PEN America/PEN International: Chinese Authorities Should Immediately Release Blogger Sentenced to 7 Years in Prison
“The seven-year prison sentence handed down to Ruan Xiaohuan for his politics and technology blog is an outrage. Blogging is not a crime and the heavy prison sentence on… More
Chinese Authorities Must Release “Blank Paper” Protesters and Allow Free Expression on COVID-19 Pandemic
We call on the Chinese government to release Cao Zhixin (曹芷馨), Li Siqi (李思琪), Li Yuanjing (李元婧), and Zhai Dengrui (翟登蕊). More
Sentencing of Poet Wang Zang and His Wife to Prison in China Shows “Repressive Environment” for Free Expression, as PEN America Calls For Their Release
“We condemn the sentencing of Wang Zang for exercising his freedom to write, and of his wife Wang Liqin whose only apparent ‘crime’ was advocating for her husband’s rights,”… More
Grave Concern for Poet Zhang Guiqi, Sentenced to Six Years in Prison, for Calling on Xi Jinping to Step Down
PEN America and the Independent Chinese PEN Centre condemn the conviction of poet Zhang Guiqi and calls for his immediate release. More
China: PEN Centers Call for Xu Zhiyong’s Immediate Release
PEN America, PEN International, and the Independent Chinese PEN Center (ICPC) call on the Chinese government release Xu Zhiyong. More
PEN America Reacts with Alarm to News of Intimidation of Chinese Dissidents in U.S.
Human rights groups and expert commentators have increasingly warned that authoritarian governments, with China as a prominent example, have increasingly rolled out new and expanded tactics of trans-national repression.… More
The PEN Pod: A Reflection on Free Speech in 2021 with Suzanne Nossel
“Perhaps never before in our public discourse. . . has there been a moment where issues of free expression. . . have been more salient to our politics.” More
The PEN Pod: On Self-Censorship, Book Bans, and Biden’s Virtual Democracy Summit
“Students are really crucial allies. They have, I think, an instinctive sense of not wanting to be told what they can and can’t read.” More
The PEN Pod: On Peng Shuai, Critical Race Theory Taboos, and Simpsons Censorship
“It’s just this very palpable way in which the pressure is being felt at every level. . . from top administrators to individual professors who are being put under… More