Meeting: “PEN In The Age Of Anxiety” – Natasha Lomouri, Adam Michnik, Volodymyr Yermolenko

3 September 2025, 20.00

The ICC will host a debate as part of the PEN International’s 91st Congress in Kraków. Natasha Lomouri, promoter of literature and executive director of PEN Georgia, Adam Michnik, editor-in-chief of “Gazeta Wyborcza”, historian and publicist, and Volodymyr Yermolenko, Ukrainian philosopher and president of PEN Ukraine.

As part of the PEN International’s 91st Congress in Kraków, organised under the slogan “Freedom of Words – Words of the Free”, the ICC will host a discussion on freedom of speech in a world plagued by crises and unrest, where censorship and repression of writers are on the rise. Distinguished guests will discuss the threats growing in an increasingly polarised world, in the face of authoritarianism and manipulation. Natasha Lomouri, Adam Michnik and Volodymyr Yermolenko will discuss in particular the specificity and universality of the experience of Central and Eastern Europe in the context of freedom of speech. They will also touch upon the power of literature in times of crisis and the importance of interpersonal bonds in the face of difficult experiences. The meeting will be moderated by Agnieszka Lichnerowicz.

To mark its 100th anniversary, the Polish PEN Club has planned a series of literary events, culminating in the PEN International’s 91st Congress in Krakow (2–5 September 2025). The event will bring together several hundred representatives of PEN centres from around the world. The Krakow congress will be accompanied by a series of debates and literary meetings with prominent writers and intellectuals, open to the public. Participants will include Olga Tokarczuk, Raja Shehadeh, Adam Michnik, Andrei Kurkov and people involved in literature and activism from Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, Lithuania and other countries. The event will be inaugurated by a speech by Margaret Atwood (remotely) and a meeting with Olga Tokarczuk at the Kijów Cinema in Krakow on 2 September.

Admission tickets are required and can be downloaded from the Krakow Festival Office website.

Simultaneous Polish-English interpreting.   

More about the event:

“Freedom of Words – Words of the Free”: PEN International’s 91st Congress in Kraków

Natasha Lomouri – Executive Director of PEN Georgia and the Founding Director of the Tbilisi International Festival of Literature. Between 2011 and 2023 she was the director of the Writers’ House of Georgia, where she initiated several important literary and educational projects: Tbilisi International Festival of Literature, a Writers’ Residency, David Sarajishvili Memorial Museum, Museum of Repressed Writers. She is a promoter of Georgian literature abroad.  In 2023, she was awarded a special Saba prize “for supporting the development of contemporary Georgian literary processes.”

Adam Michnik –Editor-in-chief of “Gazeta Wyborcza”, the biggest daily in Poland. Historian, co-founder of KOR (Committee for the Defense of Workers) 1976, detained many times during 1965-1980, a prominent „Solidarity" activist during the '80ties, spent a total of six years in Polish prisons for activities opposing the communist regime, member of the Round Table Talks 1989, member of the first non-communist parliament 1989-1991. Laureate of many international prizes and honorary titles. Author of numerous books published in Poland and abroad as well as papers in international press.  

Volodymyr Yermolenko – a Ukrainian philosopher, journalist and writer. President of PEN Ukraine. Doctor of political studies (France), PhD in philosophy (kandydat nauk, Ukraine). Analytics director at Internews Ukraine. Chief editor of UkraineWorld.org, a multimedia project in English about Ukraine. Associate professor at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. Book writer (non-fiction and fiction), winner of Myroslav Popovych Prize (2021), Petro Mohyla Prize (2021), Yurii Sheveliov Prize (2018), Book of the Year prize in Ukraine (2023, 2018, 2015) and others. Head of board of International Renaissance Foundation (Open Society Foundations). Public lecturer. Author of podcasts and of numerous articles in international and Ukrainian media.

Agnieszka Lichnerowicz – journalist at TOK FM radio and the author of “Idzie wojna?” (“War Is Coming?”). As a reporter, she has covered elections, conflicts, and international summits around the world, including in Russia, Georgia, Belarus, and North Africa during the Arab Spring. For over two decades, she has been regularly reporting from Ukraine, covering events such as the Orange Revolution, Euromaidan, the annexation of Crimea, the outbreak of war in Eastern Ukraine, and the full-scale Russian invasion. For several years she taught journalism workshops in Myanmar during its political transition. A recipient of the Ryszard Kapuściński PAP Award, she is the co-author of the podcast “Rozumieć Ukrainę” (“Understanding Ukraine”), contributes to Polityka weekly.