Meeting with the Kazakh PEN club

On September 24, 2017 the faculty of Social Sciences of the L.N.Gumilyov Eurasian National University held a meeting with the Kazakh PEN club, organized by the management and teaching staff of the faculty of philology of the University.

The meeting has been attended by the following members of the PEN club:

Hori Takeaki – International Secretary of International PEN club;

Vladimir Kartsev - Writer, member of the Kazakh PEN club;

Bigeldy Gabdullin – President of the Kazakh PEN club, writer, journalist, and essayist.

The Dean of the faculty of Philology - Zharkynbekova Sholpan Kuzarovna – opened the meeting by expressing gratitude to the guests who could come to the meeting, despite the distance, and continued with a brief history of the PEN club.

The Kazakh PEN club is a non - governmental, non-political, non-profit organization created in 1993 by the classic of Kazakh literature A. K. Nurpeisova to enhance intellectual cooperation of the representatives of creative professions, participation in the international literary cooperation, development of the Kazakh culture, and education in social consciousness of high humanistic ideals. Today the club unites about 40 of the most famous Kazakhstani writers and journalists. Kazakh PEN club is member of the world association of writers "PEN International" (known as International PEN until 2010) founded in London in 1921 and has a status "A" in UNESCO and a consultative status in the UN.

Next, the word has been given to the guests, and each of them focused on the problem of translation - to a foreign reader; due to the small number of translations, the names of the classics of Kazakh literature are practically unknown worldwide. Addressing the students attending the meeting, members of the PEN club expressed the hope that they will do everything possible to solve the problem of lack of translations that prevents the development and spread of Kazakh literature on a global scale.

Later this evening, the students were given a unique opportunity to ask questions from each of the guests to learn their opinion on contemporary literary process and get a kind advice. The "Literary Portal" offers to your attention a photo report from this truly historic meeting.