Arundhati Roy awarded PEN Pinter Prize for being ‘luminous voice of freedom’

Arundhati Roy has been awarded the PEN Pinter Prize 2024 for being, as member of the judging panel Khalid Abdalla said, “a luminous voice of freedom and justice whose words have come with fierce clarity and determination for almost 30 years now.

The prize is awarded annually to a writer of outstanding literary merit resident in the UK, the Republic of Ireland or the Commonwealth who, in the words of Harold Pinter’s Nobel Prize in Literature speech, casts an “unflinching, unswerving” gaze upon the world and shows a “fierce intellectual determination […] to define the real truth of our lives and our societies”. Last year’s winner was Michael Rosen, and Malorie Blackman won in 2022.

Roy will receive the award in a ceremony co-hosted by the British Library on 10th October 2024, where she will deliver an address. The prize will be shared with a Writer of Courage: a writer who is active in defence of freedom of expression, often at great risk to their own safety and liberty. The co-winner, selected by Arundhati Roy from a shortlist of cases supported by English PEN, will be announced at the event on 10 October 2024.

Roy was chosen as the 2024 PEN Pinter Prize winner in April 2024 by this year’s judges: chair of English PEN Ruth Borthwick; actor and activist Khalid Abdalla and writer and musician Roger Robinson.

Borthwick said: “Our congratulations to Arundhati Roy on winning the PEN Pinter Prize 2024. Roy tells urgent stories of injustice with wit and beauty. While India remains an important focus, she is truly an internationalist thinker, and her powerful voice is not to be silenced.”

Abdalla commented: “Her books, her writings, the spirit with which her life is lived, have been a lodestar through the many crises and the darkness our world has faced since her first book, The God of Small Things. This year, as the world faces the deep histories that have created this moment in Gaza, our need for writers who are ‘unflinching and unswerving’ has been immense. In honouring Arundhati Roy this year, we are celebrating both the dignity of her body of work and the timeliness of her words, that arrive with the depth of her craft exactly when we need them most.”

Roger Robinson added: “Arundhati Roy was the unanimous choice for this prestigious award, a testament to her unparalleled contribution to literature. Her vast body of work, encompassing both fiction and non-fiction, has not only captivated readers worldwide, but also consistently focused on themes of social justice.

"Roy’s incisive commentary on issues ranging from environmental degradation to human rights abuses demonstrates her commitment to advocating for the marginalized and challenging the status quo. Her unique voice and unwavering dedication to these causes make her a deserving recipient of this honour."

Roy said: “I am delighted to accept the PEN Pinter prize. I wish Harold Pinter were with us today to write about the almost incomprehensible turn the world is taking. Since he isn’t, some of us must do our utmost to try to fill his shoes.”