Sudanese author Leila Aboulela has been awarded the PEN Pinter Prize 2025 and has chosen to share the honor with South Sudanese writer Stella Gaitano, named Writer of Courage 2025. The announcement was made at the British Library on October 10, with poet Sabrina Mahfouz delivering the encomium.

Per English PEN, “The Writer of Courage is awarded to an author who is active in defense of freedom of expression, often at great risk to their own safety and liberty, and shares the PEN Pinter Prize with the winner.” The PEN Pinter Prize is awarded annually to a writer resident in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, the Commonwealth or former Commonwealth who casts an “unflinching, unswerving’ gaze upon the world, and shows a ‘fierce intellectual determination … to define the real truth of our lives and our societies.”

Leila Aboulela, a prominent writer and advocate for African literature, shared the reasons for her choice:

“It is an honour and a pleasure to share my prize with Stella Gaitano, a writer I have admired and read avidly over the years. Stella is a principled writer and a fearless activist, who has endured hate speech and physical threats. Reading her work has opened my eyes to the injustices and consequences of war in Sudan. She is a wonderful, enriching writer who has already broken new ground in African literature.”

Gaitano was born in Khartoum in 1979 to a South Sudanese family. She studied English and Arabic at Khartoum University and trained as a pharmacist. When Sudan was partitioned in 2011, she moved to Juba, the capital of South Sudan. However, in 2015, Gaitano returned to Khartoum after facing harassment and attacks for her outspoken criticism of the South Sudanese government, which she accused of mismanagement, corruption, and its role in the civil war. In 2022, she was awarded a fellowship from the PEN Germany Writers-in-Exile programme and relocated to Germany.

Gaitano writes in Arabic and has published two short story collections and the novels Edo’s Souls and Ireme. Her first novel Edo’s Souls, translated from the Arabic by Sawad Hussain and published by Dedalus Books, was awarded a PEN Translates grant in 2020, becoming the first novel from South Sudan ever to be published in the UK. In September 2025, translators Mayada Ibrahim and Najlaa Eltom featured among the winning translators in the inaugural round of PEN Presents x International Booker Prize, a grant programme launched to support translators from the Global Majority, for a translation from the Arabic of Gaitano’s second novel Ireme.

Gaitano accepted the award with a moving speech:

“I am honoured that Leila Aboulela has chosen to share this award with me. It might seem like happy news, but when I think about how I might not have been here to witness it, it brings tears to my eyes. This is not only an award for courage, but also one for survival. I dedicate it to the brave Sudanese and South Sudanese writers who continue to write during wartime, in the absence of freedom of expression. I dedicate it to all the persecuted writers of the world whose words have led them to prison, exile, or death. Telling the truth can risk such threats. But it can also shake the authority that refuses to accept it, grant light and freedom, and promise a better tomorrow. An act with such power is worth the risk.”

Previously, the PEN Pinter Prize has been awarded to Egyptian-British writer and activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah in 2024 who shared the award with Arundhati Roy, Zimbabwean novelist and activist Tsitsi Dangarembga in 2021 who selected Ugandan novelist Kakwenza Rukirabashaija to share the award as Writer of Courage, Jamaican-British poet Linton Kwesi Johnson who shared his award with Eritrean poet Amanuel Asrat in 2020, and Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie who selected Saudi Arabian lawyer and activist Waleed Abulkhair as co-winner in 2018. Together, these prizes recognize and celebrate writers, such as Gaitano, determined to use their voice to challenge injustice all over the world.

Poet Sabrina Mahfouz delivered the encomium, praising both Aboulela and Gaitano for their literary achievements and commitment to truth-telling in the face of censorship and violence. Both writers grew up in Khartoum and have written extensively about Sudan, creating powerful narratives that illuminate the human costs of conflict and displacement.

Congratulations to both Leila Aboulela and Stella Gaitano on this well-deserved recognition!