Egyptian Poet Galal El-Behairy—Jailed for Five Years for Writing a Song—Joins Hunger Strike Over Inhumane Conditions
“Galal El-Behairy’s continuing imprisonment and the revolving door of charges he faces--for writing a song--are an outrage, especially given that he has already completed a sentence on spurious charges.… More
Deep Concern Over Multiple Arrests of Writers, Artists, Musicians in Iran, Related to Repression Of Mass Protests Since September
“We are deeply concerned by the Iranian government’s forceful repression of free expression in response to this movement for democracy and human rights, and we condemn the targeted arrests… More
DARE: Anchors Scramble to Fact-Check Trump After Prime-Time Address
TV networks try real-time fact-checking on presidential address after agreeing to grant live broadcast. Federal court rules that elected official in... More
DARE: CNN Asks for Emergency Hearing after Trump Threatens to Revoke Acosta’s Press Pass Again
White House officials tell CNN correspondent Jim Acosta that his press pass will be suspended again when the court restraining order forcing its... More
Jonathan Franzen, Neil Gaiman, other authors push Chinese president to free jailed writers
British author Neil Gaiman is among the 40 authors, journalists and other free expression advocates who added their signatures to a letter urging Chinese President Xi Jinping to release… More
Neil Gaiman joins authors in urging Chinese president to release jailed writers
More than 40 authors, including Jonathan Franzen, Neil Gaiman and Ian McEwan, have written an open letter to Xi Jinping, ahead of his first US state visit, expressing ‘concern… More
Alert Us
Are you an artist at risk or know someone who is?
PEN America On 
White House will not pay for staff's official Twitter profiles to be verified: "It is our understanding that Twitter Blue does not provide person-level verification as a service... a blue check mark will now simply (verify)... the account is a paid user." https://www.axios.com/2023/03/31/twitter-verification-white-house-biden-check-mark
#Florida: Pinellas school officials now deny the PG-rated ‘Ruby Bridges’ film they banned was banned.
Previously: The district banned Toni Morrison’s first novel, “The Bluest Eye,” from all high schools in January after one Palm Harbor parent complained. https://www.tampabay.com/news/education/2023/03/31/school-board-superintendent-kevin-hendrick-disney-north-shore-elementary/
Proud. @PENamerica supports kidlit and authors esp on Trans Day of visibility. Trans stories are being attacked. And it's never about the books - it's about what the books represent. The ultimate free expression - celebrating who you are. https://pen.org/banned-books-transgender-stories/