Tsitsi Dangarembga, the Booker-shortlisted Zimbabwean writer who was arrested last year in Harare while protesting against corruption, has been awarded the PEN Pinter prize, praised for her “ability to capture and communicate vital truths even amidst times of upheaval”. The prize is given by free speech campaigners English PEN in memory of the Nobel laureate Harold Pinter. Tsitsi Dangarembga (centre) and a colleague Julie Barnes are arrested during an anti-corruption protest in July 2020 in Harare. Her case has not progressed, and free speech organisations, along with her fellow writers, have called for the charges against her to be dropped. “I am grateful that my casting – in the words of Harold Pinter – an ‘unflinching, unswerving gaze’ upon my country and its society has resonated with many people across the globe and this year with the jury of the PEN Pinter prize,” said Dangarembga.

Source: The Guardian June 08, 2021 10:41 UTC