Journalist wins Pen Pinter Prize

British poet and journalist James Fenton has won the Pen Pinter Prize, which celebrates champions of free speech.

Established in honour of playwright Harold Pinter, it is given to a writer who casts an "unflinching, unswerving" gaze upon the world. Organisers English Pen praised Fenton as "one of the finest poets of his generation".

Fenton, who held the chair of Oxford Professor of Poetry from 1994-1999, has written several collections of poetry and opera librettos. Throughout his long and distinguished career, James Fenton has spoken truth to power - forcefully, fearlessly, and beautifully

As a former war correspondent, many of his poems deal with the experience of war and its impact.

One of Fenton's most acclaimed works, The Memory of War (1982), is a collection of poems that drew on his time as a reporter in Vietnam and Cambodia in the 1970s.

Fenton said he felt greatly honoured to be awarded the prize: "In particular, I am happy to be connected in this way with Harold Pinter, whose writings I have long admired."

He will receive his award at a ceremony on 6 October at the British Library. The prize will be jointly awarded to an international writer who has faced persecution.

The second winner - who will be chosen jointly by Fenton and English Pen - will be announced at the October ceremony.

Previous winners of the Pinter Prize include Tom Stoppard, Carol Ann Duffy, Hanif Kureishi and last year's winner, Salman Rushdie.