David Hare wins 2011 PEN/Pinter Prize

director David Hare has won the 2011 PEN/Pinter prize, it was announced Friday.
The prize, established by writers’ charity English PEN in memory of British Nobel-winning playwright Harold Pinter, is the latest in a long history of awards and international acclaim for Hare.
He already holds a BAFTA, a Golden Bear from the Berlin film festival and an Olivier Award and his notable plays include “Plenty” and “Racing Demon”.
“In the course of his long, distinguished career, David Hare has never failed to speak out fearlessly on the subject of politics in the broadest sense,” said Antonia Fraser, Pinter’s widow and head of the jury.
“This courage, combined with his rich creative talent, makes him a worthy winner of the PEN/Pinter Prize.”
Now in its third year, the prize is awarded annually to a British writer, or a writer resident in Britain, who – in the words of Pinter’s Nobel speech – casts an “unflinching, unswerving” gaze upon the world.
Hare’s notable works include “Plenty”, a portrait of disillusionment in post-war Britain, and “The Absence of War”, a drama about the Labour Party.
His subject matter is varied – from the privatisation of Britain’s railways in “The Permanent Way” to “Stuff Happens”, which explores the invasion of Iraq.
But Hare has also won recognition for his work as a screenwriter and director, including for his adaptation of Bernhard Schlink’s novel “The Reader” which earned him his second Oscar nomination.
The prize is also presented to an international “writer of courage” who has been persecuted for expressing their beliefs.
Last year, the international part of the prize was awarded to Mexican journalist and human rights activist Lydia Cacho, whose book exposing a child pornography ring led to her imprisonment, harassment, and even torture.
The 2011 “writer of courage” will be announced at a public ceremony in the British Library on October 10, when both winners will be presented with the prize.
The previous winners of the main award were poet and playwright Tony Harrison, and Hanif Kureishi, novelist and playwright. – Reuters Life!