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The camp is the first such one organised by the Hungarian PEN Club.
Among the authors participating at the camp are Kaiser A. ÖzHun, a literary critic, writer, cultural anthropologist from Sweden who heads the Uyghur PEN Club; Salem Zenia, the Berber writer from Algeria who fled to Spain; Igor Urseco, the Moldavian philosopher and writer; and Attila F. Balázs, the writer, poet, translator and editor who is a member of PEN clubs in both Slovakia and Romania.
Balázs, who is the camp?s coordinator, said he could have imagined the camp in a house on the shores of Lake Balaton too, someplace not overrun with tourists, but was now convinced that Pécs was indeed the right venue.
?Now, after spending a few days here, we see that we made the right decision. Beyond that, we would like to organise the writers camp here every year, because Pécs?s historical, cultural and architectural monuments are magnificent,? he said. ?A writer can never grow bored here, there is always something to see,? he added.
Ursenco called the Zsolnay Cultural Quarter a ?great environment for writers, quiet and yet inspiring?.
Balázs said the camp?s 16 writers were joined by Hungarian PEN Club head Erszébet Csicsery-Rónay, who returned from the United States, and deputy head András Petőcz during the first days in Pécs.
He said not all of the writers would be able to stay in Pécs for the full 18 days of the camp, but Zenia might stay the longest.
Zenia, who is in Hungary for the first time, called the country a ?close friend? to Algeria. ?The political and official ties between Algeria and Hungary are very good, but we know little about its literature and history,? he said.
Balázs has started a translators workshop at the camp.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
