Lakshmi Puri, Wole Soyinka, Arjun Appadurai, Jeffrey Sachs y Nasser David Khalili.

UNESCO: Communication and Information

After he fled abroad in 1994, Soyinka became a self-appointed diplomat who campaigned against Abacha's regime and encouraged Western countries to impose sanctions on the Nigerian government and its allies.

BBC: Nigeria's Soyinka back on stage

The agenda has not impressed a group of African and European writers, ranging from the South African, Nadine Gordimer, and the Nigerian Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka, to the Czech president, Vaclav Havel.

BBC: NEWS | Europe | EU-Africa: The key issues

The event has attracted poets of all ages, continents and literary stature -- from Nobel Laureates Seamus Heaney (Ireland) and Wole Soyinka (Nigeria) to Poet Laureates Kay Ryan (U.S.) to Bill Manhire (New Zealand).

CNN: A deluge in London, but this time it's raining poems

The opening addresses were followed by a debate between prominent intellectuals and peace advocates -- including UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Forest Whitaker, Deputy Executive Director of UN Women, Lakshmi Puri, Wole Soyinka, Arjun Appadurai, Jeffrey Sachs, as well as Nasser David Khalili.

UNESCO: MEDIA SERVICES

These issues will be at the heart of a High Level Debate on the Culture of Peace and Non Violence organized by UNESCO, in the presence of the UN Secretary-General, UNESCO Special Envoy for Basic and Higher Education Her Highness Sheikha Moza Bint Nasser and prominent intellectuals and peace advocates, including Wole Soyinka, Elie Wiesel and Forrest Whittaker.

UNESCO: MEDIA SERVICES