Slovak centre of PEN celebrates 25th anniversary

THE SLOVAK centre of PEN finished celebrating the 25th anniversary of its establishment in the Primate’s Palace on December 12 with awarding its members of merit.

THE SLOVAK centre of PEN finished celebrating the 25th anniversary of its establishment in the Primate’s Palace on December 12 with awarding its members of merit.

“During the ceremony, Ireney Baláž, Mária Bátorová, Ján Buzássy, Etela Farkašová, Lajos Grendel and Anton Hykisch received the Commemorative awards,” head of the Slovak centre of PEN Ladislav Volko said, as quoted by the TASR newswire.

The award was also granted to Ladislav Ballek, Klára Jarunková and Vincent Šikula in memoriam.

Among the guests at the ceremony were presidents of PEN centres in the other Visegrad Group (V4) countries (the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary), Austria and Ukraine, as well as the former head of the PEN centre in Kenya Philo Ikonya, who currently lives in Austria.

Moreover, during the ceremony Polish Ambassador to Slovakia Tomasz Chłoń awarded Volko with the order of the Officer Cross.

In addition to the ceremony, there was an international regional conference of the PEN clubs titled “Literature in the context of the period: inner and outer spaces of freedom in V4 countries, Austria and Ukraine”.

“It analysed the difficult status of intellectuals in the present, his or her mission in the cyber age and the special mission of PEN centres to protect the authors who are proscribed and imprisoned for their opinion,” Volko said, as quoted by TASR.

Another event held within the PEN celebrations was the literary evening held on December 11 at the Polish Institute in Bratislava. Slovakia was represented by poet, publisher and PEN member Juraj Kuniak who, together with the club, publishes the collections of poetry by PEN members in Slovak and English.

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