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.
Khaled Hosseini Joins PEN to Call for Immediate Release of Azeri Journalist Khadija Ismayilova
Ismayilova was arrested December 5 in Baku on spurious charges of inciting a man to suicide, and was subsequently sentenced to two months in pretrial detention. A leading investigative… More
Rushdie, Serra, Kushner & Others Join PEN Trustees to Urge Sony Pictures to Distribute The Interview
PEN offers to host a public screening of the film. More
PEN Urges Sony to Reconsider Decision to Pull ‘The Interview’
PEN American Center expresses its profound regret at Sony Pictures’ statement that The Interview will not be released on any platform as a result of threats made by unidentified… More
Turkey: Erdoğan Ensnares Journalists in Political Battle
PEN American Center condemns the arrests of Turkish journalists in police raids today that apparently targeted media and police officials accused of being aligned with political opponents of President… More
Writers Call on Attorney General to Drop Risen Subpoena
Efforts to compel journalist James Risen to reveal a confidential source(s) could cement the Obama Administration’s legacy as one of the most hostile to press freedom in U.S. history,… More
Reckoning with Torture: Time for Reflection and Action
The Senate Intelligence Committee report on the use of torture by the CIA in the years after 9/11, which has already drawn telling responses from congressional insiders, was finally… More
Students’ Conviction Serves to Further Punish Jailed Professor Ilham Tohti
Seven of Tohti’s students were sentenced to three-to-eight years in prison this morning on spurious charges of separatism, for which Tohti is also serving a life sentence. Students who… More
Renewed Charges Against Pınar Selek Make a Mockery of Turkish Justice System
Trumped up charges against Selek, a Turkish sociologist and feminist, of involvement in the 1998 Istanbul Spice Bazaar explosion were renewed today at the 15th High Criminal Court in… More
Auction of First Edition Classics Annotated by Their Authors Raises $1 Million to Benefit PEN American Center
Philip Roth’s American Pastoral Top-Seller at $80,000. Underworld by Don DeLillo Fetches Second Highest Bid of $57,000. More
PEN Deplores Upholding of Life Sentence for Ilham Tohti
Today, PEN received the devastating news that Ilham Tohti’s life sentence has been upheld by a closed court in China. More