PEN America works tirelessly to defend free expression, support persecuted writers, and promote literary culture. Here are some of the latest ways PEN America is speaking out.

  • With just a couple of days left before her forced summons to Evin prison, Sepideh Rashnu, an Iranian writer and graduate student who was arrested after an altercation with another woman who tried to force her to wear a hijab, shared a message with PEN America and gave us permission for it to be widely distributed. “As a writer, I have never thought that literature and narration are separate from the struggle and resistance for human rights.”

  • PEN America hosted its Free Expression Advocacy Institute in Washington, D.C., where high schoolers studied the theories, law, histories, and methodologies behind free expression advocacy. The institute featured presentations by PEN America’s legal and policy experts, interactive workshops, and discussions sessions. 
  • Alongside press rights organizations including the Committee to Protect Journalists and the Knight First Amendment Institute, PEN America signed a letter that asked President Joe Biden to urge Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to protect journalists and uphold press freedom. 
  • PEN America criticized Russian courts for sentencing editor and journalist Alsu Kurmasheva to 6.5 years in prison for “spreading false information” about the Russian military. “We condemn the sentencing of Alsu Kurmasheva for the basic act of exercising her right to free speech which is rapidly becoming criminalized in Putin’s Russia,” said Polina Sadovskaya, advocacy and Eurasia director at PEN America.
  • PEN America condemned a Russian court’s sentencing of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich to 16 years in prison in a high-security penal colony on charges of espionage and called for Gershkovich’s immediate and unconditional release. “We condemn the cruel and outrageous 16-year prison sentence for Evan Gershkovich, based completely on unfounded and manufactured espionage charges,” said Suzanne Nossel, CEO of PEN America
  • PEN America expressed concern about The Wall Street Journal’s dismissal of journalist Selina Cheng shortly after she was elected to chair the Hong Kong Journalists Association. “Any appearance that a reporter might be discouraged from or disciplined for supporting press freedom research and documentation is deeply concerning,” said James Tager, director of Research at PEN America. 
  • Mina Haq, consultant with PEN America’s journalism and disinformation program, spoke with David Silva Ramirez about how he pulls back the curtain for Dallas residents on how decisions are made, and launched the Documenters program, which pays and trains Dallas residents to attend and take notes at public meetings before publishing the results. 
  • Samantha LaFrance, manager of editorial projects, Free Expression and Education, wrote that University of Alabama campuses didn’t have to close their DEI offices. They did anyway.
  • Freedom to Learn Program Director Jeremy C. Young, Campus Free Speech consultant Neijma Celestine-Donnor, and Freedom to Learn Program Coordinator Jacqueline Allain wrote about Diversity, Free Expression, and Higher Education in the journal Metropolitan Universities.

See previous PEN America updates