The Writers in Exile Network is a project of International P.E.N.
The network works on behalf of writers who have been forced into exile. We provide personal and professional information and guidance to help writers integrate into a safe country. The network has been established by P.E.N. to share and exchange information and experiences, and to raise awareness both locally and internationally about the problems facing exiled writers.
Writers from other countries enrich and invigorate the cultures that take them in. The Writers in Exile Network has been formed in response to the growing number of writers fleeing persecution. Our goals are to both help writers establish themselves in their new environment and to resume their careers. Our needs include establishing and maintaining a data base at a clearing center initially hosted by one of the network members.
Adopted at the International P.E.N. Congress, Moscow, May 2000
While the Writers in Exile Network was formally instituted in the late nineties, International P.E.N. and many of its member Centers, beyond their involvement for imprisoned and persecuted writers worldwide, have a long tradition of assisting colleagues forced into exile and have frequently cooperated in their efforts informally. Practical advice and assistance vary from case to case, from Center to Center, from country to country. The Network will assure closer cooperation and a more intensive exchange of information on exile-related topics among the P.E.N. Centers and should, as a result, widely increase the possiblities and options we can offer to those of our colleagues who are suddenly faced, under duress, with a completely new start in a culture not their own, in a language foreign to them.
It is inconceivable that any writer voluntarily abandons family, friends, home, country, publishing opportunities, readership, and, above all, the culture and language which has shaped his or her writing. But in many parts of the world, harassment and persecution of authors and journalists - for their written or spoken words - have reached a point, where danger and despair leave them no other choice but exile, flight into an unknown future.
Which country will accept them legally? Where will they be able to start all over again, freely and securely? How are they to survive, to find and pay for housing, provide for their own and their families’ living, get help when they are sick, when the traumas of prison, torture, and flight keep on returning? Will they be able to learn a new language well enough to communicate, will they make new friends within the community at large and among their writer colleagues? And then, how will they be able to reestablish themselves in their chosen profession? How will they go on writing? In their mother tongue, without publishing opportunities, without access to their readers, without much hope of seeing their work translated? In a new language they still have to learn?
Since its inception, International P.E.N. and its member Centers on every continent have seen it as their major task to assist endangered and exiled writers. Particularly P.E.N. Centers in Exile, founded in times of mass expulsions of writers and intellectuals from several parts of the world, have been offering, since 1934, an intellectual home for writers expelled from or driven out of their home countries.
Almost every Center and large numbers of individual members have answered the calls for help from their colleagues in distress, have given personal guidance and practical assistance, have intervened with the authorities, made contact with social agencies, dug up temporary or longer-term scholarships, arranged for legal and medical advice, and generally have done all in their power to encourage and facilitate the personal and professional integration of their exiled colleagues in a world foreign to them.
Many factors will decide on the legal status that writers driven into exile will be able to acquire in their host country. While writers and journalists forced to leave their country may more easily be able to prove that they have been persecuted for political reasons, they are affected by the same laws as all refugees. Immigration laws, legal provisions for granting refugee status, and asylum procedures vary from country to country. In the majority of countries, however, special consideration is given to close relatives of legal residents, i.e. of persons already granted refugee or resident status, who have the right to be reunited with their family, refugees from areas at war or countries involved in civil war, and political refugees.
Legal Immigration: In countries traditionally accepting foreign nationals for immigration, i.e. The United States of America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand etc., immigration rules and procedures have long been laid down in law. In those countries, exiles are normally only admitted as permanent residents, temporary residence permits are not granted.
Temporary or permanent residency: Among the nations not traditionally considered countries of immigration, but now faced with an increasing influx of migrants and refuge seekers, some are, as in the case of Germany, considering formal adoption of some type of immigration legislation. In the meantime these countries have developed other means of accommodating refugees: by granting them temporary political asylum, short-term, long-term, or permanent residency. This holds true for many parts of the world, as well as for a majority of European countries.
Political Asylum: In the European context, given the geographical proximity of such a large number of nation states, deciding on which country to turn to, where to ask for refugee status, or whether to initiate asylum procedures, is a particularly complicated and tricky matter.
Ever since the Dublin Convention and the Schengen Agreement, both of 1990, there does exist some common legal framework for the granting of asylum together with a number of procedural rules binding for all signatories.
In order to avoid asylum seekers - political refugees from a country considered "unsafe" - being passed on from one signatory state to another, only one state is authorized to accept a request for asylum. That is, asylum must be applied for in the first of the member states entered by the asylum seeker. If an asylum seeker arrives in one country, but has been granted a visa by another, the country issuing the visa is the one responsible and must carry out the asylum proceedings. If several countries have issued visas, the country whose visa expires last is responsible for doing so.
In most cases, a refugee entering a European country with a visitor’s visa will be denied asylum and may be required to return to the country of departure or origin before reentering at a later date to reapply for asylum.
In case a refugee has entered any of the European countries illegally, the country from where the refugee crossed the border is held responsible and is the one to decide on the status of the refugee. Continuing the journey to another country is forbidden after illegal entry. Anyone entering illegally from a country that has not signed the Dublin Convention and Schengen Agreement will usually be deported back to that country or to his or her home country.
Sponsored Entry: While in some countries, like the USA and Canada, private, corporate, institutional, or state sponsorship assures exiles permanent residency, this option scarcely exists in other parts of the world. In many places in Europe, for instance, any official scholarship or grant will but help to procure a limited permit of residence which expires when the scholarship or grant comes to an end.
Immigrants: In most countries, legal immigrants and persons granted refugee status carry many of the same responsibilities and enjoy many of the same privileges as resident nationals, i.e. they are expected to provide for themselves or - if in need - they have access to the same social support system. Beyond the difficulties inherent in adjusting and integrating into a foreign culture, immigrant writers and journalists, when competing in the literary marketplace, invariably face the same challenges as their native colleagues, few of whom can live from their writing alone, but have to accept other types of employment to provide for themselves and their families.
Asylum seekers:Asylum seekers are in a different position. In many parts of the world, including Europe, asylum proceedings may drag on for several years – in some cases for up to 5 years. During this time, refugees are not usually free to choose, where and how they live. At best, they are provided with living space in rental rooms, often however in shelters or barrack-style housing supported by the state or local authorities who also provide them with a minimum welfare allowance, basic health care, and money (or stamps) for food and clothing. Family members may be separated and accommodated in several different parts of one country And in many instances, they are not allowed to work and earn their own keep during a part of or the entire period their status is under review. Their mobility is limited, that is they are not allowed to travel either within their country of refuge or outside it without official permission.
Sponsored Entry: It may be assumed that for exiles who are in the advantaged position of arriving under permanent sponsorship, the problem of financial support, if needed, has been solved, at least initially. Those who have been able to obtain a temporary stipend, grant, or scholarship will be able to survive financially during the period covered by the grant. Afterwards, if a safe return to their home country should not be possible, if they do not have the chance of applying for refugee status or asylum, they will have to explore any other option, i.e try to find a safe refuge in another country.
P.E.N. Centers with a Membership Composed Exclusively or to Some Considerable Degree of Writers in Exile:
Since its inception, the Center for Writers-in-Exile - American Branch, one of 3 branches existing and founded in 1952, has been able to offer advice on many levels. While the Center cannot provide financial assistance due to its small size and the enormous area it covers, it has been assigning individual "compatriots" to newly arriving exiled colleagues. These will help in all questions of readjustment, i.e. in personal (bureaucratic, medical, and other) matters, but also in professional ways (by facilitating cultural integration, contacts with publishers, etc.).
The Center of Chinese-Speaking Writers Abroad (formerly known as the Chinese Writers Abroad Center in New York, founded in the mid-1970s and reorganized in 1993) is mostly composed of long-time citizens and residents of the United States. Less than one-fourth of attending members are exiles. Most members have to engage in professions to make a living. The Center does not receive financial support and is entirely financed by membership dues and donations from members. Personal and professional assistance to exiles is provided through personal contact with senior members of the Center and close contacts with Chinese human rights groups. Besides lobbying on behalf of their exiled colleagues wherever possible, the Center has sponsored poetry readings and panel discussions on exile literature.
P.E.N. Canada in Toronto set up a formal Writers in Exile Committee in 1997. In its Handbook for Writers & Other Literary Professionals Living in Exile in Canada published in its second edition in March of 2000, P.E.N. Canada offers a wealth of general information, practical advice, and useful tips and addresses relating to the workings of the Canadian literary marketplace, while outlining the ways in which Canadian P.E.N. can assist newly arriving colleagues.
An exiled writer entering the country with the assistance of P.E.N. Canada, if arriving as a state-sponsored refugee, will be provided by the Canadian government with a living allowance for one year and with basic furniture, will be met at the airport and taken to temporary housing. Winter clothing is supplied if necessary. A member of Canadian P.E.N. will act as liaison with the organization, help to get the documents needed to live and work in the country, advise about finding an apartment and schools for the children, about finding a job during or after the sponsored year, about where to get the intensive English-language training vital to find a job. In addition, a member of P.E.N. Canada is available to offer detailed advice about publication in Canada, help writers draw up a publication plan, advise on translation, help to make contact with a translator, etc. P.E.N. Canada offers letters of introduction to be included with submissions to literary magazines, publishers, and agents. Occasionally the Center holds workshops or readings in which exiled writers are presented to the public, or is able to place a colleague as "exiled writer in residence" at a Canadian college.
Exiled writers arriving independently, without P.E.N. Canada’s assistance, are welcome to become a member of the organization. However, since P.E.N. Canada is a small organization, it is unfortunately unable to offer these writers the direct assistance given to the first group of colleagues and must refer them to resettlement agencies.
Swedish P.E.N. formally established a Writers in Exile Committee in the spring of 2000. For years, the Center has, on an ad hoc basis, intervened to help writers in exile in Sweden by facilitating contacts with lawyers, monitoring individual cases, lobbying in asylum-related matters, and occasionally putting pressure on the authorities: since - as in most European countries- refugee laws in Sweden, though in conformity with international instruments in this field, are often interpreted very narrowly by the authorities. While exiled writers have access to the same support mechanisms available to refugees in general, Swedish P.E.N. is able to furnish special means of support through the annual Tucholsky Award (funded by the Ministry of Culture, but independently administered by Swedish P.E.N.) which affords a writer a period of tranquility to write. Since 1998, the City of Stockholm, on a yearly basis, has been offering a sanctuary to an exiled writer by providing housing and a monthly salary. This project is realized in close cooperation with the Center. Very rarely, Swedish P.E.N. has been able to arrange private funding for individual writers in need. In addition, Swedish writers as well as writers in exile are able to apply to the Swedish Writers Fund for scholarships and a "guaranteed minimum salary." While assistance in matters of health, security, and language learning is available under the auspices of the Swedish State, a refugee has to apply for private funding to get access to torture and trauma assessments which are often used as evidence in the asylum process. In 1999, Swedish P.E.N. initiated a monthly event called "the Waterhole," where Swedish and immigrant writers and artists meet with the public. As everywhere in a competitive literary market, Swedish PE.N. has very limited chances of promoting publications in a foreign language or in translation, but will inform and advise by giving information on people or organizations able to assist.
In 1999, German P.E.N. was entrusted by the newly instituted German Minister of State for Culture with the implementation of a writers in exile program. With the money provided by the German authorities, German P.E.N. has been able to accommodate total of so far fourteen exiled writers and journalists in five cities around the country. German P.E.N. rented and furnished the apartments, pays health and other insurance, and is able to provide a monthly sum for living expenses. In one special case, security arrangements were also provided and paid for.
The scholarships are granted for a year at a time, but may be extended beyond that limit, if a safe return home or independent integration into German life is out of the question as yet. Wherever possible, P.E.N. members assist the P.E.N. office in Darmstadt acting as advisor, trouble-shooter, and support system. A number of other cities are in the process of linking up with the P.E.N. program on an associate basis to profit from P.E.N.’s practical expertise and reputation, while independently financing accommodation, living expenses as well as health insurance.
The writers and journalists currently in the program are urged to learn German so that they can be more easily integrated into the cultural life around them. Wherever possible, German P.E.N. includes them in its activities, tries to have them invited to outside events, discussions, workshops, and readings, and generally involves them in its publicity campaigns on writers in prison and writers in exile issues. A German-language brochure published at the end of 2000 will present the six writers and journalists with a ten-page excerpt of their writing and a short profile on each one of them, for added publicity and, so it is hoped, as a means of interesting translators and publishers to do more. A new brochure is in preperation.
In its efforts for writers in exile, German P.E.N. also profits from close contacts with some other organizations involved in assisting persecuted writers and journalists, from intermittant cooperation with private and state-financed institutions and foundations offering scholarships or retreats, where writers and translators are able to work in peace for a period at a time. And, of course, the work is also greatly enhanced by consultation with other European P.E.N. Centers with whom there is an on-going informal exchange of information and cooperation.
In spite of everything P.E.N. Centers around the world have been able to achieve and do on behalf of their colleagues in exile, the challenges that remain are numerous and various. And we have to keep in mind that the problems will increase. More and more, those who raise their voice for democracy and free expression in totalitarian countries are faced with restrictions, harassment, prison sentences, torture, even death threats. Moreover, the patterns of persecution have been greatly changing in the last decade. In many countries around the globe, secret services, militias, mafia structures, drug cartels, civil war parties, warlords and economic interests are competing for power with the central government and, to a degree hitherto inconceivable, have been taking the law into their own hands. The high number of writers and journalists being physically threatened, assaulted or murdered attests to the fact that writing against violence and injustice has become an everyday threat to life and limb. And state authorities either take this development in stride, because they lack the means to protect the victims and bring the perpetrators to justice, or they make use of these elements for their own purposes. A large number of our persecuted colleagues have little choice but to flee and start all over again in a foreign country. While temporary refuge options may help to save a writer from immediate danger, for a few months or a year, where will he or she go afterwards? How is anyone able to adjust or find a bearing in a foreign surrounding within such short a period of time? While long-term arrrangements do exist in a some countries, they are few and far between in others, and, particularly on the European continent, exile for many writers is becoming a succession of short stays in one country after another.
The greatest chances of helping to alleviate the situation for many exiled writers lie in a constant exchange of information and close cooperation among the Centers of International P.E.N. Our success, however, does also depend on increased efforts at networking with national and international organizations which assist refugee writers and journalists on increased lobbying for fair and liberal laws of access to our so-called safe countries, for a fair and liberal interpretation of the legal frameworks that do exist, and for fair and liberal assistance from every quarter of our societies.
Prepared by Karin Clark, German P.E.N. Center
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