Literature Knows No Frontiers: Irish PEN/PEN na hÉireann at The Binding
“Literature knows no frontiers.”
These are the opening words of the PEN Charter, and perhaps the best place to begin as we welcome Irish PEN/PEN na hÉireann as a partner of the first The Binding International Literary Festival.
These principles mean promoting literature in and about Ireland, defending responsible freedom of expression and fostering international understanding through literature.
The present all-island Irish PEN/PEN na hÉireann was formed in 2020 when Irish PEN and the Freedom to Write Campaign (Ireland) came together.
Lia Mills was a founder member of the Freedom to Write Campaign and the original Chair of the new organisation. Having stepped down from the Board, she now co-chairs the Freedom to Write sub-committee with Shauna Gilligan. Among its work, the sub-committee organises Irish PEN events and draws attention to freedom of expression and the situation of writers under threat.
The Freedom to Write sub-committee organises public events each year highlighting “issues around freedom of expression, the plight of writers under threat, and the international Day of the Imprisoned Writer”.
Catherine Dunne is a previous Chair of Irish PEN and is currently part of the Freedom to Write sub-committee. As Catherine told us, the PEN Charter “expresses all of the values that drew me to the organisation in the first place and ensures my continued membership”.
Irish PEN at The Binding
We are especially grateful that several Irish PEN members are giving their time and experience to the first The Binding this November — Lia Mills, Catherine Dunne, Moyra Donaldson and Greg Dinner, alongside The Binding’s founder, Halyna Budilova.
Lia and Catherine are joining The Binding as PenPals mentors, working directly with emerging writers from 12 countries.
Halyna, a Ukrainian writer and founder of Little Beetle Press and The Binding, became a member of Irish PEN after leaving Ukraine with her two children following the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022. It connected her with fellow writers which helped her feel less isolated and start creating again in Ireland. That experience is at the heart of why she created The Binding: to help other creatives find connections and build communities.
Moyra Donaldson, a Board member of Irish PEN and member of its Freedom to Write Committee, will lead our opening creative workshop on 19 November. Writers and visual artists will work together around the theme of Connection, beginning pieces that can later develop into our collection of poetic postcards.
Author and screenwriter Greg Dinner will lead a three-hour memoir writing workshop in Longford on 20 November. Much of Greg’s career, first as a screenwriter and later in fiction, has centred on human rights and on stories emerging from conflict — stories of “history, trauma, memory, identity”.
As he explains:
“PEN represents the right of freedom of speech, freedom of expression. It supports writers of conscience, many imprisoned.”
And he believes that responsibility extends beyond writing our own books:
“We have a responsibility to support writers of conscience particularly against oppressive regimes, and to speak out for such. We have a responsibility to such writers to let them know they are not forgotten. Never forgotten.”
International collaboration has been a constant part of Greg’s own creative life. He has worked with writers, poets, filmmakers and artists from Ukraine and many other parts of the world.
That feels particularly relevant to the first The Binding, where our PenPals programme is bringing together writers and illustrators from 12 countries, while our Longford events will bring writers, artists, readers, families and young people together in person.
As Greg puts it:
“Festivals like The Binding matter because words and connections matter, because without such we are silent; this is a time in which we cannot be silent. Because, frankly, stories matter, stories from all over, near and far; this is a time to tell and listen to one another's stories.”
We are very grateful to Irish PEN/PEN na hÉireann for being part of the first The Binding!
The Binding International Literary Festival takes place online and in Longford from 19–22 November 2026.
