More than 1,000 writers including Briton Salman Rushdie, Canadian Margaret Atwood and Turkish Nobel literature laureates Orhan Pamuk and Belarusian Svetlana Alexievitch expressed their solidarity with Ukraine and called for an end to the invasion of the country.
In an open letter published Sunday evening by the world association of writers PEN International, these authors say they are “appalled by the violence unleashed by Russian forces against Ukraine” and “call urgently for an end to the outpouring of blood “.
“We are united in the condemnation of a senseless war”
“We are united in condemning a senseless war, caused by President Putin’s refusal to accept the right of the Ukrainian people to discuss their future direction and history without interference from Moscow,” they write in this open letter also published in Russian and Ukrainian.
“We are united to support writers, journalists, artists, and all the Ukrainian people, who are living their darkest hours,” add these personalities, who also include Filipino journalist Maria Ressa, Nobel Peace Prize winner, and the Russian novelist Lyudmila Oulitskaïa.