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| Amanuel Asrat | |
Amanuel Asrat, the Eritrean poet, critic and editor-in-chief of the newspaper Zemen, has been named this year's recipient of the PEN International Writer of Courage award. Presented to a writer who has been persecuted for speaking out about their beliefs, the honor was announced by 2020 PEN Pinter Prize winner Linton Kwesi Johnson. Asrat is also the first featured writer in PENWrites--English PEN's international letter-writing campaign in solidarity with writers in prison and at risk around the world.
An award-winning poet and songwriter whose work detailed the daily life of the underprivileged, and explored themes of war and peace, Asrat co-founded a grassroots literary club, Saturday's Supper, in 2001. He was also editor-in-chief of Zemen, the leading literary newspaper in Eritrea. On September 23, 2001, he was arrested, alongside the editors of all privately owned newspapers, and has been incommunicado since. English PEN noted that Asrat "is believed to be among the few surviving journalists arrested in 2001, detained in the purpose-built maximum-security prison Eiraeiro."
Johnson commented: "Keeping a citizen incarcerated, incommunicado, without charge or trial for nearly 20 years is the kind of egregious brutality that we associate with totalitarian states and dictatorships. As a gesture of solidarity from a poet of the African diaspora, I have chosen the Eritrean poet, songwriter, critic, and journalist Amanuel Asrat as the Writer of Courage for 2020."
Accepting the honor on behalf of his brother, Daniel Mebrahtu said, "Many thanks to English PEN and Mr. Linton Kwesi-Johnson.... We wish Amanuel was aware of this prize and honor somehow. We ask the international community to intervene in his case and other prisoners of conscience in Eritrea, and demand their immediate release. Thank you for the recognition, for your thoughts and prayers. Thank you for your constant support. We really appreciate it."