Ex
Tempore is the literary journal published annually by the United
Nations Society of Writers (UNSW)/ Societé des écrivains
des Nations Unies (SENU) in Geneva.
The society of writers was founded on 14 August 1989 by Sergio Chaves (Argentina), Leonor Sampaio (Brazil) and Alfred de Zayas (USA).
Over a capuccino (renversé)
at the Press Bar of the Palais des Nations, Alfred suggested naming
the proposed journal "Ex Tempore", since staff contributions
should be crisp, uncomplicated, impromptu, and as far away as possible
from the stale UN jargon of resolutions and reports.
We wanted to prove that we could write
literature - not just bureaucratic pseudo-intellectual stuff. The most
boring part of our endeavour was the drafting and amending the statutes,
and getting our own issn number: ISSN 1020-6604.
After 15 years as president of the
UN Society of Writers, I announced at the General Assembly on 15 December
2005 that I would gladly retire and leave my post to the younger and
more enthusiastic colleagues. At the general assembly held on 24 May
2007 at the Palais des Nations the new Board was confirmed in the following
composition:
President: Karin Kaminker
Vice-President: Carla Edelenbos
Secretary: Christina Giordano
Treasurer: Janet Weiler
Editor-in-chief: Alfred de Zayas
The Board of Ex Tempore is
pleased to announce that Vol. XVII is now available. For the journal’s
forthcoming issue, Vol. XVIII, 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 Alfred
de Zayas electronically: zayas@bluewin.ch
or to Karin Kaminker: k.kaminker@gmail.com.
Membership is open to active and retired
staff of the United Nations, specialized agencies, CERN, Permanent Missions
and Observer Missions, inter-governmental organisations, NGO’s and the
press corps. We invite you to subscribe to Ex Tempore and support
the Society of Writers of the UN Staff Socio-Cultural Commission. The
membership fee is SFr. 40.— per year. Please send your generous donations
directly to Ex Tempore’s account with the Union de Banque Suisse,
branch office at the Palais des Nations, Geneva, account No. 279-CA
100.855.0.
On Friday, 19 January
2007, "Ex Tempore" held its
11th annual salon at my home. 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 are celebrating 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..

For more
photos click here
Press reviews:
Les internationaux
lancent un Salon littéraire, Tribune de Genève,
9 avril 1997
Le cercle de poètes
qui libère les Onusiens, Tribune de Genève,
12 février 2004
Les onusiens et la littérature.
UN Special, February 2005.
Dixieme
soireee litteraire de las Societe des Ecrivains. UN Special,
April 2006
Scat: Le
recital de poesie, 18 mai 2006 UN Special June 2006, pp.
19-21.
Chez
Alfred de Zayas: Fête de la Genève Internationale.
Diva International, 2006 Nr. 2.
Ex Tempore- Nouveau Numéero et Sorée
Littéraire. UN Special, Avril 2008, p. 33.
Latest Ex Tempore:
Ex
Tempore volume XVIII (December, 2007)

Ex Tempore volume XVII (December, 2006)

Ex
Tempore volume XVI (December, 2005)

Ex Tempore volume XV
(2004)
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Click on icon for download - but be prepared, 1.2MB (word only)!
| Ex Tempore volume XIII (2002)

Devoted to Peace and anti-war literature. Full text coming soon.
Table of contents
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Ex Tempore volume XIV (2003)

This is the first full text Ex Tempore that I make available. It is the pre-publication version that excludes texts in Arabic, Chinese and Russian (my Word does not support those scripts).
Click on icon for download - but be prepared, 1.6MB (pdf only)!
Table of contents |
Ex Tempore volume XI (2000)

The Millenium issue - full text coming soon.
Table of contents
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Ex Tempore volume XII (2001)

Highlighting the Saleve mountain in France. Full text coming soon.
Table of contents
Click on icon for download - but be prepared, 0.2MB (Word only)!
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Ex Tempore volume IX (1998)

The Millenium issue - full text coming soon.
Table of contents
Highlighting the Saleve mountain in France. Full text coming soon.
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Ex Tempore volume X (1999)

Tenth year jubilee issue - full text coming soon.
Table of contents
The Millenium issue - full text coming soon.
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Ex Tempore volume VII (1996)

Full text coming soon.
Table of contents |
Ex Tempore volume VIII (1997)

Full text coming soon.
Table of contents
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Ex Tempore volume V (1994)

Full text coming soon.
UN: our second family (English)
UN: our second family (Russian) |
Ex Tempore volume VI (1995)

Full text coming soon.
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Ex Tempore volume III (1992)
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Ex Tempore volume IV (1993)
Full text coming soon.
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Ex Tempore volume I (1989)
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Ex Tempore volume II (1991) 
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