Press Releases
PEN America experts are available for interviews with the press. Please direct inquiries to Suzanne Trimel, Senior Advisor, Communications and Media, at [email protected].
At a time of unprecedented attacks against the free press, PEN America Members are taking action. Join us today.
Bangladesh: Publisher’s Ongoing Detention Illustrates Need for Legal Reform
The continued detention of Bangladeshi publisher Shamsuzzoha Manik is an undue restriction on freedom of expression in a current environment of extreme risk for those who express dissenting views,… More
China: Two Independent Chinese PEN Center Members Given Harsh Sentences
The sentencing of two Independent Chinese PEN Center members to lengthy prison terms for the publication of pro-democracy essays is yet another blow in the government’s crackdown on free… More
Detention of Poet Dareen Tatour Signals Worrying Escalation in Israeli Repression
Israel’s detention and prosecution of Arab-Israeli poet Dareen Tatour is further evidence of the increasingly aggressive measures undertaken by the government to restrict speech critical of the state, PEN… More
Hong Kong: Bookseller’s Harrowing Account Requires Immediate Attention
Detained Hong Kong bookseller Lam Wing-kee’s account of his months-long ordeal in mainland police custody, where he was interrogated without a lawyer and forced to confess to “illegal trading,”… More
2015 Freedom to Write Award Winner Khadija Ismayilova Freed
PEN America celebrates the release of the fearless and formidable Azerbaijani investigative reporter Khadija Ismayilova, winner of the 2015 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award. Ismayilova was released… More
Myanmar: Poet Maung Saungkha Released
PEN America is delighted that poet Maung Saungkha has been released from prison today in Myanmar but is deeply concerned by remaining barriers to free expression in the country.… More
PEN Literary Gala Honors Celebrates Opponents of Censorship and Speaking Truth to Power
May 16 Ceremony Celebrates J.K. Rowling, Hachette CEO Michael Pietsch, Flint Activists Lee-Anne Walters and Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, and Jailed Egyptian Novelist Ahmed Naji NEW YORK—New York’s literary community gathered… More
France: Troubling criminal charges against photojournalist
The criminal charges brought in France against photojournalist Maya Vidon-White for pictures she took during the Bataclan terrorist attack in Paris are a troubling, overbroad application of a well-intentioned… More
120 Writers Join PEN America Call for Release of Egyptian Author Ahmed Naji
Chimamanda Adichie, Woody Allen, Michael Chabon, Philip Roth, and more call on Sisi to free novelist jailed for 'violating public modesty' More
Egypt: Arrests and Reported Raid at Press Syndicate
A reported police raid on an Egyptian journalists' union office and the arrests of two journalists illustrate an escalating and unacceptable series of attacks on press freedom, PEN America… More
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