PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award
The PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award is given each year to a jailed writer of conscience. The award is a powerful tool in PEN America’s year-round efforts to end the persecution of writers and defend free expression. Of the 54 jailed writers who have received the award since 1987, 46 have been released due in part to the awareness and pressure the award generates. (The award was named the PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award until 2016. It was renamed the PEN/Barbey Freedom To Write Award in 2016.)
Honorees
Pham Doan Trang, 2024 PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award Honoree
Status: Imprisoned
Vietnamese author, journalist and dissident Pham Doan Trang received the 2024 PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award. Trang galvanized the Vietnamese people through her writings on democracy, human rights, environmental degradation, and women’s empowerment. The Vietnamese government has persecuted and jailed Trang in an effort to still her voice, but her powerful words continue to inspire people across Vietnam and throughout the world. We are honored to elevate Trang’s voice for democracy and human rights through our global campaign.
Narges Mohammadi, 2023 PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award Honoree
Status: Imprisoned
Narges Mohammadi, PEN America’s 2023 PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Honoree, has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Targeted by the Iranian government for more than 30 years for her writings and human rights activism, Narges Mohammadi is currently jailed on false charges of “spreading anti-state propaganda” and defamation.
Vladyslav Yesypenko, 2022 PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award Honoree
Status: Imprisoned
Vladyslav Yesypenko, a Ukrainian journalist imprisoned in Crimea, was the recipient of the 2022 PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award. Yesypenko was detained in Russian-occupied Crimea in March 2021 and has been targeted by a methodical campaign to silence and crush a free press and open expression. After being tortured and forced to confess to baseless, politically motivated charges of espionage and weapons manufacturing, Yesypenko was sentenced to six years in a Russian labor colony.
Baktash Abtin, Keyvan Bajan, and Reza Khandan Mahabadi, 2021 PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award
Status: Abtin: Custodial/Wrongful Death; Bajan: Conditional Release; Mahabadi: Released
Iranian writers Baktash Abtin, Keyvan Bajan, and Reza Khandan Mahabadi are three celebrated writers who were imprisoned by the Iranian authorities for their writing, their defense of free expression, and their peaceful opposition to state censorship.
Xu Zhiyong, 2020 PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award
Status: Imprisoned
PEN America bestowed its 2020 PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award on detained Chinese essayist and activist Xu Zhiyong. Xu Zhiyong was detained in February 2020 after writing an essay that critiqued the leadership of China’s president Xi Jinping, including his handling of the COVID-19 outbreak, and called on Xi to resign.
Nouf Abdulaziz, Loujain Al-Hathloul, Eman Al-Nafjan, 2019 PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award
Status: Abdulaziz: Conditional Release; Al-Hathloul: Conditional Release; Al-Nafjan: On Trial
PEN America honored imprisoned writers Nouf Abdulaziz, Loujain Al-Hathloul, and Eman Al-Nafjan with the 2019 PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award. The writer-activists were subjected to imprisonment, solitary confinement, and torture by the Saudi Arabian government as part of its brutal crackdown on individuals who raise their voices in defense of women’s rights in the Kingdom.
Nouf Abdulaziz’s photograph is not publicly available, for privacy and safety reasons.
Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, Myanmar
2018 PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award
Status: Released
Ahmed Naji, Egypt
2016 PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award
Status: Released, Displaced/In Exile
Khadija Ismayilova, Azerbaijan
2015 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Conditional Release
Ilham Tohti, China
2014 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Imprisoned
Ayse Berktay, Turkiye
2013 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Detained
Eskinder Nega, Ethiopia
2012 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Released
Nasrin Sotoudeh, Iran
2011 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Conditional Release
Nay Phone Latt, Myanmar
2010 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Released
Liu Xiaobo, China
2009
PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Custodial/Wrongful Death
Yang Tongyan, China
2008 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Custodial/Wrongful Death
Normando Hernández González, Cuba
2007 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Released, Displaced/In Exile
Mohammed Benchicou, Algeria
2006 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Released
Rakhim Esenov, Turkmenista
2006 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to WriteAward
Status: Deceased
Deyda Hydara, Gambia
2005 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Murdered, award given posthumously
Ali Al-Domaini, Saudi Arabia
2005 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Released, Deceased
Nasser Zarafshan, Iran
2004 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Released
Lê Chi Quang, Vietnam
2004 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Released
Zouhair Yahyaoui, Tunisia
2003 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Released, Deceased
Bernardo Arévalo Padrón, Cuba
2003 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Released
Aung Myint, Myanmar
2002 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Released
Tohti Tunyaz, Xinjiang Autonomous Region, China
2002 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Released, Deceased
Shahla Lahiji, Iran
2001 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Deceased
Mamadali Mahmudov, Uzbekistan2001 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Released, Deceased
Flora Brovina, Kosovo
2000 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Released
Xue Deyun, China
2000 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Released
Faraj Ahmad Birqdar, Syria
1999 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Released
Esber Yagmurdereli, Turkey
1999 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Released
Ogaga Ifowodo, Nigeria
1998 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Released
Liu Jingsheng, China
1998 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Released
Godwin Agbroko, Nigeria
1997 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Released, Murdered
Ayse Nur Zarakolu, Turkey
1997 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Released, Deceased
Ma Thida, Myanmar
1996 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Released
Anonymous, Africa
1996 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Released
San San Nwe, Myanmar
1995 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Released
Indamiro Restano Díaz, Cuba1995 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Released
Edip Polat, Turkey
1994 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Released
Doan Viet Hoat, Vietnam
1994 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Released, Displaced/In Exile
Zoran Mutic, Bosnia
1993 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Displaced/In Exile
Svetlana Slapsak, Serbia
1993 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Displaced/In Exile
Nizar Nayouf, Syria
1993 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Displaced, In Exile
Thiagarajah Selvanithy (“Selvi”), Sri Lanka
1992 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Murdered
Jean Mario Paul, Haiti
1992 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Released
Abraham Serfaty, Morocco
1991 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Released, Deceased
Francisco Valencia, El Salvador
1991 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Continued Harassment
Jack Mapanje, Malawi
1990 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Displaced/In Exile
Bei Dao, China
1990 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Displaced/In Exile
Nguyen Chi Thien, Vietnam
1989 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Released, Deceased
Martha Kumsa, Ethiopia
1989 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Released, Displaced/In Exile
Maina Wa Kinyatti, Kenya
1988 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Released
Pramoedya Ananta Toer, Indonesia
1988 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Released, Deceased
Matsemela Manaka, South Africa
1987 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Deceased
Nizametdin Akhmetov, Soviet Union
1987 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Status: Released