by Jean Rafferty It was a senseless death, senseless in the way all sudden deaths are to those left behind, but senseless beyond that for the irony, the waste, the sheer stupidity of it. On 19 th January 2007 in Istanbul, Hrant Dink, editor of Turkish-Armenian newspaper Agos, was gunned down by a young Turkish nationalist […]

“Armenian Whispers” – Worldwide reading to commemorate the centenary of the Armenian Genocide Led by the International Literature Festival Berlin and the Lepsiushaus Potsdam, there will be a worldwide reading on 21st of April from “The Book of Whispers” by Varujan Vosganian to commemorate the centenary of the Armenian Genocide. In addition to remembering the victims of this horrible event, […]

Women on the Edge – Interview with Linda Cracknell What is it about “being on the edge” geographically, socially, emotionally that drew you to the event? The characters I write about are often marginalised or voiceless in some way, or become outsiders by force or choice. The psychological edginess of certain places also really interests […]

[View the story “”Are we still Charlie?” Event 20 Feb 2015″ on Storify]

This column by Scottish PEN’s president Drew Campbell appeared in The National on the 8th of January 2015. Find a digital edition here: http://www.thenational.scot/ and find them on Twitter at @ScotNational Liberty or death? As I suspect many people were when they heard of the murders in Paris yesterday the news was so shocking, so horrifying I was almost at […]

Poets of Protest A number of films for Al Jazeera are made by the (now Edinburgh-based) young Iranian filmmaker, Roxana Vilk. On Wednesday 20 November, she will be presenting and discussing her work at a meeting of the Scottish Poetry Association, that will take place at the Scottish Poetry Library, Canongate, Edinburgh. Dr Mario Relich introduces her work and […]

On Friday 20 September, 2013, the pamphlet Freedom of Expression in the New Scotland, written by Jean Rafferty and Alan Bissett was launched – a joint venture by Scottish PEN and the Saltire Society. In this article, Jean Rafferty describes the process of collaboration and highlights issues raised during the debate at the Saltire Society, […]

  I first met Ragip Zarakolu six years ago, in Istanbul. I was there as part of a team of international observers to watch his trial – for what? I can’t remember the specific charge now, but there are two things the Turkish authorities hate. One is the suggestion that the Kurdish people are an […]