Mexican journalist Lydia Cacho, British writer Hanif Kureishi receive PEN literary prizes

Mexican journalist Lydia Cacho receives PEN prize

LONDON — A Mexican journalist who was arrested and threatened after exposing a pedophile ring is to receive a major writing prize.

Writers’ charity PEN says Lydia Cacho is the recipient of its International Writer of Courage Prize, which goes to writers persecuted for their beliefs.

Cacho was arrested, charged with libel and received death threats after publishing a book about a child sex abuse ring involving business figures in Cancun in 2005.

The prize is presented alongside an award to a British writer, created in honor of Nobel Prize-winning playwright Harold Pinter. This year’s winner is Hanif Kureishi, whose screenplays and novels include “My Beautiful Laundrette” and “The Buddha of Suburbia.”

The awards will be presented in London on Oct. 20.