Matsemela Manaka | Status: Deceased | South Africa
Matsemela Manaka was a writer, director, actor, poet and cultural theorist. His career in playwriting was spurred much in part by the Soweto uprising in 1976. Manaka received the… More
Edip Polat | Status: Released | Turkey
Edip Polat is a Kurdish writer and biologist from southeastern Turkey. He is the author of five books about Kurdish issues, and has been jailed three times for advocating… More
Nizar Nayouf | Status: Displaced/In Exile | Syria
Nizar Nayouf is a writer, sociologist, and human rights activist who, at the time of the PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award, was serving a 10-year prison sentence with… More
Indamiro Restano Diaz | Status: Released | Cuba
Journalist, poet, and activist Indamiro Restano Diaz has been hailed as “the father of independent journalism” in Cuba for his pioneering leadership roles in multiple free press organizations. He… More
Jean Mario Paul | Status: Released | Haiti
Journalist and Radio correspondent, Jean Mario Paul is a native of Petit Gôave, 20 miles southwest of Port-au-Prince. Paul was well-known for his stories broadcast on Radio Antilles exposing… More
Deyda Hydara | Status: Murdered | Gambia
A newspaper publisher and press freedom champion, Deyda Hydara was gunned down in December 2004 for challenging increasingly restrictive press laws in the Gambia. More
Zone 9 Bloggers | Status: Released | Ethiopia
The Ethiopian Supreme Court on April 6, 2017, levied criminal charges against two Zone 9 bloggers, Atnaf Berhane and Natnail Feleke, three years after they were first arrested in April… More
Dzamshid Karimov | Status: Released | Uzbekistan
Dzamshid Karimov is a journalist who was held in psychiatric detention for over a year. He is known for being an outspoken critic of the government, and for his… More
Bigeldy Gabdullin | Status: Conditional Release | Kazakhstan
Bigeldy Gabdullin, journalist and President of the Kazakh PEN Club, was detained on November 15, 2016, and formally arrested on November 16, on charges of extortion. The international community… More
August Featured Cases: Artists Under Attack
This August, PEN’S Featured Cases highlight three artists at risk, who have been harassed, arrested, fined, censored, or killed for expressing themselves and producing art for others to enjoy… More
Support for the freedom to read with exclusive designs by Todd Parr, Mike Curato, Art Spiegelman, and more!
