American Writers' Association: Handke a writer who has damaged the truth and protected the perpetrators of genocide.

The organisation has said it is surprised with the selection of a writer who has used his public voice to offer help to the perpetrators of genocide.

“We are surprised by the choice of a writer who has used his public voice to undermine historical truth, until it has become public aid to genocide authors”, it is said in this reaction.

That's the reaction. PEN America

PEN America does not comment generally on the literary prices of other institutions. We recognize that these decisions are subjective and that criteria are not uniform. However, today's announcement of Nobel Nobmim in Literature to Peter Handke must be an exception. We are upset by the selection of a writer who has used his public voice to underline historical truth and by offering public assistance to the perpetrators of the genocide, such as former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic. P EN America has been engaged since the passage of our Charter. PEN in 1948 to fight against careful publication, intentional lie and distort facts. Our charter further engages us to work to separate all hatreds and to protect the ideals of a human living in peace and equality.” We reject the decision that a writer has repeatedly questioned fully documented war crimes deserves to be celebrated for linguistic wisdom. ) At a moment of growing nationalism, autocratic leadership, and widespread disinformation worldwide, the literary community deserves better than this. We express much regret for the Nobel Committee's choice of literature.

PEN America is interested in human literature and rights to protect open expression in the United States and around the world. We defend our freedom to write, knowing the power of the word to transform the world. Our mission is to unite writers and their allies to celebrate the creative expression and the protection of freedoms that make it possible./ P ERISCOPI/