Indonesian author Pramoedya Ananta Toer has received the Norwegian Authors’ Union award.
The prize is given for Pramoedya’s contribution to world literature and struggle for the right to freedom of expression.
“By showing what the risk of the expression of speech, Pak Pramoedya has demonstrated to us the value of freedom of expression,” the union chairman, Geir Pollen, said in a statement issued by the Royal Norwegian Embassy here on Thursday, writes Jakarta Post.
Geir Pollen will personally hand out the prize sum of roughly USD 13,400 to 79 year old Pramoedya in Jakarta on June 2. The union’s prize is awarded once a year to writers that actively fights for freedom of expression.
