Indian author Arundhati Roy has been awarded the PEN Pinter prize, according to a report in the Guardian. The announcement comes two weeks after Indian authorities confirmed that they would prosecute her for comments she made about Kashmir 14 years ago.
The prize is given annually to a British writer or a writer resident in Great Britain who, in the words of Harold Pinter’s Nobel speech, casts an “unflinching, unswerving” gaze upon the world. British actor and activist Khalid Abdalla, one of the judges for the prize, called Roy a “luminous voice of freedom and justice.”
Roy will receive the prize at a ceremony at the British Library in London in October, where another award will be given to a “Writer of Courage” selected by Roy from a shortlist.
“I am delighted to accept the PEN Pinter prize,” Roy said. “I wish Harold Pinter were with us today to write about the almost incomprehensible turn the world is taking. Since he isn’t, some of us must do our utmost to try to fill his shoes.”
PEN International board member Salil Tripathi published an op-ed in the Guardian last week about the “hounding” of Roy by the Modi regime in India. “Pursuing someone as high-profile as Roy is the government’s way of warning critics that they must not expect anything different,” he wrote. “The sword hangs over the critics; Roy reminds us why the pen must remain mightier than the sword.”
The PEN Pinter Prize was first awarded in 2009. Previous winners include Salman Rushdie, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and Margaret Atwood.
Marion Winik hosts NPR’s The Weekly Reader podcast.
