Margaret Atwood has written to Asli Erdoğan on her 91st day behind bars to tell the imprisoned Turkish novelist that her “words still shape the fight for freedom and the right to free expression”. The Canadian Booker prize winner is one of a group of authors sending messages of solidarity to five writers currently in prisons around the world. PEN said that in the 12 months since last year’s event, at least 35 writers have been killed for their work. They will continue to hope for you, and they will not stop working for you until you are free,” wrote Atwood. “Writers are the conscience-keepers of society; they must remain free – their place is not in prison, but with pen and paper, with typewriters, with their keyboards.

Source: The Guardian November 15, 2016 00:01 UTC