Charlie Hebdo

Celebrated British novelist Ian McEwan has given a magisterial commencement address at Dickinson College in support of the principle of free speech in general, of Charlie Hebdo in particular, and against those fellow writers who withdrew from the PEN America Center gala held to award its Freedom of Expression Courage Award to Charlie Hebdo. The […]

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After the earlier withdrawal by six authors from a presentation hosted by PEN America of its Freedom of Expression Courage Award to Charlie Hebdo, some new authors have stepped up to the plate – including Neil Gaiman and Art Spiegelman. The award itself will now be presented by French-Congolese author and Man Booker International Prize […]

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PEN has witnessed some strong internal opposition and argument over the decision of the PEN America Center to award its Freedom of Expression Courage Award to Charlie Hebdo, after the attacks in Paris. Six writers, Teju Cole, Rachel Kushner, Michael Ondaatje, Francine Prose, Peter Carey, and Taiye Selasi, declined to attend the associated gala over […]

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Sadly, Michel Houellebecq and his Islamophobic new novel Soumission (Submission) look to be among the all-too-predictable beneficiaries of the Charlie Hebdo attack – alongside anti-Islamic hate groups and far-right politicians everywhere. The Bookseller has already felt the need to run a statement from Houellebecq’s UK soon-to-be-publisher, stating that plans to publish the book in the […]

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