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.
Writers Hail Executive Orders Ending Torture and Illegal Detention
PEN American Center praised President Barack Obama’s quick action in signing executive orders closing Guantanamo Bay and other secret detention facilities and explicitly banning torture, actions the organization has… More
World Authors Call on Chinese Authorities to Release Liu Xiaobo
Over 300 members of International PEN, the world writers’ association, have joined together to protest the ongoing detention of prominent Chinese dissident writer Liu Xiaobo by the Chinese authorities.… More
International PEN Statement on the War in Gaza
I had imagined being there beneath sunlight / with the procession of martyrs / using just the one thin bone / to uphold a true conviction More
Leading PEN Member Liu Xiaobo Detained in China on Eve of Human Rights Day
PEN American Center expressed extreme dismay today over the detention of prominent dissident and leading PEN Member Dr. Liu Xiaobo on suspicion of “inciting subversion of state power,” a… More
Day of the Imprisoned Writer
In the past year, the Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC) of International PEN has monitored the cases of more than 1,000 writers and journalists in 90 countries, 200 of… More
74th International PEN Congress Calls for Cultural Rights, Free Expression
International PEN closed a historic Congress in Bogotá by strengthening its commitment to supporting writers and literature from all cultures and languages. From September 17 to 22 , over… More
Mary Ann Hoberman Appointed as Children’s Poet Laureate
Please join PEN in congratulating Mary Ann Hoberman, who will serve as the nation's second Children's Poet Laureate: Consultant in Children's Poetry to the Poetry Foundation for a two-year… More
Writers Hail Ruling in Favor of Guantanamo Detainees
PEN American Center today hailed a federal court ruling ordering that 17 Uighur detainees at Guantanamo Bay be released into the United States. The decision could signal the end… More
Writers Commemorate Burmese Uprisings, Rally for Jailed Colleagues
Salman Rushdie, Orhan Pamuk, Kiran Desai, Siri Hustvedt, Joseph Lelyveld, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, and George Packer shared the stage of the Great Hall of Cooper Union last night with… More
PEN: Signs “Discouraging” for Post-Olympics Human Rights Improvements in China
As the temporary regulations for foreign journalists working in the People’s Republic of China expire today, three International PEN centers issued a report highlighting the vulnerable position writers and… More
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