Roundtable Discussion: Day of the Imprisoned Writer

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Writers in prison should have been a phrase entering extinction after the death of fascism at the end of World War II. Instead, there are more incarcerated writers in the world today than at perhaps anytime since WWII. From the famous cases of Alaa Abd El-Fattah in Egypt and Narges Mohammadi in Iran, to the little-known poets & writers in jail across the globe, PEN International marks November 15th each year as The Day of the Imprisoned Writer.

Join novelists Ahdaf Soueif and Maaza Mengiste with writers Mina Thabet from PEN International and Jordan Elgrably from The Markaz Review on Wednesday, November 13th at 1pm EST/ 7pm CET, as we discuss what can be done to put an end to the incarceration of writers, and the persecution of freedom of expression.

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About the speakers:

Ahdaf Soueif is the author of – among other titles – the bestselling The Map of Love (shortlisted for the Booker Prize and translated into more than 30 languages), the well-loved In the Eye of the Sun (1993) and Cairo: a City Transformed, her account of the Egyptian revolution of 2011. As a translator, her rendering of Mourid Barghouti’s I Saw Ramallah has become a classic. As a political and cultural commentator, her Mezzaterra (2004) has been influential and her articles for the Guardian are published in the European and American press. From 2011 to 2015 she wrote a weekly column for the Egyptian national daily, al-Shorouk. In 2007 Ms Soueif founded the Palestine Festival of Literature – PalFest, which takes place in the cities of occupied Palestine and Gaza. Ms Soueif has been awarded four honorary doctorates and was the first recipient of the Mahmoud Darwish Award (Palestine) in 2010. In 2019 she received the European Cultural Foundation’s Princess Margaret Award. Twitter: @asoueif • FaceBook: Ahdaf Soueif.

Maaza Mengiste is the author of The Shadow King, shortlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize, and a recipient of the American Academy of Arts & Letters Award in Literature. It was named a Best Book of 2019 by New York Times, NPR, Time, Elle, and other publications. Beneath the Lion’s Gaze, her debut, was selected by the Guardian as one of the 10 best contemporary African books. Maaza has been awarded fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, DAAD, the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers, and the Fulbright Scholar Program.

Mina Thabet is a UK-based writer, researcher and human rights expert focusing on the Middle East and North Africa. He is the head of the MENA region for PEN International and has been covering issues of freedom of expression and the challenges writers face across the region. He has also worked with minority communities in the region to combat discrimination and violence against religious and ethnic minorities and promote diverse cultures, languages, and religious freedoms.

Jordan Elgrably is an American, French and Moroccan writer and translator whose stories and creative nonfiction have appeared in many anthologies and reviews, including Apulée, Salmagundi, and the Paris Review. Editor-in-chief and founder of The Markaz Review, he is the cofounder and former director of the Levantine Cultural Center/The Markaz in Los Angeles (2001–2020). He is the editor of Stories From the Center of the World: New Middle East Fiction (City Lights, 2024), and co-editor with Malu Halasa of Sumūd: a New Palestinian Reader (Seven Stories, 2025), Based in Montpellier, France and California, he tweets @JordanElgrably.

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This online event is free to the public. Donations are welcome to support The Markaz Review.