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.
- PEN America reported it was overjoyed that Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, Washington Post columnist Vladimir Kara-Murza, and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty editor Alsu Kurmasheva were released from a Russian prison as a part of a prison swap.
- PEN America celebrated the permanent injunction issued by a federal judge in Florida against a section of the STOP Woke Act that prevents businesses from discussing advantages or disadvantages based on race during workplace trainings. “This ruling is a victory for free speech and proves Florida is not in fact where ‘woke’ goes to die,” said Katie Blankenship, director of PEN America’s Florida office.
- The Free Narges Coalition steering committee, composed of PEN America, Reporters Without Borders, and Front Line Defenders, called for medical care for 2023 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Narges Mohammadi following tests that demonstrated a concerning decline in her health. Mohammadi has been detained in Iran’s Evin prison since November 2021.
- PEN America sent a letter signed by over 500 authors, advocates, teachers, and parents that urged Gov. Ron DeSantis to reverse education censorship efforts in Florida. “We call on you today, and all of Florida’s leadership, to stop these tactics of suppression and instead provide the critical resources necessary to truly protect parents’ choice in education and ensure our communities flourish with successful, accessible, inclusive, high-quality public schools,” the letter states.
- In a new blog, Samantha LaFrance, manager of editorial projects, Free Expression and Education, discusses four new laws and policies that will implement statewide book bans. “The trend toward statewide banned book lists conjures the world of George Orwell’s 1984, but the book banning movement hopes you don’t get the reference: under these new laws, the book will likely be removed from shelves for containing sexual content,” LaFrance writes.
- PEN America expressed concern about direct attacks on the press after an Israeli missile strike killed two Al Jazeera journalists, Ismail al-Ghoul and Rami al-Refee, in Gaza.
- For the most recent installment of the U.S. Election Safety Summer series, IWMF Next Generation Safety Trainer Rosem Morton discussed how journalists can care for themselves after facing online and offline attacks.
