Truth-Telling And Its Dire Consequences: PEN America Hosts Conversation with Writers Targeted by Authoritarians Around the Globe
By Suzanne Trimel (NEW YORK)—The difficult plight of writers living under authoritarian rule has been well-documented over decades, with some enduring impossibly harsh treatment for their truth-telling and resistance to… More
PEN America 2021 Freedom to Write Index: Myanmar Joins China and Saudi Arabia as World’s Top Jailers of Writers
During 2021, Myanmar accounted for the single-largest increase of writers and public intellectuals newly jailed for exercising free expression, due to the military junta’s crackdown on influential voices such… More
Li Liqun Li Huizi
Li Liqun was an esteemed blogger and writer well-known by his pen name Li Huizi who blogged about fairness and justice and wrote poetry. Li took his own life… More
Luo Changping
Author, blogger, and former investigative reporter Luo Changping was arrested in October 2021 for “defaming martyrs” after posting on Weibo a critical review of a film depicting a battle… More
Ou Biaofeng
Activist and online commentator Ou Biaofeng was detained on December 3, 2020 in relation to his tweets about an activist who splashed ink on a poster of President Xi… More
Qiu Ziming La Bi Xiao Qiu
In February 2021, author and blogger Qiu was detained for questioning on Weibo the Chinese government-reported casualty numbers in an India-China border dispute. In May 2021, he was sentenced… More
Wang Yuwen Wang Zang
Poet Wang Zang was taken by police from his home in Chuxiong City in May 2020 and charged in July with “incitement to subvert state power.” Evidence against him… More
Zhang Guiqi Lu Yang
Poet Zhang was taken into police custody in May 2020, and charged with “inciting subversion of state power” a month later. Though unconfirmed, the charge is suspected to be… More
Li Guibao Fat Pig Full Circle Lao Li
After criticizing the government for its handling of COVID-19, playwright and blogger Li was detained in April 2020 and was later sentenced to one year in prison for “picking… More
Chen Yu Zhang Xiaomai
Chen owns an online book retailer that sells foreign-published Christian books to readers living in China. In September 2019, he was detained in Linhai city on suspicion of “illegal… More
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ICYMI, @AKurkov of @PenUkraine spoke at the #PENWorldVoices festival earlier this month; @TIME has reprinted his moving remarks, including: "Reality is now scarier, more dramatic than any fictional prose. In this context novels lose their meaning."
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Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali is a scholar of disaster medicine who is at imminent risk of execution in #Iran. #SaveAhmadreza #FreeDjalali before it is too late.
