Pax

Peace

Paix

Pace

Paz

Мир

和睦

السلام

Friede

Frede

שָׁלוֹם

Taika

Karayapaan

Usalama

խաղաղություն

 

 

News

25 September 2022 - Literary Tea Party Event

The "literary tea" saw 15 eager poets and essayists read their newest from 15 to 18 h -- we lauded the beauty of the universe and reaffirmed our commitment to peace and solidarity in these difficult times.  I also celebrated the 5th anniversary of my becoming Swiss, reading my poem "le bonheur d'être Suisse" 
Here are some photos

10 March 2022 -  The 33rd edition of Ex Tempore

The 33rd edition is nicely progressing and still open to submissions by UN staffers and associated organizations in any of the six UN languages.  Please send your poems, essays, short stories

09 December 2021 - The 32nd Edition of the Ex Tempore Now Online

We are pleased to announce that the 32nd edition of Ex Tempore was published well ahead of the Christmas holidays!

Before the good weather leaves us, we would like to invite you to a literary tea on Sunday, September 25 from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m

With essays, short stories and poetry in all six UN languages. Reviews are more than welcome!

The 32nd edition is available online and can be viewed or downloaded here

For previous editions of the magazine, click here


14 August 2021 - UNSW celebrates 32 years since its founding on 14 August 1989 at the Press Bar in the Palais des Nations

27 June 2021 - Literary Tea Party Event

27 June 2021 -- since we could not hold our traditional Ex Tempore Salon (because of Covid) in January, Carla and I decided to organize a  'literary tea party'' in the North Garden at our home in Grand Saconnex.  Participation was limited to 15 persons so that we could guarantee the proper distance -- besides being in the fresh air. Admittedly, not as buoyant as an Ex Tempore soirée, this more intimate event allowed UNSW members to read some poetry, short stories and essays.  We had excellent weather and plenty of coffee, tea and other non-alcoholic drinks.  We transformed the ping-pong table into a grand buffet -- one person at a time.  Among participants were Marie-José Astre Démoulin, Aline Dedeyan, Martine Thevenot, Jo Christiane Ledakis, David Lewis, Hoang Nguyen, Boris Engelson, Pierre Jourdan, Joseph Gari, Patrick Taran with his wife Olga and 2 very lively youngsters.

A selection of photos from the event can be viewed here

On 27 June 2021, we held an afternoon "literary tea" party in the garden. 15 members of the United Nations Society of Writers read poems and short stories and enjoyed a balmy afternoon under the lime trees of our "North Garden".  Clafoutis and light refreshments were served.

On 24 December 2020, the 31st edition of the Ex Tempore literary magazine becomes available online

On 24 January 2020, the United Nations Society of Writers held its 24th annual literary salon and celebrated the publication of volume 30 of the literary journal Ex Tempore.  Many of the authors of this 180-anniversary issue were present and read from their poems, essays and short stories.  There were 48 literature-lovers in the audience and 15 presentations in English, French, German, Russian, Spanish and Vietnamese -- peppered here and there with Latin.

A selection of photos from the event can be viewed here

We also recalled the 100th birthday of Federico Fellini on 20 January, whose Dolce Vita remains a classic. On 24 January 1732 the satirist playwright Pierre de Beumarchais was born in Paris.  He traveled widely through Spain, where he got the idea for his plays The Barber of Seville, the Marriage of Figaro and La Mère coupable.  Leave it to Mozart and Rossini to immortalize in their operas those two unforgettable characters Figaro and Count Almaviva!

2020 we also celebrate the bicentennial of the birth of the Dutchman Eduard Douwes Dekker, better known by his pen name Multatuli, famous for his satirical novel Max Havelaar. 
Also in 2020 we mark the bicentennial of the birth of the British author Anne Brontë, the youngest member of the Brontë literary family, who gave us Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.


IN MEMORIAM CLAUDE CITON (1938-2020)

A member of the Editorial Board of Ex Tempore, Treasurer, essayist and friend, Claude Citon, was with us since the outset of this beautiful literary adventure. We was then Editor-in-Chief of UN Special and helped us with advice on how to produce the magazine, how to reach out, how to get it distributed.

Already in volume one he contributed an essay “Satori” and launched the ET “feuilletons” in multiple instalments, both essays and short stories (“passage” in vol. 2; “l’homme le plus riche du monde, un conte économique”, in vols. 3, 4, 6; “le Guérisseur” in vols. 10, 11; “le secret de Harlem et le secret du monde”, in vols. 14-15). He contributed “Beowulf reparaît” in vol. 22, “les objectifs du développement durable” in vol. 24, and “Les Maasais” in vol. 25.

Claude served in the editorial board for volumes 1, 6, 7, 8, and 9, served as Treasurer of UNSW for volumes 2 to 5 and came to countless Ex Tempore poetry readings and other literary events.

Claude’s passing away on 24 January 2020 coincided with the celebration of the 24th Ex Tempore Salon. We had hoped to see him in person. Instead, we learned of his passing away in the morning.

We held a minute of silence in his honour at the beginning of the Salon and Pierre Jourdan pronounced  these words:

Tout d’abord c’est un honneur pour moi de parler en son nom. Il a été, je peux le dire, un peu mon Mentor, et ceux qui ont eu la chance de parler avec lui savent de quoi je parle. Avec Claude qui s’en est allé, c’est un cheminement de décennies de coopération et d’amitié, ponctués de hauts et de bas, qu’il faut raconter.

Claude a commencé sa vie dans une famille de mineurs à St Eloy les Mines. De cette famille, et grâce à ses études, il était devenu professeur et avait notamment enseigné en Angleterre et à New-York. De cette motivation et origine modeste, il avait développé un sens moral et éthique indiscutable. Claude n'était pas simple traducteur, il fut écrivain, philosophe-humaniste voire corrigeait des erreurs d'anthropologie ou d'économie.

Puis il avait rejoint l’ONU en tant que traducteur, mais il en avait profité pour être très actif dans le milieu associatif et littéraire. Il a contribué durant son trajet en tant que rédacteur en chef du journal UN Special, au rayonnement culturel d'associations parmi lesquelles: Ex Tempore, La Congaf avec Djély Samoura, L’Association Panafricaine pour l’Art, le Club du livre espagnol, L’association des Enfants du Maghreb, le Fonds 1% pour le développement, et tant d’autres qu’il serait difficile de toutes les énumérer.

Il militait pour que la vérité soit faite, et le mot n’est pas trop fort, il militait:

— contre toutes les injustices et

— contre toutes les formes de racisme, et ceci ne se limitait pas à ça,

— pour un commerce équitable, car disait-il: “la répercussion en était la cause de millions de morts chez les enfants”. Il avait des idées fondamentales sur l’économie.

il était dévoué au sens du mot et au sens de dévot. Il s’en remettait à Dieu, nettement à la fin de son itinéraire plus qu’initiatique, puisqu’il y avait consacré un manuscrit de 1000 pages, s’étant penché de près sur les questions diverses de la société, allant des “fake news" de l’anthropologie à celles de l'économie, sans oublier l'éthnologie et l'anthropologie culturelle, puisqu'il allait “sur le terrain” pour vérifier les faits. Il avait notamment compris, comment au Kenya (et ailleurs) les agriculteurs n'étaient pas payés “au juste prix” (notion biblique) par rapport aux prix final vendu dans les pays exportateurs (et pareil pour les matières premières).

Après son parcours onusien, il a continué sans relâche ses activités et présence à l'ECOSOC, puis il a su déléguer. Il ne voyait pas les futilités de la vie mais voulait attirer notre regard sur les choses qu’il jugeaient essentielles! Comme la vérité.

Il pensait que la force de la valeur morale et éthique pouvaient venir à bout de tout. Même malade il continuait son combat, sa réflexion.

Et il avait raison, si l’on compte que dans les pays civilisés, tout tend à se construire au nom de ces valeurs et de l'ordre. Peut-être pas autant qu'il ne l'espérait. Pour tout ce que l'homme ne pouvait pas faire, il s'en remettait à Dieu.

Pour l’ordre et la logique, il citait volontiers  René Descartes et il avait raison, il y a la logique, mais il faut beaucoup de souffrance avant que les citoyens commencent à réagir dans une société, et ça le révoltait. Pour Dieu, Claude s’en remettait à lui, il connait maintenant la vérité.

 

Il avait ce côté bon professeur et bon anthropologue aux idées larges et très progressistes, car il avait la foi. Il aura apporté sa pierre à l’édifice de l'humanité à sa façon, par un esprit logique autant qu’humaniste et dévoué.

 

Il faudra encore beaucoup de “Claude Citon“ pour que l’humanité devienne ce qu’elle devrait, un peu partout, des gens de bonne volonté aux valeurs éthiques, morales et spirituelles élevées, et plus encore...

 

 

Claude est parti le jour de la réunion d’Ex Tempore, le jour du nouvel an chinois, c’est déjà un signe d’espoir.


On 24 January 2020
, the annual Ex Tempore Literary Salon takes place
The United Nations Society of Writers held its 24th annual literary salon and celebrated the publication of volume 30 of the literary journal Ex Tempore.  Many of the authors of this 180-anniversary issue were present and read from their poems, essays and short stories.  There were 48 literature-lovers in the audience and 15 presentations in English, French, German, Russian, Spanish and Vietnamese -- peppered here and there with Latin.

A selection of photos from the event can be viewed here

We also recalled the 100th birthday of Federico Fellini on 20 January, whose Dolce Vita remains a classic. On 24 January 1732 the satirist playwright Pierre de Beumarchais was born in Paris.  He traveled widely through Spain, where he got the idea for his plays The Barber of Seville, the Marriage of Figaro and La Mère coupable.  Leave it to Mozart and Rossini to immortalize in their operas those two unforgettable characters Figaro and Count Almaviva!

We also celebrated the bicentennial of the birth of the Dutchman Eduard Douwes Dekker, better known by his pen name Multatuli, famous for his satirical novel Max Havelaar.

Also we noted that this year marks the bicentennial of the birth of the British author Anne Brontë, the youngest member of the Brontë literary family, who gave us Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.


On 10 December 2019
, Ex Tempore Issue 30 becomes available online

On 8 November 2019, UNSW held its General Assembly meeting
A selection of photos from the event can be viewed here

On 27 September 2019, Ex Tempore held a literary workshop called "De-Stress" at the Library in the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
A selection of photos from the event can be viewed here

On 25 January 2019
, Ex Tempore held its 23rd annual literary salon. The evening saw over 50 people attending and a variety of contributions included poems, short stories and a short theater sketch. Readings were conducted in English, French, Russian and Vietnamese.

On 11 December 2018, UNSW held its General Assembly meeting

On 26th January 2018, Ex Tempore held its 22nd annual literary salon. The evening saw over 60 people attending and a variety of contributions including poems, short stories, articles and a short theater sketch. Readings were conducted in English, French and Vietnamese

On 20th January 2017, Ex Tempore held its 21st Salon. The 21st Ex Tempore soirée on Friday had 54 persons attending and 17 persons reading poetry, essays and short stories in English, French, Spanish, Norwegian and Albanian. Besides our gifted UN staffers and veterans we had guests from the Société génevoise des écrivains and the Centre PEN Suisse romand and Aline Dedeyan did her orginal sketch to general applause

On 22 January 2016, Ex Tempore held its 20th annual salon, attended by 80 literature lovers, 19 of whom read essays, short stories and poetry. The evening included participation by the Societe genevoise des Ecrivains, Societe vaudoise des Ecrivains and by PEN International. The evening included participation not only by UN poets but also by the Societe Genevoise des Ecrivains, Societe Vaudoise des Ecrivains, and by PEN International. Poets declaimed in Arabic, English, French, Russian and Spanish – only Chinese was missing this year from the menu. But we also heard some German, Latin, Albanian and Vietnamese.

On 23 January 2015, Ex Tempore held its 19th annual salon. The evening was a great success and included participation by the societe Genevoise des Ecrivains and by PEN International.

On 24 January 2014, Ex Tempore held its 18th annual salon. The evening was a great success with over 60 in the audience and some great readings and presentations.

On 25 January 2013, Ex Tempore held its 17th annual salon was a great success, 15 readers and 65 in the audience -- multilingual and full of humour & surprises.

On 28 July 2012, UNSW celebrated Jean Jacques Rousseau's 300th birthday at the Bar Escargot in the Palais des Nations. We lectured on the Reveries and theContrat Social.

On 20 January 2012, Ex Tempore held its 16th annual salon. 47 UN staffers came to share their works.

On 10 December 2011, the Board of Ex Tempore is pleased to announce that the anniversary number Vol. XX is now available. For the journal’s forthcoming issue, Vol. XXI, the Editorial Board invites literary efforts of general interest, short stories, science fiction, humour, poems or aphorisms in any of the UN official languages, or in other languages, together with a translation. Please send these to David Winch electronically: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and/or to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Who said UN staffers didn't have creative talent? We had languages galore: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Hebrew, Vietnamese... and we announced that the next issue of the Ex Tempore will be devoted to the general theme: "Music, the international language". Besides the usual UN crowd, we had guests from the Geneva Art Club, the Geneva Writers Group, the Société genevoise des Ecrivains and P.E.N. Suisse romand.

On 22 January 2010 Ex Tempore held its 14th annual literary salon. 73 people showed up, 14 performed -- poems, short stories, essays and, of course, Aline Dedeyan's sketch, which this time she did together with Sébastien Vernay of the service du prêt of the Bibliothèque des Nations Unies. It was a lot of fun. Another highlight of the evening was the singing -- yes, Connie, a colleague from WHO performed her own songs, thus demonstrating in a very immediate and contagious way the link between literature and music -- we also played her new CD with her poems. Who said UN staffers didn't have creative talent? We had languages galore: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Hebrew, Vietnamese... and we announced that the next issue of the Ex Tempore will be devoted to the general theme: "Music, the international language". Besides the usual UN crowd, we had guests from the Geneva Art Club, the Geneva Writers Group, the Société genevoise des Ecrivains and P.E.N. Suisse romand.

On 14 August 2009 We celebrated the 20th Anniversary of the founding of the United Nations Society of Writers with poetry -- and champagne.

On Friday, 23 January 2009, Ex Tempore held its 13th annual salon. We celebrated the 250th anniversary of the birth of Friedrich von Schiller (1759-1905).

On 5 October 2008, Ex Tempore hosted the Mahmoud Darwish memorial lecture during which poems of the recently deceased Palestinian poet were read out in Arabic, and in English and French translation. On 23 January 2009 it hosted the traditional salon, attended by 52 participants.

On Friday, 25 January 2008,  Ex Tempore held its 12th annual salon. 57 UN staffers came to share their works. There was even singing and dancing at the end.

On Friday, 19 January 2007, Ex Tempore held its 11th annual salon. 63 poets and essayists from the United Nations Office in Geneva, some of them members of PEN International read their oeuvres in English, French, German, Spanish, Russian -- even Arabic, Vietnamese and Dutch. We celebrated the centennial of the birth of Samuel Beckett and the bicentennial of the birth of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, whose "Sonnets from the Portuguese" seduced not just her husband Robert Browning!. In 2007 we celebrated Daphne du Maurier (Rebecca, the Birds) and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Evangeline)

On Thursday, 18 May 2006, Ex Tempore hosted a lunchtime music-and-poetry event in the Cinema Room at the Palais des Nations. Thanks to the organization and charm of Karin Kaminker and Alex Ezana, it was a resounding success. Below is a photo of some of the participants, courtesy of one of our members Vatsala Virdee from UNHCR (at the extreme left). I am the last person on the right, next to Karin.

On December 2005 Ex Tempore website launched after 16 years since the society's establishment in 1989