The writer, sociologist and feminist Pinar Selek has lived in exile in France since 2011. Like many other writers, she has been persecuted by the Turkish authorities through prolonged legal harassment.
"As someone who grew up with the experience of fascism and with an uncompromising opposition to war and defence of the sanctity of thought, this light shines on me today at a time when arrogant power crushes critical thinking to the point of normalising the unbearable," Selek says in a press release.
The prize has been awarded by Svenska Pen since 1985 to a persecuted or exiled writer or journalist who has worked for freedom of expression. It is awarded on November 15 in Stockholm.
