Turkish Translator and Publisher on Trial: Take Action!
[caption id="" align="none" width="320" caption="Turkish editions of Soft Machine by William S. Burroughs and Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk"][/caption] Last year, I reported on the trial of Turkish publisher ?rfan Sanc?… More
Doug Liman Seeks Contributors to Reckoning with Torture Film
Our Reckoning with Torture film project enters its final phase today with director Doug Liman’s national call for citizen-contributed video footage and the launch of reckoningwithtorture.org, an innovative web… More
PEN Protesta!: Writing the Future
[caption id="attachment_8977" align="alignnone" width="405" caption="PEN Protesta! statement, signed by 170 of the world’s leading writers declaring solidarity with Mexican journalists"][/caption] Representatives of PEN centers from around the globe joined PEN… More
The U.S. Torture Program in Drama and Dialogue
What is the connection between theater, democracy, and human rights? I’m a playwright who has struggled with these issues for 30 years... I came to feel I had to… More
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