Writer Mark Steyn Honored With Mightier Pen Award

Writer Mark Steyn Honored With Mightier Pen Award
By Sarah Portlock

Author and columnist Mark Steyn has received the Mightier Pen Award from the Center for Security Policy for his writings on politics, art, and culture.

Mr. Steyn, who yesterday called himself a "free speech absolutist," recently published a best-selling book, "America Alone: The End of the World As We Know It," and writes columns that appear in numerous publications, including The New York Sun.

In remarks yesterday at the "21" Club in Midtown Manhattan, the president of the Center for Security Policy, Frank Gaffney, praised Mr. Steyn's unique approach in writing about the rise and spread of Islamofascism since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

"It has been packaged not with sugarcoating but with humor, with irony, with sarcasm in a way that has been tremendously effective," Mr. Gaffney said.

"His impact is extraordinary in the sense that he's so thoughtful about the central challenge of our time, which is this intolerant, very totalitarian ideology operating in places in our midst as well as overseas," Mr. Gaffney said after the event.

To applause, Mr. Steyn thanked the center and said the world "needs a lot more mighty pens" to shed light on the present state of the world.

The award previously has gone to an anchor on CNN, Lou Dobbs, the founder of the National Review, William F. Buckley Jr., and an editor of the New York Times, A.M. Rosenthal.

http://www.nysun.com/article/67660