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English PEN is establishing a new literary prize in honour of the dramatist Harold Pinter. The PEN/Pinter Prize will be awarded annually to a British writer or a writer resident in Britain of outstanding literary merit who, in the words of Harold Pinter’s Nobel 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".
The winner will receive a cheque for £1,000, and a limited-edition bound copy of their speech, donated by Faber & Faber. A further £1,000 will be awarded to an imprisoned writer of conscience selected by the winner in consultation with English PEN’s Writers in Prison Committee.
The inaugural PEN/Pinter Prize is being judged by the President of English PEN, Lisa Appignanesi, Pinter’s widow and former President of English PEN, Antonia Fraser, playwright Tom Stoppard, broadcaster Mark Lawson and the Artistic Director of the National Theatre, Nicholas Hytner. It will be presented on 14th October at the British Library.
Pinter was a Vice President of English PEN and active in the organisation’s campaigns on behalf of imprisoned or persecuted writers. Fraser said: "I am delighted to support this prize in Harold's name, which celebrates his long association with English PEN and recognises the courage of writers, both in this country and overseas, who, like him, have made a principled stand for writers’ freedoms."