PEN MEMBERS IN SUPPORT OF AWARD FOR CHARLIE HEBDO SPEAK OUT AT NY GALA

Under armed security and a cloud of conflicted opinions and emotions, the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo was presented a freedom of expression award on Tuesday night (5 MAY) from the PEN American Center.

Editor-in-chief Gerard Biard and critic-essayist Jean-Baptiste Thore accepted the Freedom of Expression Courage Award to a standing ovation following a weeklong debate - alternately thoughtful and divisive - over whether the honor was deserved.

Salman Rushdie and Neil Gaiman were among hundreds of writers, editors and others from the publishing world cheering for Hebdo at the literary and human rights organization's gala at the American Museum of Natural History, where awards also were given to playwright Tom Stoppard, Azerbaijani investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova and Penguin Random House CEO Markus Dohle.

"Their offices were firebombed in 2011 and they kept working. Twelve of them were murdered - six cartoonist and six people in the office - were murdered and they kept working and they put out the next issue. I think that's so - that's courageous, it's brave, it's so worthy of an award and it's what we're doing here," said Gaiman.

Salman Rushdie, who faced death threats including an Islamic fatwa calling for his assassination after he published his novel "The Satanic Verses," which some believed was blasphemous, said the opposition to the Charlie Hebdo award reminds him of what he faced.

"Much of the, if you like, the non-Islamic attack against me, back in the day, was exactly the same as what these dissenters are saying about Charlie Hebdo. 'He did it on purpose. He is attacking a disadvantaged community. He's opportunistic. He wanted to make money. The book is a very bad book that nobody can read.' You can translate that into the attack on Charlie Hebdo and it's exactly the same," he explained.

"I was attacked because of what I believe to be the non-existent offence of blasphemy and Charlie Hebdo were murdered for the same non-existent offence."

Suzanne Nossel, PEN American Center's executive director says the dissent within the organization is also free speech:

"It's been a week of spirited debate but I would say 99-percent of it has been respectful, substantive and analytical so frankly we welcome that."

Those who would not, and could not, be there included Michael Ondaatje, Peter Carey and four other writers.

They were scheduled to be table hosts but withdrew because they consider Charlie Hebdo's cartoons of Muslims to be offensive . More than 200 writers, among them Joyce Carol Oates and Michael Cunningham, signed an open letter criticizing PEN. The gathering Tuesday night was overwhelmingly supportive of Hebdo and the award if only because so many opponents stayed home, some by choice, some citing scheduling conflicts.

In accepting the award, Biard noted the magazine's history of shocking readers with its irreverent drawings of religious figures.

"Growing up to be a citizen is to learn that some ideas, some words, some images, can be shocking," he said. "Being shocked is a part of democratic debate. Being shot is not."

The Hebdo award made the PEN gala the most controversial in recent memory, but also the best attended. More than 800 came for the event, at $1,250 a ticket, compared with around 700 a year ago. With the presence of Hebdo officials and the recent shootings near Dallas at an anti-Islam event, guests Tuesday passed through metal detectors and armed police officials. Police cars lined the street outside the museum's main entrance.

AP Entertainment

New York, 5 May 2015

1. Wide, pan, exterior shot of Manhattan's American Museum of Natural History

2. Mid shot of security forces with dog amid arriving guests, pan to American Museum of Natural History entrance

3. Close shot of armed police officer, pull out to mid shot of security force

4. Wide shot of museum ceiling, pan down to dinosaur skeleton and guests in museum

5. Mid shot of Salman Rushdie talking to reporter at reception

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Salman Rushdie, Author/PEN Member: "If you're a free expression organization, if you believe in the value of free speech, then you must believe in the value of free speech that you don't like. If you only defend free speech that conforms to your own moral framework that's what is normally called censorship."

7. Mid shot of PEN American Center Executive Director Suzanne Nossel talking to guests

8. SOUNDBITE (English) Suzanne Nossel, Executive Director of PEN American Center: "They're defending terrain that few want to tread in because it's dangerous physically. It's also dangerous to reputations. It's a place where people can become offended, where there's plenty of room for misinterpretation when you're saying things that are provocative, outlandish, disrespectful, but that's the tradition of satire, very powerfully so in France and they've sort of staked out territory."

9. Mid shot of author and PEN member Neil Gaiman

10. SOUNDBITE (English) Neil Gaiman, Author/PEN Member: "Their offices were firebombed in 2011 and they kept working. Twelve of them were murdered - six cartoonists and six people in the office - were murdered and they kept working and they put out the next issue. I think that's so - that's courageous, it's brave, it's so worthy of an award and it's what we're doing here."

11. Mid shot of Charlie Hebdo Editor-in-Chief Gerard Biard

12. Mid shot of Salman Rushdie posing for photos

13. SOUNDBITE (English) Salman Rushdie, Author/PEN Member: "Much of the, if you like, the non-Islamic attack against me, back in the day, was exactly the same as what these dissenters are saying about Charlie Hebdo. 'He did it on purpose. He is attacking a disadvantaged community. He's opportunistic. He wanted to make money. The book is a very bad book that nobody can read.' You can translate that into the attack on Charlie Hebdo and it's exactly the same and again I was attacked because of what I believe to be the non-existent offence of blasphemy and Charlie Hebdo were murdered for the same non-existent offence."

14. Mid shot of Neil Gaiman talking to guests

15. SOUNDBITE (English) Neil Gaiman, Author/PEN Member: "I think there are an awful lot of literary snobs out there who are not comfortable about cartoons and cartoonists and who are not willing to invest the time and effort in understanding the cartoon dialogue of a foreign country."

16. Mid shot of PEN American Center Executive Director Suzanne Nossel

17. SOUNDBITE (English) Suzanne Nossel, PEN American Center Executive Director: "It's been a week of spirited debate but I would say 99-percent of it has been respectful, substantive and analytical, so frankly we welcome that."

18. Wide pan of museum entrance room

19. Charlie Hebdo Editor-in-Chief Gerard Biard and magazine film critic Jean-Baptiste Thoret come on stage to accept honor

20. SOUNDBITE (English) Gerard Biard, Charlie Hebdo Editor-in-Chief: "Jean-Baptiste and I are very proud to be here and to receive this prestigious award even if some seem to think that giving this award is an outrage. Thank you so much so much for those who support us."

21. Mid shot of Gerard Biard and Jean-Baptiste Thoret at podium, pan to audience applauding.

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French author Michel Houellebecq introduced his latest work at a local book fair in Cologne on Monday.

The controversial book entitled 'Soumission' meaning 'Submission', describes a France imagined under Islamic rule.

It is Houellebecq's first novel since 2010.

The award-winning novelist cancelled a promotional campaign for the book in France following the attacks on the satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo last week.

The 300-page book went on sale in Germany last Friday.

AP TELEVISION

Frankfurt - 16 January 2015

1. Various of book 'Submission' by French novelist Michel Houellebecq on display ('Soumission' in French; 'Unterwerfung' in German)

AP TELEVISION

Cologne - 19 January 2015

2. People arriving for book reading

3. Flag advertising lit.COLOGNE (Cologne literary festival) event

4. Michel Houellebecq arrives for reading

5. SOUNDBITE: (French) Michel Houellebecq, French author: ++AUDIO AS INCOMING++

"The heads of state who came to France surely had a different view of France. I think that the view they took away with them was a different one, that France is a country that values the freedom of expression."

6. Various of author at the reading

7. Wide of audience

8. Pan of stage, Houellebecq seated

9. Audience applauding