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In 2005, Harold Pinter was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, the highest honour available to any writer in
the world. In announcing the award, Horace Engdahl, Chairman of the Swedish Academy, said that Pinter was an
artist “who in his plays uncovers the precipice under everyday prattle and forces entry into oppression’s closed
rooms”.
In 2002, Pinter was made a Companion of Honour by the Queen for services to Literature.
In 1958 Harold Pinter wrote the following:
"There are no hard distinctions between what is real and
what is unreal, nor between what is true and what is false.
A thing is not necessarily either true or false; it can
be both true and false."
I believe that
these assertions still make sense and do still apply
to the exploration of reality through art. So as a writer
I stand by them but as a citizen I cannot. As a citizen
I must ask: What is true? What is false? |
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| Born 10 October 1930 in East
London, playwright, director, actor, poet and political
activist. He died 24 December 2008. |
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| He wrote twenty-nine
plays including The Birthday Party, The Caretaker, The
Homecoming, and Betrayal, twenty-one screenplays including
The Servant, The Go-Between and The French Lieutenant's
Woman, and directed twenty-seven theatre productions,
including James Joyce's Exiles, David Mamet's Oleanna,
seven plays by Simon Gray and many of his own plays including
his latest, Celebration, paired with his first, The Room
at The Almeida Theatre, London in the spring of 2000. |
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| He was awarded the Shakespeare Prize
(Hamburg), the European Prize for Literature (Vienna),
the Pirandello Prize (Palermo), the David Cohen British
Literature Prize, the Laurence Olivier Award, the Legion d’Honneur and the Moliere
D'Honneur for lifetime achievement. In 1999 he was made
a Companion of Literature by the Royal Society of Literature.
He received honorary degrees from eighteen universities. |
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| Pinter's interest in politics was a very public one. Over the years he
spoke out forcefully about the abuse of state power
around the world, including, recently, NATO's bombing
of Serbia. His most recent speech was given on the anniversary
of NATO'S bombing of Serbia at the Committee
for Peace in the Balkans Conference, at The Conway
Hall June 10th 2000. |
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| Dont forget to visit the online forum |
| The Lincoln Center Festival section click
here |
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| Upcoming events for the year
2009 |
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This 2005 portrait by Joe Hill of Harold Pinter is being auctioned to raise money for the cricket charity The Lords Taverners.
An anonymous bidder has opened the bidding at £4,000.
The painting was a gift to Pinter from his team mates at Gaieties Cricket Club as a mark of their esteem and gratitude for Pinter's 40 years service to the club.
On September 27th 2009 there will be a cricket match on the Nursery at Lords between Gaieties CC and a Mike Brearley Taverners XI.
After the cricket match there will be a concert of words and music in the Long Room in the Lords paviliion to celebrate Harold Pinter's love of cricket.
Among those invited to take part are Judi Dench, Michael Gambon, Bill Nighy, Janie Dee, Sam West, Roger Lloyd Pack.
The winning bid in the painting auction will be announced at the concert. The proceeds will go towards the Lords Taverners good causes and projects.
The Lord's Taverners mission is to "Give young people, particularly those with special needs, a sporting chance"
Anyone can bid for the painting by emailing their contact details and bid to pinter@lordstaverners.org or phoning 020 7821 2828
More information |
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On May 2nd The City University of New York and PEN are celebrating Harold Pinter's life and work with a day of screenings, discussions and performances, programmed by Harry Burton.
Among those taking part: Henry Woolf, Todd Haimes, John Guare, Jason Isaacs,Brían F. O'Byrne,
Alastair Macaulay, Emily Mann, Paul Schrader, Susan Hollis Merritt, Charles Grimes.
The event is free, the venue:
Martin E. Segal Theatre Center
The Graduate School and University Center
The City University of New York
365 Fifth Ave, New York, NY 10016-4309
More Information |
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| The Pinter Review 2003/4 was recently published. You can order from The
University of Tampa Press, The University of Tampa, Tampa , Florida 33606 USA . $30 (h) $15 (s) + $5 p+p |
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