Chido Onumah
Author, human rights activist, and journalist Onumah was briefly arrested and detained by the Nigerian Department of State Security (DSS) in September 2019 without explanation of the offense. He… More
Ogaga Ifowodo
Poet Ifowodo was arrested in November 1997 returning from the Commonwealth Summit in Scotland, where he appealed for stronger sanctions against then-President Sani Abacha. He was held in solitary… More
Sadiq Usman Saleh Sadiq Zazzabi
Popular R&B singer Saleh received a court summons for a song he released that allegedly contained “immorality by featuring seductive dances;” Saleh claimed his arrest was political. He pled… More
Fordham University Welcomes Writer at Risk in Residence Kanchana Ugbabe with PEN America and Artists at Risk Connection
As a writer and South Asian woman settled in an increasingly unstable part of Nigeria, the risks and uncertainty became personal, reaching her hometown, Jos. More
‘Citizens Must Draw Line Between Free Speech and Arbitrary Spite’: Nigerian Writers Call for Calm in Response to ‘Ethnic Hate Speech’
In response to the worsening climate, a group of Nigerian writers are calling for restraint amid heated rhetoric as the nation splinters along ethnic and religious lines. More
Godwin Agbroko | Status: Murdered | Nigeria
Godwin Agbroko, editorial board chairman of the private daily This Day, was arrested on two separate occasions in 1995, and again in 1996, when he spent several months in… More
Ogaga Ifowodo | Status: Released | Nigeria
Poet Ogaga Ifowodo was arrested around November 6, 1997 on his way home from the Commonwealth Summit in Edinburgh, where he and other activists appealed for stronger sanctions against… More
Looking for Transwonderland
Noo Saro-Wiwa on a harrowing and humorous visit to a dog show in Ibadan in her moving memoir, Looking for Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria. More
Chinua Achebe, Storyteller In Excelsis
Nigerian PEN President Tade Ipadeola on the influence of Chinua Achebe on his life and African letters. More
Second U.S.-Based Internet Writer Released
International PEN welcomes the release without charge of the U.S.-based Internet writer Emmanuel Emeka Asiwe, who was held incommunicado from October 28 to November 4, 2008 due to his… More
Support for the freedom to read with exclusive designs by Todd Parr, Mike Curato, Art Spiegelman, and more!
