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.
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
PEN Gives Voice to Silenced Writers in China on Eve of the Olympics
In New York last night, celebrated PEN Members gathered to read banned and censored work by writers in China, including new and never-before translated writings by Tsering Woeser, Yang… More
PEN Protests Censorship at Olympic Press Facilities
PEN American Center today reacted with shock to the news that the International Olympic Committee apparently agreed to allow the Chinese government to censor the Internet at the Olympic… More
Chinese Writer Du Daobin Re-Arrested as Crackdown Continues
Less than three weeks before the Olympic Games open in Beijing, Chinese authorities have re-arrested writer, former political prisoner, and PEN member Du Daobin and filed formal charges against… More
PEN Goes to Court to Challenge New Surveillance Law
PEN American Center today joined the ACLU and Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and other leading international human rights organizations, journalists, and attorneys in filing a lawsuit challenging the… More
China Fails to Deliver: An Olympic-Year Report Card on Free Expression from PEN
In a distressing report released today, three International PEN centers give China a failing grade on free expression one month before the opening of the Beijing Olympic Games on… More
Chinese Journalist Sentenced, Others Prevented From Meeting U.S. Officials
PEN centers expressed disappointment today over the sentencing of journalist Sun Lin in Nanjing and the detention and harassment of several writers and PEN members to prevent them from… More
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