Arrest of Tie Liu Proves ‘Pen is Mightier Than the Sword’
The arrest and detention Sunday of Chinese writer and publisher Tie Liu is an outrageous example of Beijing’s 65-year campaign against free expression, prioritizing the image of the Party… More
Yahoo’s Forced SiIence on Information Requests Demonstrates Need for Reform
The threat of a $250,000 per day fine, and the fact that Yahoo was forced to keep its efforts to challenge the government’s demands secret for years after the… More
Louise Erdrich Wins PEN/Saul Bellow Award for Achievement in American Fiction
Erdrich exploded onto the literary scene in 1984 with her National Book Critics Circle Award-winning novel Love Medicine. More
Reports of Second American Journalist Murdered
The appalling targeting of journalists in the Iraq and Syrian conflicts must stop. They are non-combatants and their harassment, persecution, and murder is a violation of international press, civil,… More
Afghan Expulsion of New York Times Reporter ‘Baffling’
Matthew Rosenberg's expulsion came on the heels of a contradicting ban from leaving the Central Asian country issued Wednesday. More
Myanmar: Curtain Could Drop at any Moment
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry must uphold freedom of expression as requisite to foreign and trade relations with Southeast Asia, PEN American Center and PEN Myanmar said this… More
PEN to U.S.–Africa Leaders’ Summit: Trade Must Be Contingent on Human Rights
The development of U.S.-African trade relations must be paralleled by support for the cementing and extension of universal free expression norms in these countries, including the protection of writers… More
PEN Condemns Indictment of Ilham Tohti on Charges of Separatism
The government claims an aim to discourage violence, but the denial of peaceful means of expression risks having the exact opposite effect. More
Announcing the 2014 PEN Literary Award Winners
The Literary Awards Ceremony will be held on Monday, September 29, 2014, at The New School’s Auditorium at 66 West 12th Street in New York City. The complete list… More
Leading Authors Agree: Mass Surveillance is Censorship
Edward Albee, Don DeLillo, John Green, Rachel Kushner, and twenty-five other leading American writers joined PEN American Center today in an open letter to the Senate leadership demanding National… More