Panel discussion at Manila Congress
Panel discussion at Manila Congress
Photograph of a panel discussion titled Writing the Future in Indigenous Languages underway on the first day of the 85th PEN International Congress in Manila, Philippines, which was held from 30 September to 4 October 2019. From left to right are: Simona Škrabec, chair of PEN’s Translation and Linguistic Rights Committee (2014-20); Nina Jaramillo, chair of the Argentinian Centre’s Committee of Writers in Indigenous Languages; Ruperta Bautista Vázquez, member of the Chiapas Multicultural Centre; Fernand de Varennes, Special Rapporteur for Minority Issues of the United Nations (2017-); Merlie M. Alunan, a poet from Waray in the Philippines; Félix Villeneuve, chair of the Quebecois Centre’s Writers in Prison Committee (2016-); and Genevieve L. Asenjo, a novelist from Kiniray in the Philippines. This Congress was titled Speaking in Tongues: Literary Freedom and the Indigenous Languages to celebrate 2019 being the International Year of Indigenous Languages.