Writing Home: A Scottish PEN initiative to mark Refugee Week (June 15th to 21st 2009)

Scottish PEN has invited poetry and prose from refugees, asylum seekers, and those whose first language is not English to appear alongside the work of a few professional writers who are members of Scottish PEN in an on-line showcase to mark Refugee Week. The writing, inspired by the theme of 'Home', will be posted on both the Scottish Refugee Council and Scottish PEN websites from 15th June 2009.

The collection which has resulted from our invitation provides an introduction to some new writers in Scotland, and reminders of well-known names. This has been an opportunity to highlight the range of writing and writers living in Scotland in a very practical way. We've been especially pleased to encourage the kind of collaboration that enables work from writers for whom English is not their first language to reach a wider readership, and are grateful to those who worked with writers to translate their work. Read this interview on the Scottish Book Trust website to understand how this process worked between Kusay Hussein and Sue Reid Sexton.

Plans are now underway for a regular Scottish PEN on-line literary magazine which will appear on a different theme later this year.