PEN Pinter prize winner emerges

Khalip was given the prize by the playwright Tom Stoppard on the seventh anniversary of the murder of another crusading journalist, Anna Politkovskaya.British Stoppard hails fortitude of Belarusian reporter arrested for her coverage of Alexander Lukashenko’s regimeThe PEN Pinter prize is awarded annually to two writers – one who is either British or living and […]

Khalip was given the prize by the playwright Tom Stoppard on the seventh anniversary of the murder of another crusading journalist, Anna Politkovskaya.
British Stoppard hails fortitude of Belarusian reporter arrested for her coverage of Alexander Lukashenko’s regime
The PEN Pinter prize is awarded annually to two writers – one who is either British or living and working in the UK, and another “writer of courage”. The latter is selected by the British winner in consultation with the writers at risk team of the writers’ organisation English PEN.
Stoppard, who was announced as the British recipient in August, awarded Khalip on Monday. “I salute her courage and her example; she is the reporter I wanted to be,” he said.
Khalip is a reporter and editor for ‘Novaya Gazeta’, a Russian newspaper known for its critical coverage of Russian political and social affairs. It published the work of Politkovskaya, the Russian journalist who opposed President Vladimir Putin, who was murdered on   October 7, 2006.
“I have to start my short speech with the name of Anna Politkovskaya,” said Khalip. “Seven years ago this day she was killed. She was a courageous journalist, a person who cared and my colleague.”
Jo Glanville, Director of English PEN, said the prize “was inaugurated in memory of Harold Pinter and represents his values and what he considered important; the value of expression”.