Human rights literature

Human rights literature is a literary genre that deals with human rights issues, and thus - directly or indirectly - promotes values of human rights. The goal of human rights literature is to combine the literary driving force with the motivation for action, which is a fundamental and integral element of the struggle for protection of human rights. This literary genre is based on the concept of "Engaged Literature" that was articulated by the French writer and philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre.

Human rights literature is committed to society and believes that each one of us has moral duty and power to make a social change. It is based on the belief of the enormous power of literature to make a change, and in the responsibility of the author toward readers both on the social aspect and the artistic one.

The concept of human rights literature was first articulated in the foreword to Freedom, an anthology of short stories by renowned authors from around the world published in Britain in 2010 by Mainstream Publishing in cooperation with the human rights organization Amnesty International. The stories were written in the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The foreword - "The Tremendous Power of Literature", by Vered Cohen Barzilay, discusses the relationship between the Italian novella "Prima di Lasciarsi" by Gabriella Ambrosio (English: "Before We Say Goodbye") and human rights.

The foreword along with the book was translated into various languages and published around the world in many countries including UK, USA, Canada, Poland, Spain, Latin America, and Italy. At the 2010 Edinburgh Book festival the preliminary concept was first introduced in public discussion, and on March 2012 it was formally introduced by Cohen-Barzilay at Oxford University, UK, at a panel discussion held under the title "The Power of Literature and Human Rights" and early 2013 at the Literary Festival at the London School of Economics. In 2012, Cohen-Barzilay founded Novel Rights e-publishing, an e- publishing house specializing in creating and promoting Human Rights Literature.

...
Wikipedia