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.
Announcing the Aura Estrada Prize
PEN Trustee Francisco Goldman has announced the establishment of the Aura Estrada Prize, a fellowship honoring the spirit and aspirations of his wife, a promising young Mexican writer who… More
50 Days Before Olympics, PEN Urges U.S. Action for Writers Jailed in China
PEN American Center today called on the Bush Administration and Congress to step up pressure on the People’s Republic of China to release 44 imprisoned writers and journalists and… More
PEN, Publishers Decry Conviction of Ragip Zarakolu in Turkey
PEN American Center and the International Freedom to Publish Committee of the Association of American Publishers today denounced the “clearly wrongful” and “anachronistic and discouraging” conviction of Turkish publisher… More
Detentions Escalate at China Quake Site
PEN expressed alarm today over the disappearance of leading cyber-dissident Huang Qi, who was last seen being forced into a car by three unidentified men in Chengdu on the… More
No Let-Up: China Detains Another Writer
Feng Zhenghu, a Shanghai-based rights defender, online writer and freelance journalist, has been detained in a week that has seen significant backsliding in the climate for freedom of expression… More
Normando Hernández González Removed from Hospital, Returned to Prison
In what PEN has called a “shocking and very discouraging turn of events,” writer and independent journalist Normando Hernández González has been removed from a hospital where he was… More
PEN Protests Cyber-Attacks Against Woeser
PEN American Center today expressed “profound concern” that Beijing-based Tibetan writer Woeser is apparently the target of serious cyber-attacks aimed at disrupting her personal communications and suppressing her voice,… More
Chinese Writer and Professor Guo Quan Detained
Guo Quan, a writer and former associate professor of literature at Nanjing Normal University, has been detained for his articles on the government response to the May 12th earthquake… More
Chen Daojun Detained as Crackdown Intensifies in China During Olympic Torch Relay
Chen Daojun, a freelance writer and journalist, has been detained on suspicion of “inciting subversion of state power,” the second writer jailed on subversion charges in a week in… More
Chinese Authorities Detain Writer Zhou Yuanzhi
Zhou Yuanzhi, a writer and member of the Independent Chinese PEN Center, has been detained in connection with his writings and could face trial for inciting subversion, a development… More