Eskinder Nega | Status: Detained | Ethiopia
Eskinder Nega, a journalist and dissident blogger who is one of Ethiopia’s leading advocates for press freedom and freedom of expression, served almost 7 years of an 18-year sentence… More
Nasrin Sotoudeh | Status: Imprisoned | Iran
Nasrin Sotoudeh, a prominent writer, human rights lawyer and activist, was abruptly re-arrested on June 13, 2018, and taken to Evin prison. Her arrest came shortly after her legal… More
Read Oleg Sentsov’s Acceptance Letter from the Solidarity of Arts Festival
"It's easy to be a revolutionary when revolution has already won. And much more difficult when the oppressor is still strong and the chances to win are small." More
He Is Not Forgotten: Celebrating Oleg Sentsov’s Birthday, His Sixth in Captivity
PEN America congratulates Oleg Sentsov on his 43rd birthday, which serves as a reminder to the world not to forget him in his plight. More
2019 Literary Gala: Presentation of the 2019 PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award
Watch the presentation of the PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award at the 2019 PEN America Literary Gala & Free Expression Awards. More
Ukrainian Filmmaker Oleg Sentsov Marks Five Years in Russian Prison
On this fifth anniversary of Oleg Sentsov's unjust detention, PEN America continues to call for his immediate and unconditional release. More
Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo | Status: Released | Myanmar
Prosecutors have charged the journalists with obtaining important and secret state documents relating to the crisis in Rakhine State, from which some 680,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled since August… More
The PEN Ten Interview: Ahmed Naji on Language, Identity, and Writing in Exile
"I don't want to be sad, or a prisoner of my own nostalgia. It's an excellent opportunity to be here, and I am thirsty. I want to learn everything,… More
Liu Jingsheng | Status: Released | China
Liu Jingsheng is a peaceful opposition activist and a former co-editor of Tansuo (Explorations), a journal he founded in the late 1970s along with Wei Jingsheng. More
DARE: 3 Saudi Women Activists Receive PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award
PEN America announces 2019 PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award honorees: Saudi Writer-Activists and Women's Rights Champions Nouf Abdulaziz, Loujain... More
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During the pandemic, PEN America continued introducing new emerging voices of international writers through @penworldvoices. Listen to Russian poet from Chechnya Lolita Agamalova in our series "Writers in Residence": https://bit.ly/3cv0WY2.
Women, many of them students, are speaking out against a patriarchy that controls the military, the monarchy, and the Buddhist monkhood, Thailand's most powerful institutions. https://nyti.ms/3i4SUpQ