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Four Last Songs
I’d forgotten to pay attention for years / To a song I heard for the first time // At the end of a recent memorial, / An actual song… More
Richard Blanco: “To fulfill an ideal of home”
And although home may never be more than a myth just out of reach, an invisible city just outside my window, or a place between the lines of my… More
Three Years after the Quake
Saturday will mark three years since the devastating earthquake in Haiti that killed an estimated 300,000 people. PEN, too, was affected by the tragedy, as PEN Haiti's director Georges… More
Prominent Writer and Editor Arrested, Fears for Their Safety
PEN International fears for the safety of writer Turki Al-Hamad and editor Raif Badawi, both at risk of being convicted of apostasy, which carries the death penalty in Saudi… More
“Tourist” and “Boat People”
Don’t take a picture of my burro / My burro’s load’s too heavy / And he’s too small / And he has no food here / Don’t take a… More
PEN Turkey Latest Target of Censors
The widening net of censorship in Turkey is now threatening to snare the Turkish PEN Center, with eight members of the organization’s board of directors now facing a criminal… More
Digital Freedom and Crime in the Twitterverse
As the global reach of social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook expands, important questions of Digital Freedom and free expression arise. More
Richard Blanco, Inaugural Poet
President Obama has selected poet Richard Blanco to read the inaugural poem in Washington DC on January 21st. Good editorial work, POTUS! Read two poems from Blanco's Directions to… More
Renewed Demands for Information About Welfare of Leading Uighur Writer Nurmuhemmet Yasin
PEN International reiterates calls for information about the welfare of detained Chinese writer Nurmuhemmet Yasin, following unconfirmed and disputed reports that he died in prison in 2010. More
Seven-Year Sentence Confirmed for Enoh Meyomesse
PEN International protests in the strongest possible terms the seven-year prison sentence handed down to Cameroonian writer and activist Enoh Meyomesse. More
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