read thousands of books but I never read a single book that featured a black child like me, not one. Reading was my lifeline, my escape route, my greatest pleasure and ironically being invisible of the world of literature made me fight that much harder to have my own voice within it. The late and very great Toni Morrison All Hail wrote, if there is a story you want to read but it hasn't been written yet then you must write it. That was the major reason I became an author in the first place. Toni Morrison's mantra and the feedback I get from children and young adults have kept me writing for over three decades. Now there's no two ways about it. We are living in a time marked by impatience, suspicion, anger and fear where when some people unfortunately feel that the written or spoken word should not be used to express views different to their own and in which if such words are used they are then met with intimidation, threats and sometimes even violence. Sadly these are not the days of nuance. I know we were all shocked to hear what happened to Salman Rushdie on August the 12th of this year. The man who allegedly stabbed him is reported to have read two pages of the satanic verses, two pages. If that is true it sadly speaks to the times in which we currently find ourselves. An excerpt, a tweet, an opinion, a headline, they are all that are required by some in the rush to judgment. What happened to Salman Rushdie earlier this year is a reminder of the risks faced by authors with a commitment to free speech. In August 2014 when I was UK Children's Laureate I was interviewed by Sky News and asked about diversity in children's publishing. No surprise there. I'm always asked about diversity in children's publishing. My comments were along the lines of progress has been made but there's more to do. We need to have more stories written by authors from LGBTQ communities, by authors of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Heritage, more authors of colour, more ill and disabled writers and more writers from working class backgrounds. And the stories those authors produce don't necessarily have to have as their sole focus what it's like to be a minority in society that would be so limiting. I said something like I think what we need especially in publishing are more commissioning editors who are people of colour. Readers also want to escape into fiction beyond themselves but I think there's a very significant message that goes out when you cannot see yourself at all in the books you are reading. This was reported with the headline Children's Books Have Too Many White Faces. For the next several weeks I had to contend with some of the worst and scariest racist abuse I've ever received. Threats of rape and harm against me and my family and death threats. All of which happened in this country. Now I never said the statement reported in the Sky headline. Sky admitted as much, apologised and changed it. But to the haters it didn't matter. The abuse continued. The threats continued. Do stories unite us? Maybe, maybe not. But they do connect us. A character I create may express an idea with which you fundamentally disagree. Hell, a character I create may and frequently does express an idea which I fundamentally disagree with. And isn't that wonderful? As a reader I love that alternative or even opposite views to my own as expressed by the characters in the books I read allow me to analyse other points of view to consider and maybe even embrace new ideas and concepts, new ways of thinking. That's part of the beauty of stories in all their forms. How mean and narrow life would be if all the arts did was reflect our own life, views and fixed ideas back at us. How narrow. How shallow. How sad. It can be a tremendous act of courage to tell the truth through art and every creative person who does so is doing humanity an unparalleled service. But we live in times where there are those who wish to deny certain sections of society their voice. School boards across America are trying to have books written predominantly by LGBTQ authors and authors of colour withdrawn or banned. John Green author of The Fault in Our Stars and other insightful wonderful YA books tweeted in September 2022 looking for Alaska has been in print for 17 years and it has been challenged countless times but I've never seen anything like the concerted effort in 2022 to remove it and so many other books from libraries and schools around the country referring to the USA. Closer to home Robin Stevens author of the excellent detective society series spoke of her book death in the spotlight being banned by a UK school after a teacher discovered Robin had retweeted posts from mermaids an organisation supporting gender diverse and transgender young people. Robin stated the thing that I found upsetting was not that they disagreed with me but that they were using the disagreement to ban my books at their school. Seeing a queer character children can relate to in a popular children's book series has given them a lot of joy and confidence and it's deeply saddening that both straight and queer kids at this teacher's school won't have a chance to read the book. In my own case a few years ago a school librarian told me with pleasure and a great deal of pride that she didn't keep my book Boys Don't Cry the story of two brothers one of whom is gay on the school library shelves it had to be asked for specifically. When I asked why I was told it was so that the school librarian could assess whether or not the requester should get the book. Now I have a great deal of respect for public and school librarians I really do but this is not right she didn't hide my book away so that she could ensure it was age appropriate for the potential reader no she took delight in telling me that it was a subject matter that she deemed troublesome and she had made it her business to assess who should and should not have access to that subject matter. I told her it was a pity she was policing the book in that way as the mere fact that the book had to be asked for might put some readers off my concerns were dismissed. I once had a white teenage girl in a signing queue tell me how much she loved my books she confessed that she bought my books whenever she could afford them but had to hide them from her mum. When I asked why she admitted that her mum didn't want her reading race books I said what does your mum mean by a race book to which the girl replied books with black people in them she thinks they're all anti-white I asked has she actually read any of my books the girl shook her head enough said but I'm grateful that my books had given that girl enough ammunition to think for herself and not just take on the views of her mother here we are in the 21st century and there are those who try to tell children teens and young adults of colour children and young adults who may be neurodivergent disabled or part of the LGBTQ plus community that they don't have the right to exist in public if it makes certain grown-ups uncomfortable all of our children have a right to see themselves and their lives reflected in the literature it reflected in literature and to be the creators of stories themselves all of them freedom of speech of expression is one of the basic tenets on which any true democracy stands or falls I was born in Britain it's my home and I love it that's why I feel able to criticise it and call out certain political behaviours with a view to making it better that's why we vote why we protest march and demonstrate to make our voices heard that's why for example I speak out regarding the need to feed all children who need it during the summer holidays when most of those in government initially voted against such action but when I express such an opinion on social media I frequently get told that this is not my country and if I don't like it I should go back to where I come came from I've I've been called a race beta and a racist basher for using my voice racist bash I mean I ask you you racist bashing is a negative thing now I hope I am a racist basher every day of the week and twice on Sunday so me and my voice aren't going away we're not going anywhere citizenship should not end at land boundaries we are all citizens of the same planet didn't covid teach us that what starts on the other side of the world may affect us sooner or later if some are not free can any of us say we truly are and what do I mean by free I mean having the chance to fulfil one's own potential I've been accused of being woke well god I hope so how extraordinary that a positive word used by the african-american community since the 1940s to mean alert to social injustice should have been so co-opted by the white right wing and have its meaning changed to something pejorative the opposite of woke is asleep I hope I'm not asleep to injustice bigotry and unkindness I hope I never will be in tribute I would like to give the last word before announcing the international writer of courage to last year's pen-pinter prize winner sissy dango emga who was recently given a suspended sentence in zimbabwe after being found guilty of inciting violence by staging a peaceful protest calling for political reform she was holding a placard which said we want better reform our institutions she wrote every moment is a moment for potential resolution it just needs somebody to say in that moment okay we're going to do things differently and mean it thank you okay settle down the pen-printer prize is shared with an international writer of college courage someone who has been persecuted for speaking out about their beliefs and denied the basic rights I've just described I'm grateful that I've been given the opportunity to highlight the life and work of a writer who has had to face harassment torture and incarceration when I first heard of the plight endured by this individual an engineer blogger and activist I was immediately struck by his commitment regarding affecting change in his homeland of Bahrain including by highlighting the methods used to suppress freedom of expression he has been incarcerated for over a decade and has been on hunger strike and without solid food for over 400 days which shines a spotlight on an immensely brave and resolute man who defines the word courage I hope that this award raises awareness around the world of his persecution and affirms to him that he has not been forgotten his voice has not been silenced it is my honor to announce that the pen-pinter prize international writer of courage 2002 is dr. Abdul Jalil al singhase and I am delighted to invite Sayed al-wadiya al-wadiya sorry director of advocacy at the UK based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy to the stage to say a few words on dr. al singhase's behalf first in Arabic then in English thank you thank you so much thank you esteemed guests good evening it is a great honor to be here this evening my name is Sayed Ahmad al-wadiya I am an activist from Bahrain and I am someone for many years has been inspired by dr. Abdul Jalil al singhase a man who became a role model for me and countless others I would like to extend my deepest thanks and appreciation to English pen and to Mallory Blackman for choosing dr. Abdul Jalil al singhase as the international writer of courage with whom she shared her award I cannot think of a better person than dr. Abdul Jalil al singhase I would like to thank everyone who has written to him in particular those who wrote solidarity messages through the pen rights campaign some of which I'm pleased to share with you this evening I would like to start my speech in Arabic I would like to extend my thanks to English pen and Mallory Blackman for choosing dr. Abdul Jalil al singhase to share her award for international writer of courage and indeed I cannot think of a better person than dr. Abdul Jalil al singhase sometimes we live in a life in which we consider our rights a matter of peace imagine the writing of a long message on your computer and you do not miss an hour and maybe even two hours but after that they turn on your computer and now you cannot get it on the website search everywhere and you can't get it on me and you can't get the results of your effort so I'm sorry this feeling really is a shock and I'm sure that many of us have experienced this but this is not the story of dr. Abdul Jalil al singhase where it is a matter of four years in the book of academic research about the marine floods due to its limited capacity in the prison, which is close to half a decade, he writes a search for it with a notebook and a letter from inside his closet in the prison when he finds his search for it, he doubts his final search for it, from the 12-year-old president wrote it with a letter and the one who was finally ready to give it to his family in the past, he was in the same building as he was in the prison, he was handed over to his family after that, he was a criminal in the right of dr. Abdul Jalil al singhase where he was sent to the prison to search for it and refused to return it to his family you can imagine the feeling and this is the injustice that he was faced with the defense of the sea has given several calls to the opposition for the return of content to the criminal conducts, the punishment of the legal crimes and that is why he of the search for a document has been coronavirus, that is, he didn't like anything that will never be the light, this is what he has defended until he is taken to the in order to get rid of food that only depends on the essential ingredients that contain minerals and vitamins. It took 459 days to get rid of food. And it is still difficult to get rid of its right. This is what I call a shaja'ah. It is a shaja'ah that is sent to the people to search for it. If you asked about the example of shaja'ah and stability, and especially when you deal with the most complex systems in the world, I will answer you that Dr. Abjir al-Sangiz, his intention, his prayer, and his refusal to accept the fact that the reward is not the reward, and the fact that the reward is not the reward, and the fact that the reward is not the reward, and the fact that the reward is not the reward, and the fact that the reward is not the reward, and the fact that the reward is not the reward, and the fact that the reward is not the reward. In the same sense, he rejects that the outcome would be four times worse than Raqih. Some may have seen this situation as an offensive and an impasse. But I wanted to tell you more about the situation of this man who decided to take this step. and what led to the expansion of the teaching period. He became the director of the University of Manchester, and became the director of the mechanical engineering department at the Bahrain University. He became the director of the science and science department, and he was a very unjust and sorry person for more than 12 years. He was the director of the Bahrain University for the democracy that was in power in the Arabian Revolution in 2011. He was 60 years old and he was exposed to the brutal torture in 2010 and 2011. He is not suffering from any disease, and he is suffering from a serious medical injury, and he is currently in the hospital in Bahrain, and he is the director and the academic and the defender of human rights. He was asked by the international community to be honest with him, and he is not involved either. Therefore, when he takes a position in order to value democracy, and the rule of law and human rights, he does not come from a poor place, but from a creative man, who does not agree with the corruption of Bahrain, and the corruption of its people, and the destruction of human rights, and the failure of punishment. No one understands the harshness of the word of the truth in front of a tyrant sultan, and in a poor country, more than the director of the science and science department. When Obama was the president, he was given a speech in front of the Islamic world in 2009. The science and science department wrote to him a speech published by The New York Times. Be aware of the use of words of change, of dreams, of democracy. These things do not come easily to us. Those who are trying to change here, pay a great deal of money. I thought of January last month, and I stayed in the infirmary, and I tried to control the regime. After the pressure of a country and a place, I was released, honestly. But my case was still closed. I was presented with my identity and my information on the Facebook page, and people in Bahrain could not be released directly. In August 2011, Dr. St. Gaze published a speech here in London, and in the British Council of Lords, and it started as if he was talking about his fate, the one he is suffering from now. He said, When it appears that the regime is the one that really complies with the violations, it is clear and clear that the law is the one that really complies with them. When international organizations are cooperating with non-governmental organizations, it is the law that ends it. When you ask people to write a constitution, the constitution of a democratic constitution is considered a terrorism, and the law is the one that compels your disputes, your disputes, and your imprisonment. Dear guests, I thank you all for writing to Dr. St. Gaze for thanking him for these harsh explanations which he presented in the name of freedom and the inspiration he presents to us all. Dr. St. Gaze presents the real power of the word. And on this note, there is nothing I would prefer to end with my words from the words of the author, Khalil Jibran, who described the book in it. Not the one who writes with love, but the one who writes with the heart. Thank you very much. I would like to hand over to Josie to deliver my speech in English. Thank you so much. Good evening. My name is Josie Tum, and I'm a colleague of Sayed and a senior research and policy associate at the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy. I'm going to be reading out in English the Sayed's speech that he's just powerfully delivered to you in Arabic, and I'm deeply honoured to be here today to deliver these words on Sayed's behalf and about Dr. Abdul Jalil Asingh. Sometimes we live in a life where we take our rights for granted. Imagine writing a long and carefully crafted letter on your computer. You spend at least an hour, maybe even two, but then your computer crashes and now you can't find the document. So you hunt, you search, you pace, and you can't find it anywhere. The product of your efforts can't be retrieved. It's just lost. This is extremely frustrating, and I'm sure a lot of people here today have experienced this before, but this is not the story of Dr. Asingh. He spent four years writing academic research about Bahraini dialects with his limited resources in prison. That's almost half a decade diligently writing out his original piece of research by hand from within his prison cell. When it was completed, twelve handwritten notebooks made up the final manuscript, which he was then at last handed over to his family. Last year, a prisoner who shared a building with Dr. Asingh was released. Dr. Asingh entrusted this person with his finished manuscripts for them to be handed over to his family. What happened next was criminal. Prison authorities confiscated the research and refused to return it to Dr. Asingh's family. Now, few of us here today could imagine his feelings in the wake of this injustice. Bahraini authorities made several claims about the supposed need to review the content of the work, to go through legal processes, etc. In other words, they implemented an exercise of robust censorship to ensure that anything that they might not like in his research never saw the light of day. This was the act that led him to start a hunger strike, where he relies only on liquid supplements that include basic minerals and vitamins. Today marks the 459th day of his strike, and he is still seeking justice. This is what I call courage. He is refusing to ingest solid foods until his research has returned to his family. Ask me for an example of courage and determination when dealing with one of the most brutal and repressive regimes on Earth, and I will show you Dr. Asingh's. His strength, his resilience, his refusal to submit to the authorities unjustified, punitive and cowardly act of censorship is truly remarkable. He's refusing to allow the product of four years of his sweat and toil to be taken away from him. So some may see this stance alone as inspiring and as courageous, but I wanted to tell you more about the circumstances and also about the man who decided to take this step. Now, Dr. Asingh is one of the most respected scholars in Bahrain. He was born with enormous determination, which is what led him to thrive throughout his education. He obtained a PhD from Manchester University, became the head of mechanical engineering at Bahrain University, and he's now one of the most respected academics in the country. Dr. Asingh, as we heard earlier, has been wrongfully behind bars for over a decade, simply for his leading role in Bahrain's pro-democracy uprising during the 2011 Arab Spring. A six-year-old who was subjected to horrific torture and who continues to suffer from chronic medical conditions, as well as from medical negligence, he is currently serving a life sentence in prison in Bahrain. He's a scholar, a blogger and an academic whose immediate and unconditional release has been demanded time and time again by the international community. So when he takes a stand for democratic values, the rule of law and human rights, it does not come from a place of desperation, but from a principled man who refuses to tolerate Bahrain's corruption, theft of the wealth of its people and human rights violations within punitive. Nobody understands the great cost of speaking truth to power in a repressive country better than Dr. Asingh. When President Obama was giving a speech in Cairo to the Muslim communities around the world in 2009, Dr. Asingh wrote in The New York Times, and I quote, Be careful when you use the words change, dream and democracy. Those things don't come so easily to us. Those who seek change here in Bahrain do not pay dearly. I was arrested at dawn last January, held in solitary confinement and accused of trying to overthrow the kingdom's regime. After international and local pressure, I was released and pardoned, but my case is still technically suspended. My two blogs and Facebook posts are blocked and people in Bahrain do not have direct access to them. End quote. In August 2010, giving a speech here in London at the House of Lords, Dr. Asingh seems to almost predict his own fate, which he is now suffering at the hands of the regime. He said, and again I quote, When activists show flagrant and more obvious activism reporting violations, then it's the law which really cripples them. When NGOs co-operate with an international organization, it is the law which penalizes them. When you call for a democratic constitution to be written by the people, then it is terrorism and it's the law which ensures that you are prosecuted and imprisoned for life. End quote. Esteemed guests, I urge you all to write to Dr. Asingh and to thank him for the sacrifices that he has made in the name of freedom and the inspiration that he has given to us all. Dr. Asingh shows us the true power of writing and on that note, there is nothing better to end on than a quote from the writer of all time, Jebron Khalil Jebron, He who writes with ink can never be like he who writes with the blood of his heart. Thank you. Thank you so much, Syed and Josie, for those extraordinarily powerful words. My name is Philippe Sands. I have the incredible happiness and privilege to be president of English Penn and I want to thank everyone who's been involved in all this incredibly wonderful evening. Mallory, your words are very strong and very uplifting, I have to say personally, but I think for everyone who is in the room and who is watching, thanks to Verna for her wonderful encomium, to Dapo and of course Syed and Josie for saying what you said of this extraordinary individual. I'll say a bit more about that in a moment. I also say because Mallory is too restrained to say that I think you've written a wonderful memoir and it's coming out very shortly and it's not yet available to the public but it is available tonight and if anybody would like to obtain a copy, I think signed copies will be available during the course of this evening. It's called Just Saying, My Life in Words and I've heard it's completely fabulous. Can I also thank the funders and the partners of the Penn Enterprise? Thank you in particular, a dear friend, Lady Antonia Fraser, it's incredibly wonderful to have you here with us again tonight and also all the partners and supporters of English Penn. There are two, the core funders of this fantastic organisation, I think in particular the Arts Council, England and the TS Eliot Foundation and of course each and every member of English Penn and all the Silver Penn members. The Penn-Penter Prize is now in its 14th year and it really is one of the most important aspects of this organisation because the prize exemplifies the work of English Penn across the entire sphere of its activities, the beating heart of the organisation, the intersection between literature and human rights. English Penn was founded by writers to help writers and tonight's prize is an incredible example of how one wonderful writer, Mallory Blackman, can support fellow storytellers across the world, truly inspiring. But as we know, here in the United Kingdom and around the world, intolerance, xenophobia, populism, division, racism, threats to freedom of expression are on the rise and that means that the work of English Penn in a sad way is more important than it has ever been. English Penn stands for a world in which the equity of expression and the equity of opportunity for all readers and writers anywhere, whoever they may be can be enjoyed universally. English Penn has a writers at risk programme founded in 1960. It's one of the longest running campaigns for freedom of expression anywhere in this country or beyond. English Penn campaigns are on behalf of writers who are unjustly persecuted, harassed, imprisoned and in some occasions murdered simply for having expressed their views in written form or by other means. English Penn exists to raise awareness and to provide concrete support for individuals and groups of individuals. I have to say that as president of English Penn I felt a really huge privilege, sense of privilege to be able to play a minor part in the story of this remarkable organisation with its absolutely outstanding and inspiring staff. I and so many others over the years have sent books and written letters to those who are unlawfully imprisoned. I've even visited some people in their place of imprisonment, I'm thinking in particular of my dear friend Ahmet Altan in Istanbul. In fact, I can speak even more personally this year because my translator of my book East West Street was arrested, charged and convicted immediately after the start of the terrible war waged by Russia against Ukraine. She is a poet. Her crime was to go to Pushkin Square with a rolled up scroll on which she had written a poem by a poet called Nikolai Mikrasov. She was arrested, she was charged, she was convicted, she spent her time in detention and then she was fined, a warning of what came next. Her charge is literally unbelievable. I can quote it by heart. Quote, for undermining the special operation by reading a poem by the poet Niklasov inspired by the writings of Leo Tolstoy's sabastical sketches written at the end of the Crimean War. End of quote. That was her crime. But on the other side of the story too, the translator of another book, The Rat Line, is right now a Ukrainian writer and translator has volunteered to fight in Donbas and that is where he is right now. This is going on not just in that part of the world but in the thousands of places all over the world and the actions of pen and English pen in this country are absolutely significant. In fact, I have in the early hours of this morning returned from the city of Lviv in Ukraine having spent three days with a large number of Ukrainian writers who feel unbelievably under threat but incredibly supported by the pen organisations around the world and their own pen organisation. The oppression of these writers and a children's writer in the city of Izium has disappeared in March. The targets are anyone who writes, anyone who writes who expresses views that are in opposition to the new occupying authorities in these kinds of towns. There are so many people who face these challenges across the world but you can make a real difference. Each of you can take a moment to write just a single letter or a note of hope to one of the featured writers as part of pen writes and they of course include this year's truly remarkable international writer of courage, Dr Abdul Jalil Al-Singase of whom we have just heard and who you see sitting in that chair and we hope very much that very soon he will be able to join us. Don't just write to him. Write also to Buckrain's ambassador in London. Do it tomorrow. Send a letter, bombard these people with letters to let them know that this man is being watched. Each one of us, by doing that, can make a difference. Thanks to your engagement with these letter writing campaigns, pen writes, that we know they have consequences and they produce effects. And the writers know they are not alone. They are loved and watched from afar. This is vital and urgent work. Please, please, please support it. Can I just let you know also that English pen will be very pleased to invite you back here to the British Library in case you haven't had enough of it on Thursday to show solidarity with a former pen-penter prize winner, Salman Rushdie. English pen is devoting a prize during the course... devoting an evening during the course of which the author's friends and colleagues will celebrate his strength and his dedication as a writer, activist and a champion of free expression and in particular to stand up publicly for the solidarity of the right to freely express, to write, to express your views. It's organised by English pen in partnership with Pen International, Index on Censorship, Article 19, Humanists UK, Penguin UK, the British Library and many people who are very close to Salman Rushdie. The evening will feature individual readings, by writers including Monica Ali, Julian Barnes, Nigella Lawson and many others. If you'd like to come and you will be very welcome, you can book a free ticket to attend in person or you can watch online via the British Library player. Please use the link on the screen of the pen website. And finally, as though I haven't asked enough, I ask you for those who are not, please, please, please consider becoming a member of English pen tonight. The forms will be around the room. The membership is the backbone of this organisation. The bigger the community, the bigger the support for writers across the world. If you're already a member, a big thank you from all of us. If you're not, please do head to the table at the entrance where you can find membership forms and join up. And now, without further ado, I think we announced that the evening comes to a close. It is time to break, to go and have a drink and to raise a glass. The fabulous Pen Pinter Prize winner of 2022. The wonderful, inspiring, uplifting, fabulous, Mallory Blackman. Thank you so much.