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.
Noted Authors, Artists Annotate Classic Works for Auction to Benefit PEN American Center
Sixty-one of America’s greatest writers and fourteen world-renowned artists have annotated their own classic works for an auction to benefit PEN American Center. More
After Ferguson, PEN Calls for New Police Guidelines on Media Freedom
The striking number of violations of press freedom during the Ferguson, MO protests reveals an urgent need for better training for police on media freedoms during public demonstrations, PEN… More
Prominent Jordanian-British Poet Turned Away from New York-Bound Flight
The absence of any grounds for his exclusion raises the troubling possibility that Nasser is being punished and silence on the basis of his opinions and writings. More
PEN Presses Turkey to Stop ‘Judicial Harrassment’ of Pınar Selek
The decision of an Istanbul court to proceed with the trial of Turkish sociologist and feminist Pınar Selek 16 years after the start of her legal ordeal is a… More
Hundreds Rally in New York for Release of Ilham Tohti
"Tohti is exactly the kind of influential moderate the Chinese government should have courted in their professed efforts to build social harmony,” said Dominic Moran, Director of Free Expression… More
PEN American Center Names Shawn Vestal Winner of Prestigious Bingham Prize
PEN American Center conferred the 2014 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Award for Debut Fiction on Shawn Vestal for 'Godforsaken Idaho.' More
MONDAY: Candlelight Vigil for Ilham Tohti
On Monday night, PEN American Center will host a public candlelight vigil for Ilham Tohti, the Uyghur writer and scholar who was sentenced to life in prison on September… More
Tohti Trial a ‘Farce,’ Says PEN American Center
Ilham Tohti, a scholar and writer who should have been a welcome ally in China’s efforts to build a harmonious society, instead faces more than a decade in… More
Arrest of Tie Liu Proves ‘Pen is Mightier Than the Sword’
The arrest and detention Sunday of Chinese writer and publisher Tie Liu is an outrageous example of Beijing’s 65-year campaign against free expression, prioritizing the image of the Party… More
Yahoo’s Forced SiIence on Information Requests Demonstrates Need for Reform
The threat of a $250,000 per day fine, and the fact that Yahoo was forced to keep its efforts to challenge the government’s demands secret for years after the… More
Support for the freedom to read with exclusive designs by Todd Parr, Mike Curato, Art Spiegelman, and more!
