Leila Aboulela with portrait of Stella Gaitano by Doha Mohammed. Image credit: George Torode (English Pen).
On 10 October 2025, Scottish-Sudanese author Leila Aboulela, the winner of the PEN Pinter Prize 2025, selected South Sudanese writer Stella Gaitano as her co-winner in cooperation with English PEN.
Gaitano was named Writer of Courage 2025, which is awarded to an author who is active in defence of freedom of expression, often at great risk to their own safety and liberty, and shares the PEN Pinter Prize with the winner.
The announcement was made on 10 October in an address at the British Library, where Aboulela was joined by British-Egyptian poet, playwright, and writer Sabrina Mahfouz, who delivered an encomium.
Gaitano said, “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.”
Gaitano was born in Khartoum in 1979 to a South Sudanese family. She studied English and Arabic at the University of Khartoum 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 International 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.
Aboulela said, “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.”
Aboulela was originally named the PEN Pinter Prize 2025 winner by English PEN, one of the world’s oldest human rights organisations, on 9 July 2025 for her writing at the English PEN Summer Party at the October Gallery in London, England. British actor Khalid Abdalla and Egyptian-Irish actor Amira Ghazalla read from Aboulela’s work. Aboulela was chosen as the PEN Pinter Prize winner in June by judges: Chair of English PEN, Ruth Borthwick; poet and author Mona Arshi; and novelist Nadifa Mohamed. However, the co-winner, now announced as Gaitano, was not announced until 10 October, where Aboulela received the award and delivered an address.
Aboulela grew up in Khartoum and has been living in Aberdeen since 1990. She is the author of six novels among them River Spirit, The Translator, Minaret and Lyrics Alley, Fiction Winner of the Scottish Book Awards. Leila was the first ever winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing and her story collection, Elsewhere, Home won the Saltire Fiction Book of the Year Award. Her books have been translated into fifteen languages, and she has also written numerous plays for BBC Radio. She is Honorary Professor of the WORD Centre at the University of Aberdeen and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Source: English Pen
