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
Privacy and Civil Liberties Board Fails to Protect Its Title Values
Although the Board acknowledged foreign citizens' human right to privacy, it sidesteps the central question of the United States’ obligation to uphold those rights. More
Writer Ilham Tohti Subjected to Prisoner Abuse, Says PEN
Uyghur writer Ilham Tohti has faced long periods of food deprivation and restraint by shackling during his detention, in violation of China’s international obligations under Article 16 of the… More
PEN Calls on Kerry to Denounce Journalists’ Conviction in Egypt
The conviction of Al Jazeera journalists Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy, and Baher Mohamed demonstrates a blatant disregard for the universally guaranteed right to free expression. More
Shortlists Announced for the 2014 PEN Literary Awards
The shortlist includes a number of nationally and internationally acclaimed writers, including Janet Malcolm, W. S. Merwin, David Sedaris, Deborah Solomon, and James Wolcott, as well as new and… More
PEN Condemns Anti-Gay Censorship at Moscow International Open Book Festival
Russia’s growing portfolio of discriminatory censorship laws threatens to erode Russia’s historically rich literary culture. More
Thai Junta Targets Writers and Scholars
PEN American Center calls upon the Thai military to immediately rescind its order for individual writers and scholars to turn themselves in, and to end all restrictions on freedom… More