On December 2, a meeting between Oleksandr Tkachenko, Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, with Suzanne Nossel, Chief Executive Officer of PEN America and the organization’s team took place at MCIP. The organization presented a study on the impact of russian aggression on culture in Ukraine.
“russian aggression brought a lot of suffering to the Ukrainian people. With particular brutality, russians destroy everything that identifies us as Ukrainians: cultural heritage, cultural institutions, libraries, museums, theaters, churches. We strive to unite artists from all over the world to prevent russian aggression, not only military, but cultural and propaganda,” said Oleksandr Tkachenko, Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine.
Oleksandr Tkachenko offered PEN America to support important things for Ukraine, namely:
- to support sanctions against representatives of russia and remove them from participation in international cultural events, if they did not make public statements in which they directly and unequivocally condemned the act of military aggression of the russian federation and the outbreak of war against Ukraine;
- to terminate any ties with any organizations or institutions of the russian Federation, which are even partially financed by the russian government;
- to suspend the implementation of cultural projects in which the russian federation participates, including projects implemented with the sponsorship of russian companies;
- to stop activities of russian cultural centers located abroad;
- to popularize culture and support activities of representatives of Ukrainian culture and art, in particular writers and translators, in Ukraine and abroad through participation in joint art projects, creative residencies and mobility programs;
- to support the “Ukrainian Book Institute”, the purpose of which is to support book publishing, popularize reading, stimulate translation activities and popularize Ukrainian literature in the world;
- to support restoration of damaged libraries.
PEN America is a nationwide community of more than 7,500 novelists, journalists, nonfiction authors, editors, poets, essayists, playwrights, publishers, translators, agents, and other writing professionals, as well as dedicated readers and supporters who join the organization, to fulfill the unification mission.
It should be reminded, PEN America is the largest of more than 100 centers around the world that make up the PEN International network. The organization defends the right of authors to spread ideas and express views, and works to ensure that people everywhere have the freedom to create literature, communicate information and have access to views, ideas and literature.
