Auster, Franzen, Egan, and More to Xi Jinping on Eve of State Visit: Free China’s Jailed Writers
NEW YORK—As President Obama prepares to welcome Xi Jinping on his first official visit to the United States next week, PEN American Center has released an open letter to… More
Dear President Xi: A Message from America’s Writers
The imprisonment of writers and journalists damages China’s image abroad and undercuts its ambition to be a strong and respected partner on the world stage. More
Free Expression Daily Digest: Wed., September 16
China releases scholar who helped activist and a Mozambique court acquits two accused of libeling ex-president. More
Free Expression Digest: Fri., Sept. 11
First steps toward justice in Bangladesh as Ecuador and Honduras deal major blows to press freedom. More
Bingham Prize Winner Jack Livings on Imagining China
But the award-winning short story collection The Dog marks a different type of literature about China. It’s a series of fictional short stories set in China but written by… More
Journalism, A Most Deadly Profession
The cases of Ruben Espinosa, Gao Yu, and Sandeep Kothari demonstrate the worrying power of governments to crush freedom of expression. Methods of silencing journalists have moved beyond rigged… More
China: Urgently Release Ill Journalist Gao Yu
We now write to express our deep concern about the health of imprisoned journalist Gao Yu, and to urge the Ministry of Public Security to immediately and unconditionally release… More
Irony in China: Anti-Corruption Activist Xu Zhiyong Marks Two Years in Prison
Today marks the two-year anniversary of the arrest of Chinese activist Xu Zhiyong under charges of disrupting public order. More
Chinese Efforts to Quash Human Rights Campaigns Rippling Out of Control
A string of disappearances and arrests of over 100 human rights lawyers in China in the past week is the boldest move yet in Beijing’s sprawling campaign to destroy… More
‘The Wounds of the Uyghur People Have Not Healed’
July 5, 2015 is the sixth anniversary of the Urumqi riots in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Ilham Tohti, winner of the 2014 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award,… More