is International Secretary and Chairman of the Board of International PEN and an author of Norweigan-Russian origin. He began his career as a writer in 1970 with his first novel The Rabbit Cage; since then he has published both short stories and novels, most notably the best-selling trilogy of novels Memories of Mirella (nominated for the Nordic Literary Award), Federico - Federico! and Salto Mortale.

Since 1994, Eugene has divided his time between writing and working for the Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN which he chaired from 2000 to 2004. With this committee he has visited many countries and helped set up PEN Centres in some of the more troubled regions of the world, including Afghanistan and Iraq.

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