Greg Dinner

Holocaust Memorial Day: Number of UK schools marking day plummets by more than half The number of secondary schools to hold events plummeted from more than 2,000 in 2023 to 854 in 2025

Number of UK schools marking Holocaust Memorial Day plunges by more than half

www.thejc.com/news/uk/holo...

@irishpen.bsky.social For those in Galway, Galway area, it would be great to see you at this event for the launch of a 'Ukrainian bookshelf' of books about Ukraine in Ukrainian and Engish, attended by the Ukrainian Ambassador to Ireland. Registration at ti.to/galway-libra...

​Venezuela: PEN International calls for urgent guarantees for press freedom  — PEN International | Promoting Literature & Defending Freedom of Expression Worldwide “When journalists and writers are harassed, detained or deported for doing their work, the public’s right to information is undermined. PEN International condemns the arbitrary detention of journalist...

#Venezuela: PEN International is alarmed by the detention of at least 14 journalists in Caracas on 5 January 2026. We urge authorities to ensure journalists can work freely and safely, and to release those detained.

Read our full statement ⬇️

www.pen-international.org/news/venezue...

For months dozens of posts re: Gaza, some rightfully so, from Irish PEN... where are you now? Or is it a singular voice?

In Minn. a young woman murdered by ICE agent was a poet. In Venezuela 14 journalists jailed, press freedoms curtailed by government US says now controls. At @penamerica.bsky.social new Pres born in Ethiopia. Issues to highlight, @irishpen.bsky.social? Freedom to write; write to be free...

PEN America Elects Acclaimed Novelist Dinaw Mengestu as President PEN America today announced the election of critically acclaimed novelist Dinaw Mengestu to the presidency of the 103-year-old writers organization whose mission is to celebrate literature and defend ...

We welcome Dinaw Mengestu’s presidency at @penamerica.bsky.social and value his deep commitment to the rights and freedom of writers everywhere. We look forward to working together on our shared mission.” — Romana Cacchioli, Executive Director of PEN International

pen.org/press-releas...

The Tomorrow Club aims to support and mentor young writers amid polarity and tech-driven chaos “The youth should never believe that history is written only by the victors, or that it can be permanently manipulated through narrative wars.”

In this recent interview with Global Voices (@globalvoices.org), Ege Dündar (@ege-dundar.bsky.social) reflects on the work of the Young Writers Committee (@youngwriterspen.bsky.social) and the increasing importance of supporting emerging voices.
Read more ⬇️

globalvoices.org/2025/12/26/t...

Oliver Sears in discussion with Matt Cooper in 'The Last Word' podcast about antisemitism in Ireland. "It's a question of language. It's a question of fixation." ... Because words matter.Thank you, Oliver. @holocaustireland.bsky.social nb @irishpen.bsky.social
link.goloudplayer.com/s/pGbsheGKtxLo

Looking for quiet reading to reflect on where we are these days and why? Quiet reading for the season? Consider these sister books (with the final of thematic trilogy in 2028)... Illuminating the past to make sense of our present...Stories of love, of loss, of who we are, and who we hope to be...

This beautiful girl lived in Kyiv and became a defender for Ukraine at the beginning of the full scale invasion. On 2 September 2025 she was killed. She was 19.
Her name was pronounced Delta.
I weep for her. Too many have I seen.
Don't let Trump sell them out. May her memory be a blessing. Remember.

Watched Love + War, documentary about the work of Pulitzer winning photojournalist @LynseyAddario.
Strong echoes for me of my work in novel 'Fragments'. Worth seeing the documentary. Worth reading the book; the world we live. Her work is remarkable--and necesary.

China - Hong Kong: Jimmy Lai found guilty in long-running national security trial — PEN International | Promoting Literature & Defending Freedom of Expression Worldwide “ The guilty verdict handed down to writer and media publisher Jimmy Lai is nothing less than a travesty and a betrayal of Hong Kong’s once vaunted legal system. Jimmy Lai’s selfless commitment to Hon...

#HongKong: Together with @englishpen.bsky.social, we condemn the conviction of writer and media publisher #JimmyLai. We continue to stand with him and urge the Hong Kong and Chinese authorities to release him immediately and unconditionally. www.pen-international.org/news/china-h...

What happened now at Bondi Beach has been inevitable. Will Ireland where I live take note? The constant drumbeat of hate, racism, antisemitism, anti-immigration... It is not simply social media, is permeates a society where hate order of day. Enough. Enough. Enough.

Nobel peace prize laureate Narges Mohammadi arrested in Iran Mohammadi ‘violently’ detained along with other activists at memorial event in Mashhad, her foundation says

Unacceptable
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...

Nice cat

Tom Stoppard will be deeply, deeply missed. No other like him.

Humbled to see my Ukraine journal 'Whispers of Ghosts' alongside so many wonderful books in Ukrainian and other languages in Galway libraries. Thank you, Наталя Корнієнко for including me. On Thanksgiving I reflect on how fortunate am to have met so many wonderful Ukrainians who I count as friends.

#writerslab #creativewriting #tae #writingretreat #writersoflinkedin #thinkingattheedge #embodiedwriting #retreatforwriters | Inga von Staden Writing at the Edge of 2026 📍 16 - 18 Jan 26 (on site) in Berlin, Germany + 24 – 25 January 2026 (online and optional) 📃 https://shorturl.at/b7UEp Writers, thinkers, creators - we invite you in...

Recommended to friends in Berlin and further afield www.linkedin.com/posts/ivstad...

and finally in London poet and member @PENUkraine Yaryna Chornohuz, who writes remarkable poetry with a voice that echoes these troubled times with pain, love, loss and poetry so full of heart that touches deep within her audience. Blown away.

In the afternoon @IrishPEN session with Kurdish/Turkish writer Ilhan Sami Comek, imprisoned for more than 30 years.whose poetry expresses incredible beauty and hope in the face of torment and whose words can touch the depths of a soul...

Last week readings that touched the heart and soul. First in Dublin a session on ‘Conflict and Creativity’, including my Ukrainian friend Natalya Korniyenko, Syrian writer Suad Aldarra , Iranian artist, and filmmaker Atoosa Pour Hosseini and Irish poet Ciaran O’Rourke...

Readings of incredibly moving wartime poems in London by remarkable Ukrainian @Yaryna Chornohuz, @PENUkraine member, soldier, former frontline medic, mostly a brilliant writer. And friend. Her work spans a world of love, pain, loss, strength, anger, life, death… and hope. May her voice touch all..

Wonderful news

Woman I know from my community here, Israeli born, lived here for years, raised son here, Irish husband died here, was yesterday refused service at Limerick restaurant because Israeli. Welcome to antisemitism Irish style at 7 October remembrance.

Türkiye: Writer Yavuz Ekinci on trial again as spurious terror-propaganda case resumes — PEN International | Promoting Literature & Defending Freedom of Expression Worldwide ‘That Kurdish writer Yavuz Ekinci finds himself in court again for his writings after the case against him was dismissed exposes the authorities of Türkiye’s pernicious pursuit of those who dare explo...

www.pen-international.org/news/trkiye-...

@irishpen.bsky.social

My reply to Irish PEN, where am member, on flotilla interception statement. Theirs is personally offensive, at times factually incorrect, divisive, hurtful, coming on Yom Kippur and events in Manchester. If slightest sense of decency board should consider positions www.gregdinner.com/ruminations/...

My reply to Irish PEN, where am member. The statement is personally offensive, at times factually incorrect, divisive, hurtful, particularly coming on Yom Kippur and events in Manchester. If slightest sense of decency board should consider positions. www.gregdinner.com/ruminations/...

As good an analysis as can be found. Thoughful, considerate. Wonder if anyone will consider beyond a wall of present day hate?
everydayhate.substack.com/p/antisemiti...

Congratulations