Jennifer Clement, President of PEN International, and Jesper Bengtsson, Chairman of Swedish PEN.

Jennifer Clement spoke about the work of PEN International as well as her novel Gun Love. The novel has recently been translated into Swedish by Niclas Hval and thematically revolves around gun violence in the contemporary United States.

PEN International was founded “to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere, emphasize the role of literature in developing understanding, stand for freedom of expression and act as a powerful voice on behalf of writers being harassed, silenced, imprisoned and sometimes killed for their views.” In her author’s talk, Jennifer Clement explained how this work is just as relevant today as when the organization was founded.

Clement is the first woman to be elected President of PEN International since the organization was founded in 1921. She is the author of four novels: Prayers for the Stolen, A True Story Based on Lies, The Poison That Fascinates and Gun Love. In addition, she has authored the much-admired memoir Widow Basquiat about the relationship between the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat and his muse Suzanne Mallouk. Jennifer Clement has been translated into 30 languages and has been awarded numerous literary prizes and honors.

“We are very honored to have had Jennifer Clement visit our school and our literary initiative,” says Erik Wikberg, Director of SSE Literary Agenda. “What struck me the most with her talk is how she shows how novels and writers do play an important role to establish social change. Charles Dickens changed how we viewed child labor, Emily Bronte changed how we viewed the life of women and Victor Hugo changed how we viewed the poor. Jennifer Clement, in turn, opens our eyes for how we must never take freedom of expression for granted and actively stand up for authors whose voices are being silenced.”