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].
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Former President of PEN International Wins 2010 Nobel Prize for Literature
Mario Vargas Llosa was named as this year's Nobel literature laureate at a ceremony today in Sweden. Vargas Llosa has been an active member of PEN for many years… More
PEN American Center President Presses Case of Liu Xiaobo for 2010 Nobel
PEN American Center President Kwame Anthony Appiah last night renewed his call to the Nobel Committee to recognize Chinese writer Liu Xiaobo with this year’s Peace Prize, telling an… More
Leading Writers Unite in Fight for Free Expression
PEN International, the worldwide community of writers and foremost advocate for free expression, meets in Tokyo this week to urge increased campaigning on behalf of silenced and imprisoned colleagues.… More
PEN Names New Director of World Voices Festival and Public Programs
PEN American Center, the largest branch of the world’s oldest literary and human rights organization, named László Jakab Orsós Director of the World Voices Festival and Public Programs. Orsós… More
Writers Urge U.N. to Abandon Efforts to Prohibit Defamation of Religions
At a panel held in conjunction with the Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva, writers and free-expression advocates from around the world today warned of the potential harm of… More
Writer Liao Yiwu Finally Permitted to Travel Outside China
PEN American Center today welcomed the Chinese government’s decision to lift its travel ban against renowned writer and Independent Chinese PEN Center Board Member Liao Yiwu, who is traveling… More
Writers Support Park51 Project, Religious Freedom
PEN American Center, the New York-based center of the 89-year-old international literary and human rights organization PEN, today released a statement in support of the proposed Park51 Community Center… More
Writers in U.S. and China Denounce Formal Arrest of Liu Xianbin
The case of writer and longtime activist Liu Xianbin was formally transferred to the Suining Municipal People's Procuratorate on July 21, 2010, invoking fears that he could face at… More
Colombian Journalist Hollman Morris Granted Visa to Join Harvard Program
A prominent Colombian journalist who was once barred from the United States has been granted a visa to come to this country to study. PEN American Center, the American… More
PEN Protests Heavy Sentence Against Uighur Journalist Gheyret Niyaz
PEN American Center denounced the conviction of Uighur journalist Gheyret Niyaz on charges of “endangering state security” on July 24, 2010, for discussing the ethnic unrest in the Xinjiang… More