Abraham Serfaty | Status: Deceased | Morocco
Abraham Serfaty is an editor and political activist, jailed for his writing and political activities while he advocated for the independence of Morocco. His voice and work toward liberation… More
Nguyen Chi Thien | Status: Deceased | Vietnam
Vietnamese poet Nguyen Chi Thien spent almost 27 years in prison for his "politically irreverent poems" between 1960 and 1991. In 1989 he received the PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to… More
Pramoedya Ananta Toer | Status: Deceased | Indonesia
Pramoedya Ananta Toer (1925–2006) was the author of novels that chronicled much of that Southeast Asian country's turbulent history. Passing away in 2006, he leaves behind a legacy of… More
Ayşe Nur Zarakolu | Status: Deceased | Turkey
Founder of Turkey’s Freedom to Publish Committee, Ayşe Nur Zarakolu was a political essayist, the director of Belge Publishing House, and the only woman publishing director in Turkey at… More
Matsemela Manaka | Status: Deceased | South Africa
Matsemela Manaka was a writer, director, actor, poet and cultural theorist. His career in playwriting was spurred much in part by the Soweto uprising in 1976. Manaka received the… More
Zhang Jianhong (pen name: Li Hong) | Status: Deceased | China
Zhang Jianhong passed away on December 31, 2010, at a hospital in Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province. He was diagnosed with muscle atrophy and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known… More
Michel Kilo | Status: Deceased | Syria
Prominent writer and journalist Michel Kilo contributes to the leading Lebanese daily Al-Nahar and the London-based daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi. Initially, Kilo was arrested on May 14, 2006 when he… More
Zouhair Yahyaoui | Status: Deceased | Tunisia
The Freedom to Write Committee mourns the passing of Zouhair Yahyaoui. According to his family, he died of a heart attack on Sunday, March 13, 2005. He was arrested… More
Siamak Pourzand | Status: Deceased | Iran
Siamak Pourzand was a journalist and film critic. He was manager of the Majmue-ye Farrhangi-ye Honari-ye Tehran, a cultural center for writers, artists, and intellectuals. More