Open Letter to the School Board of the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District
PEN America urges the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District not to pass the “Resolution Opposing the Teaching of Critical Race Theory.” More
Groundbreaking Essay Anthology on Writing Behind Bars Published
Today marks the publication of The Sentences that Create Us: Crafting a Writer’s Life in Prison (Haymarket Books), gathering stories and writing guidance from some of today’s most exciting… More
Iran Must Release those Unjustly Detained and Not Deny Medical Care to Prisoners, Says Coalition of Organizations led by PEN America
Today PEN America and eighteen other prominent human rights organizations sent a letter to the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, calling for the immediate and unconditional release of… More
PEN America Calls for Release of Writer Kakwenza Rukirabashaija
On December 28, 2021, award-winning writer Kakwenza Rukirabashaija was detained by Ugandan security forces and taken into unlawful detention without charges or explanation. More
Open Letter to Supreme Leader of Iran on Baktash Abtin
PEN America and its allies call on the Supreme Leader of Iran to urgently release filmmaker and poet Baktash Abtin and all unjustly detained for their writing or expression. More
PEN America Calls for Release of Ukrainian Theater Director Yevhen Lavrenchuk
PEN America called for the immediate release of Ukrainian theater director Yevhen Lavrenchuk, who has been detained in Italy since December 17 following an extradition request to Interpol from… More
PEN America Condemns Internet Shutdown in Kazakhstan
“This blackout is a blatant attack on freedom of expression by the government of Kazakhstan,'' said Polina Sadovskaya, PEN America’s Eurasia director. More
PEN America Demands Release of Baktash Abtin
After contracting COVID-19 in prison for a second time, 2021 PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write honoree Baktash Abtin is now in a medically-induced coma. More
ARC Condemns Arrest of Singer Denise Ho by Hong Kong National Police
Earlier today, Hong Kong’s National Police arrested singer and pro-democracy activist Denise Ho at her home on suspicion of violating the colonial-era Crimes Ordinance by allegedly conspiring to release… More
PEN America Condemns Sentencing of Historian Yury Dmitriev
Today, a court in Russia sentenced the historian and leader of a regional branch of the human rights organization Memorial Yury Dmitriev to 15 years in a penal colony. More