De PEN International Award for Freedom of Expression 2021 is deze week gegaan naar de Zimbabwaanse auteur Tsitsi Dangarembga. Vorig jaar stond This Mournable Body van Tsitsi Dangarembga op de shortlist van de Booker Prize. De toekenning werd bekendgemaakt tijdens het festival Winternachten.

Over haar werk zei PEN International President Jennifer Clement:
Her brave work as a writer, filmmaker and activist in Zimbabwe was once again in the spotlight last year when she was arrested for anti-corruption protests. Dangarembga’s work centres on the lack of freedoms for women in Zimbabwe’s patriarchal world. Her debut novel Nervous Conditions became the very first published English novel by a black woman from Zimbabwe. I am particularly delighted to give the award to Tsitsi today, a special day which marks the 50th’s anniversary of the PEN Emergency Fund, an international fund for writers in dire straits of which we are extremely proud.

Tsitsi Dangarembga over haar werk en activisme:

Zie hier voor meer informatie.