What’s the News?

British children’s writer and performance poet Michael Rosen, 77, has been awarded the prestigious PEN Pinter Prize 2023.

PEN Pinter Prize

• The PEN Pinter Prize is a prestigious award named in honour and memory of English writer Harold Pinter
• Launched in 2009 by English PEN, is given to a writer who reflects a “fierce intellectual determination (to) define the real truth of our lives and our societies,”.
• It was inspired by Pinter’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech in 2005, titled “Art, Truth and Politics”, in which he spoke about the role of the writer as a “citizen of the world” who questions and exposes the lies of power.

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• This award is open for writers from the UK, Ireland or the Commonwealth for upholding freedom of expression, even it means to risk their own safety, in their works.
• The prize aims to recognise writers who use their words to defend the dignity and rights of others.
• The winner must the author of a significant body of plays, poetry, essays, or fiction of outstanding literary merit, written in English.
• Past recipients of the prestigious award include Hanif Kureishi, Lemn Sissay, and Malorie Blackman.

Michael Rosen’s work:

• Rosen is known for his accessible poetry for children and his themes often touch on social, political, and ethical issues.
• He has published over 140 books and has championed a style of writing that reflects children’s everyday worlds and validates their imaginative thinking.