Freedom to Write

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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Tonight, PEN America, the organization that promotes literature and human rights, especially the right to free expression, gives out its annual awards with an in-person celebration, as long as you're vaccinated, and have a negative test, and already have your tickets, they're at full capacity. The Freedom to Write award goes to imprisoned artists, and this year the three winners are incarcerated in their home country of Iran, for their writing, and their opposition to censorship.

The man who will present the award knows their plight well and has been on the receiving end of a PEN campaign to free him. Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, the poet, playwright and novelist, suffered imprisonment and exile in his fight for Nigerian democracy, a fight he waged sometimes through literature, sometimes through direct action. He joins us now, along with Suzanne Nossel, the CEO of PEN America. I'll mention that Wole Soyinka also just released his first novel since the 1970s. It's called Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth. We'll talk about that, too. So glad to have both of you on. Welcome to WNYC today. Hello.

Suzanne Nossel: Thank you, Brian, and happy birthday.

Wole Soyinka: Very good.

Brian: Thank you. Suzanne, we'll start with you. What can you tell us about these three Iranian writers who our listeners, most of them are not familiar with, Baktash Abtin, a writer and filmmaker, Keyvan Bajan, novelist and journalist, and Reza Khandan Mahabadi. They've been in prison for a year now, under what circumstances?

Suzanne: Sure. They are, all three of them, leaders, in the Iranian Writers Association, which is a group that was created decades ago for the express purpose of fighting against censorship in Iran and elevating literary voices. They were part of a commemoration at a gravesite of a distinguished Iranian writer, and were picked up and have been accused of state subversion on the basis of their writing and their coordination of this organization. They've stood very firm. They're very brave to step into the shoes of leadership in this organization because those that have been behind, have been targeted and menaced by the regime for many, many years.

Brian: Maybe worth saying that they aren't just in prison, they're in prison during the COVID pandemic, and two of them have caught it.

Suzanne: Yes, that's right. The conditions of being in prison are notoriously harsh with poor medical care, often torture, very crowded. It's been a particularly dangerous time to be on the inside.

Brian: Mr. Soyinka, you were imprisoned, for those of our listeners who don't know your story, for over two years after the military seized power in Nigeria in 1967. Would you like to start with maybe a big thought about why governments fear writers?

Mr. Soyinka: I think it has to do with the perennial struggle between power and freedom, and those on the end of that axis, or the power end of that axis, realize that on the other end, the most articulate, at least they use means of words, that includes pamphleteering, publications of even big tomes, spell out ideas, able to layout alternative approaches to the management of human beings, which power believes is its own sole property. It's a kind of professional envy and suspicion, which in the people, which they claim to do, and then the writers who reach the people, the citizen, direct through all kinds of manipulation of the spoken word.

Brian: I'm curious if you knew that PEN was advocating for your release back when you were being held?

Mr. Soyinka: Oh, you mean the spell which would you mentioned under the dictatorship of a General Gowon?

Brian: Yes.

Mr. Soyinka: Yes, after being sealed up tight, no communication anywhere for months, months, I eventually managed to make a breach. I even had some letters, which had been written, copies had been written to the government. I knew that the outside world was not abandoning me. It gave quite a lot of comfort that one wasn't totally inured for life. At least people were reaching out. It was a great boost.

Brian: A great boost and comfort I imagine. Suzanne Nossel, what success do you think these awards and campaigns have in freeing imprisoned artist's, awards like you're giving out tonight?

Suzanne: Sure, it's powerful to hear Wole say that, because one of the things we do every year at the gala is we actually have people right on site in the room, pick up a pen and paper, and write a little letter to our honorees. We collect all of those and we do everything possible to deliver them to their families, and sometimes they hear about them when they're in prison, or if they're furloughed ever, they see them. I always hear that it does provide an enormous amount of comfort.

For us, we will be mounting a global campaign, as we do every year with petitions, letters, engagement with governments here in our own country, in Washington, around the world, with international institutions, with the media. We mobilize writers, and it's a full-court press to raise the cost of keeping these individuals in prison, to try to pave the way so that if there are any openings, any kind of bargaining that gets underway, that they are part of the paradigm.

We've had a lot of success, overwhelmingly actually, our honorees for the Freedom to Write award, have been released within an average of about 18 months of receiving this recognition. I think in part, because of the global campaign that is waged on their behalf.

Brian: Mr. Soyinka, there's a story, maybe apocryphal, that you were released because someone high up in the government was a fan of the then PEN president, Arthur Miller's wife, one Marilyn Monroe. Any truth to that?

Mr. Soyinka: Are you talking about apocryphal narrative, aren't you, about the dictator heard? Well, Arthur Miller was, of course, president of PEN at the time, I believe, and he wrote a very powerful petition.

Brian: The playwright.

Mr. Soyinka: Did I get your question correct?

Brian: Yes.

Mr. Soyinka: Okay, I'm glad to sure I'm on the same track.

Brian: Go ahead.

Mr. Soyinka: Sorry. The story goes that when the general, the dictator, got a letter and asked, "Who is this writer? What's PEN International?", and so on. One of his colleagues, the Supreme Military Council said, "Oh, he is one who married Marilyn Monroe." So far, so true. The part of it, which however fascinating, and which, in fact, I love that story, unfortunately, just isn't true. That Gowon then said, "Ah, the husband of Marilyn Monroe? Release that prisoner." No, it didn't quite work that way. It's still nothing like that took place. It still took quite a few months, but the pressure continued from PEN International, Amnesty International, from all corners of the world, all organizations, even some religious organizations.

I went through the mail bags that got waiting for me when I came out. Among them, I still remember one letter, it was from somebody in the Ukraine who addressed that letter to me through the government, and they were all spread out before me. Yes, I would like to believe that story, but I checked when I came out. I said, "Really, you people you mean you're so soft, you like to say you're tough that you actually fell for a diva like Marilyn Monroe?', and then they narrated what actually happened. No, it wasn't as easy, as simple as that I'm afraid.

Brian: You've cleared that one up for the record. More recently in history, when you were teaching at Emory University, which you did for many years, I read that you tore up your green card when Donald Trump was elected president. Is that one true?

Mr. Soyinka: If you go back-- it's true, I cut it out. In fact, I can tell you the exact day when I did. Very shortly, it's going to be the fourth year anniversary, I think, because I tore it up on, not Independence Day, Thanksgiving Day. We were all seated around the table. I was living in Atlanta at the time with my family, was seated around the table. I'm not a great one for Thanksgiving or anything of this sort. I suppose I decided that I should contribute something to myself on that day, and since I'd said I would tear the damn thing up. I took a pair of scissors. Couldn't tear it, it's very hard. I kept it in four pieces, which I still guard until today.

The reason was that there was such racist rhetoric in Donald Trump's campaign. I watched, and I saw that he was empowering the extreme right wing, the bigoted, the real hardhead of society, who were very often the enemies of democracy and freedom, the bullies. There was such a sharp rise in extrajudicial killing during Donald Trump's, by police. It was almost as if they already felt they were being given license to kill. I watched, I listened, and I said, "If this man becomes president of the United States, I change my membership of this society away from permanent residence." That's all. Elementary as that.

Brian: You changed your status, not just symbolically tore up your green card, but you are here in the country now. Did the Biden administration give you a replacement copy or something like that?

Mr. Soyinka: I've been here before, by the way, it is what I changed, what I abandoned was permanent residence. I didn't want to pay my taxes here. I didn't want to be a quasi-citizen, which I was, I was a permanent resident. I really just wanted to break. I said during the time when Trump presided about this nation, I just didn't want to be associated with the United States, but something happened, very interesting.

How I hate conspiracy theorists, but some things are too neat for one to ignore completely. Shortly after this act, I got a letter from the IRS, they wanted to audit me, and this then became a real war. I was back in Nigeria, so I wrote a note to the embassy I said, "Listen, I already left your country. Why are you people bothering me? Can I have have one of those other kinds of visa, so I can return and let the United States IRS know that I'm not a tax dodger." I got another visa, not permanent resident, and I actually have been in the States a couple of times since I tore up my green card, but for the briefest time possible. The IRS took its its pound of flesh thoroughly I must tell you, really soaked me.

Maybe a coincidence, but things which they used to allow before suddenly they were no longer allowed. Said, "Mr. Soyinka, no, go and bring these papers." I brought these papers. "Mr. Soyinka, unless we can have--" oh, it was weary, so I paid them everything what they demanded and quit.

Brian: Very interesting. Listeners, we can take one or two phone calls in our remaining time. For anything you always wanted to ask Wole Soyinka and never had him over to dinner, or Suzanne Nossel the president of the PEN America Center. They're giving out their annual awards for writers tonight. We'll get back to more of what that's about in a second, 646-435-7280, 646-435-7280, if you want to give a quick call and ask a question.

Suzanne, maybe you can tell us about the other major award, the Courage Award, at your event tonight. We've had some of the past winners on the show, Anita Hill and the young anti-gun activists from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. Tonight, I see are honoring two public health officials who are among the first to order lockdowns during the early days of the pandemic. Tell us about them.

Suzanne: Sure. We're honoring Gail Newel and Mimi Hall, who are from Santa Cruz, California, and they're really emblematic of local health officials, medical professionals across the country who have come under fire for doing their jobs over the last 18 months, standing up for the science, giving credible public health advice, speaking out in the face of conspiracy theories, threats, attacks, targeting of their families. It's a pattern that we've seen all over the country. I don't think any of us thought of doctors having to be particularly courageous in carrying out their work, but they really have found themselves on the front lines of this culture war battle over disinformation and the politicization of the pandemic.

It's affected all of our lives, looking at the death toll here in the US, and the relatively slow pace in terms of getting back to normal, getting everybody vaccinated. We wanted to lift up this issue and underscore the courage of Gail and Mimi, and so many others across the country, who have stood up in the face of really harsh attacks on people who are professionals who are trying to keep all of us safe.

Brian: Let's take a phone call. John in the Bronx, you're on WNYC. Hi, John.

John: Thank you so much, Brian, this is my first time calling in, and writer and distinguished citizen of Nigeria and from West Africa, Wole Soyinka, welcome on board. I'm so happy to hear from you. I happen to be a high school student, and I read a lot of your books. Precisely I come from Ghana, a neighboring nation to Nigeria, but in West Africa, you used to have the same syllable, that is West African [unintelligible 00:16:12]. Some of your books, and Chinua Achebe, [unintelligible 00:16:17] were available for us in high school. I'm so happy hearing from you once again, writing, at your later age and as a sense of humor, I see your hairstyle just like Don King and so probably your father gives it to Don King.

Brian: He sees your head size just like Don King, Mr. Soyinka.

Mr. Soyinka: Sorry, what was the question I missed there?

Brian: Oh, there was no question. It was a fan call that he made a joke. He's happy to see you still so vibrant in your later years and your hair makes you look like Don King, if you who he was.

Mr. Soyinka: That's the part which I missed. You, too, that sub-region of ours has been going through hell and the own country did not escape it, but let's just hope that especially with the lessons of the solidarity that must come with common disasters, like COVID, that both leadership and citizens learn that there is nothing that can help us, beyond just linking arms when we encounter such crisis. Most of it, of course, is the responsibility of leadership to take the lead, so good luck and thanks for popping in.

Brian: John, thanks for popping in, or hopping in, and call us again, please and Anu in Brooklyn. You're on WNYC. Hello, Anu.

Anu: Hello. thank you so much for taking my call. It's such an honor and pleasure to hear Mr. Soyinka on your show, Brian. I was a national hairstylist in charge of the play Death of the King's Horseman when it was at Lincoln Center, and I have never seen anything that touched me so deeply. I was wondering if there will ever be a film made of that play because I feel that it should be seen by more people, many more people.

Mr. Soyinka: There is actually an ongoing dramatization. I know it's a piece of theater, but the version which has been prepared, and already rehearsing, in fact, as I speak to you, I haven't been there, but spoken to some of the actors who are involved, and it's almost like a special adaptation of that play. We still await the opportunity of a full length film, as film, not just something being prepared for television, which this, I suspect, is the genre which the producer is adopting. Most of all, that play belongs on the stage, very much so, and any opportunity I have, I love to allow people their free hand to try their hand at it. It really is for me, is a theatrical piece.

Brian: Anu, from your perspective, what makes it an important piece of theater for you, Anu?

Mr. Soyinka: What makes a piece of theater?

Anu: Because it's my standard for how impactful a play can be. There's a part in the play where the play's premise is how Western culture imposes its values on other people, and the damage that it does. I just think that's important because it's something that happens, it has happened so much in the world, the imposition of Western culture and Western values on other people as if what they value is of no importance.

Brian: Anu, thank you so much for your call. Mr. Soyinka, would you like to say a word about your new novel, first in many years, called Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth and lest our listeners think you've lost your edge, the title, Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth, is as satirical as anything you've written, correct?

Mr. Soyinka: Yes, indeed. The title came about very naturally. It was not really my title. What happened was many, many, many years ago, I picked up the newspaper, a foreign journal and I have found that some kind of poll had been taken to determine who were the happiest people, just as they do which is the most expensive city in the world, which is the dirtiest city in the world, et cetera, both positive and negative. There this was, looking for the happiest people on earth.

My country, Nigeria, came very close to the top. I think we were fourth. I felt I had to turn and look for my long-abandoned dictionary and see if there was another meaning of happy, because I didn't know what nation they were talking about. Not one that I knew so well in which I lived, operate, try to survive, try to make meaning out of existence itself. I thought it was one of the most cruel grading that I've ever known.

I could even take the most corrupt nation in the world, I could take the most lawlessness, I could take all of that, but that we were happy people. I kept it in mind. When the whole tumult of negativities began overwhelming, it resurfaced, and I said, "Ah yes, that's exactly what the title has to be." It underwent so many variations then finally, I ended up From the Land of the Happiest People on Earth

Brian: Suzanne Nossel, in our last minute, would you like to remind people one more time about the PEN America event tonight? I know it's an in-person event and the tickets are gone. Can people also see it in a hybrid fashion online or what else would you like to say?

Suzanne: Sure. They can tune in on our website, and on our Facebook page to watch the proceedings. I hope you do. It's going to be a great nights. It's wonderful to be able to gather together in-person after 18 months. We were never quite sure it was going to happen. Although once we found out that Wole Soyinka, at age 87, was prepared to get on a plane and come and be part of it, we had confidence that other people would come out, too, and we've taken what I hope is every precaution to make sure that the night comes off safely.

It's always a wonderful party. We generate so many messages of support for the imprisoned writers who we honor, and everybody becomes part of a campaign that then unfolds over the ensuing months and years until they are hopefully freed from prison. I hope you'll tune in. I hope you'll join us next year if you're not going to be with us tonight. Thank you, Brian, for spotlighting the work that we do.

Brian: Listeners, you can find more information about the awardees and other PEN America actions and events at pen.org. Suzanne Nossel, is PEN America CEO. Wole Soyinka, the poet, playwright, activist, and novelist whose new book is Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth. He'll, by the way, be talking about that on Thursday evening at 7:30 at a New York Public Library live video gathering. So great to have you on, so great to have both of you on. Thank you very, very much.

Mr. Soyinka: Thank you. My pleasure.

Suzanne: Thank you, Brian.

Brian: More about that public library event at nypl.org.

 

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