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Longings

I miss the feeling of weightlessness while floating in the ocean and staring at the clear blue sky, gently bobbing to the rhythm of events beyond the horizon. I miss the salt stinging my… More

Joe Speedboat

It’s been a warm spring. At school they’re praying for me, because I’ve been out of it for more than two hundred days. I’ve got bedsores all over my body… More

Two Journalists Dead; Five Missing

International PEN protests the deaths of two more Mexican print journalists and the reported disappearance of at least five others in March 2010. More

Ilustrado

PrologueThe Panther lurks no longer in foreign shadows—he’s come home to rest. Crispin Salvador’s fitting epitaph, by his request, is merely his name.—from an unattributed obituary, The Philippine Sun,… More

Lines

lines that bind or tie together our shared histories meander like the mighty Mississippi intricate web—emit the life of our times, flow organically as tree branches etch a map upon our brows, cheeks … visual reminders to all… More

Rehabilitation

No sky. No grass. No trees, No travel. No children. No wife. No man’s best friend. No trust. No suffrage. No income. No autonomy. No power to do good. More

Novelist Arrested; Fears of Ill-Treatment

International PEN is seriously concerned by the arrest of writer Raghdah Sa’id Hassan on February 10, 2010, after writing her first novel. Since then, she has been held incommunicado… More

salsa meditation

my hands will smell for days of onions, garlic and jalapeños despite repeated washings after slicing, dicing and mincing with my trusty lid-o-matic and plastic picnic knife essential utensils of a prison… More

Journalist J. S. Tissainayagam Freed

International PEN welcomes the release on bail of Tamil journalist Jayaprakash Sittampalam (J. S.) Tissainayagam, who was detained in March 2008 and sentenced to 20 years in prison for… More