Syria author Samar Yazbek wins PEN award for courage

Exiled Syrian author and journalist Samar Yazbek, who was forced to flee her country after publishing an account of the early stages of the bloody conflict, has won a literary award from PEN for her courage.

Poet Carol Ann Duffy, who won the main PEN/Pinter literary prize in July, named Yazbek the “international writer of courage” at the British Library on Monday night, CBC News reported.

The PEN/Pinter literary prize is awarded every year to a British writer of “outstanding literary merit,” said the BBC.

The winner then chooses a recipient for the Writer Of Courage Award, which recognizes an international writer who has been “persecuted for speaking out about their beliefs.”

Yazbek was forced to flee Syria with her young daughter in July 2011 after publishing “A Woman In The Crossfire,” which is based on her diaries and stories of ordinary people involved in the uprising against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, the Guardian reported.

More from GlobalPost: In Syria, 'We are suffocating in a sea of blood while the world stands silent,' says author Samar Yazbek

More than 20,000 have died in the 18-month civil war, while hundreds of thousands more have fled across the country’s borders, the BBC said, citing UN figures.

More from GlobalPost: NATO ready to defend Turkey from Syria attacks
 

Will you support The World? 

The story you just read is accessible and free to all because thousands of listeners and readers contribute to our nonprofit newsroom. We go deep to bring you the human-centered international reporting that you know you can trust. To do this work and to do it well, we rely on the support of our listeners. If you appreciated our coverage this year, if there was a story that made you pause or a song that moved you, would you consider making a gift to sustain our work through 2024 and beyond?