A “Campaign of Genocide” in Syria
This morning, Christopher Merrill of the International Writing Program in Iowa sent PEN a translation of a letter by Syrian novelist Khaled Khalifa imploring the world to help end… More
A “Campaign of Genocide”¥ in Syria
[caption id="attachment_8705" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Photo by syriana2011 via Flickr"][/caption] This morning, Christopher Merrill of the International Writing Program in Iowa sent PEN a translation of a letter by Syrian novelist… More
China Advocacy: Subversive Poetry, Prison, and Exile
[caption id="attachment_7819" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Yu Jie. Photo by Voice of America via Wikimedia Commons."][/caption] All across the world, we at PEN have noticed a trend against freedom of expression: the number… More
PEN Files UN Free Expression Reports on Bahrain, Ecuador, and South Africa
PEN contributed two more submissions—one on Bahrain and one on Ecuador—to the Universal Periodic Review at the UN, the process that reviews the human rights record of all member countries… More
Day of the Imprisoned Writer
[caption id="attachment_2757" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Photo by cccefalon via Wikimedia Commons"][/caption] Today marks the 30th annual Day of the Imprisoned Writer, a yearly commemoration of writers around the world who have… More
Turkish PEN’s Ragip Zarakolu Sends Open Letter from Prison
[caption id="attachment_5666" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Ragip Zarakolu in Oslo"][/caption] Earlier this week, PEN reported that publisher, writer, rights advocate, and leading Turkish PEN Member Ragip Zarakolu was arrested in a roundup… More
Venezuelan PEN Challenges Country’s Human Rights Record at UN
[caption id="attachment_4223" align="alignnone" width="350" caption="Popular Venezuelan newspapers. Photo by Cristobal Alvarado Minic."][/caption] Last Friday in Geneva, it was Venezuela’s turn to be examined by the Universal Periodic Review of the… More
Fighting Ideological Exclusion in South Africa
South African PEN is protesting the South African government’s failure to issue a visa to the Dalai Lama to attend fellow Nobel Peace Prize recipient Desmond Tutu’s private 80th birthday… More
U.S. State Department to Issue Visa to Kurdish Human Rights Advocate
[caption id="attachment_603" align="alignnone" width="300" caption=" "][/caption] We have just learned that Kerim Yildiz, executive director of the London-based Kurdish Human Rights Projects and a leading speaker and advisor on Kurdish rights issues,… More
Zhou Qing: Punished to Save Them
Zhou Qing is a writer and board member of the Independent Chinese PEN Center who has written several groundbreaking books of investigative nonfiction. Imprisoned for almost three years after taking… More
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