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.
PEN Denounces Detention of Jamyang Kyi
Writers from Canada, the United States, and China expressed concern today about reports that Jamyang Kyi, a prominent Tibetan writer, reporter, activist and singer, has been detained in Qinghai… More
Yang Tongyan to Receive 2008 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
PEN American Center today named Chinese dissident writer Yang Tongyan, who is currently serving a 12-year prison sentence, as recipient of its 2008 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award. More
V.A. Nurse to Receive 2008 PEN/Katherine Anne Porter First Amendment Award
PEN American Center has named Laura Berg, a Veterans Administration nurse who faced a sedition investigation after writing a letter to the editor of her local paper criticizing the… More
Zhu Yufu Receives Tougher Sentence After Re-Trial
Nine months after trying and sentencing internet writer and activist Zhu Yufu to two years in prison for “obstructing the police from carrying out their public duty,” a Chinese… More
Billy Collins Reads Shi Tao’s “June” as Part of Free Expression Poem Relay
As the Olympic torch reached the U.S., PEN American Center today released a recording of former U.S. Poet Laureate and PEN American Center Vice President Billy Collins reading imprisoned… More
Billy Collins Reads Shi TaoŸ??s Ÿ??JuneŸ? as Part of Free Expression Poem Relay
As the Olympic torch reached the U.S., PEN American Center today released a recording of former U.S. Poet Laureate and PEN American Center Vice President Billy Collins reading imprisoned… More
Hu Jia Sentenced to 3 1/2 Years for “Inciting Subversion”
Calling today’s sentencing hearing for dissident writer and human rights defender Hu Jia “a discouraging sign of China’s indifference both to the basic rights of its citizens and to… More
British Author Sebastian Horsley Refused Entry to U.S.
PEN American Center is appealing to the Departments of Homeland Security and State to review the exclusion of British author Sebastian Horsley from the United States, calling the decision… More
PEN Calls on U.S. to Review Exclusion, Admit Banned British Author
PEN American Center issued the following letter to appeal to the Departments of Homeland Security and State to review the exclusion of British author Sebastian Horsley from the United… More
On Fifth Anniversary of Cuba’s Black Spring, 28 Writers Still Imprisoned
Five years after Cuba jailed 75 prominent dissidents in what has been called that country’s “Black Spring,” PEN American Center today appealed for the release of 28 imprisoned writers,… More
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