Advocacy
From Nigeria to New York: A Writer at Risk Joins Fordham University’s Faculty
Ugbabe’s fiction delves deep into the fabric of Nigerian life, exploring the psyche and identities of women as they negotiate their way through changing situations and circumstances in life. More
Can You Spare a Room?
Manuela Hoelterhoff and Emad Tayefeh share an interest in politics and art, and for three months last year, they shared a home. Tayefeh is an Iranian filmmaker who fled... More
Why Free Expression Advocates Must Watch Cambodia Closely
Media freedoms help protect other democratic freedoms. Independent voices help ensure healthy civic society. As observers have pointed out, these attacks on the press have gone in tandem with… More
SLAPPs: The Greatest Free Expression Threat You’ve Never Heard Of?
SLAPPs are a prevalent and serious—but still under-acknowledged—threat to free speech and expression. It should never be “unaffordable” to speak up. More
Javier Duarte and the Problem of Impunity in Mexico
Javier Duarte de Ochoa, the notoriously corrupt ex-governor of the Mexican state of Veracruz, was extradited in July from Guatemala to Mexico after six months on the run. More
PEN America joins PEN Myanmar in calling for release of Myanmar photojournalists detained in Bangladesh
Police in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, arrested two Myanmar photojournalists, Min Zeyar Oo and Hkun Lat, on assignment in Cox's Bazar for the German magazine GEO to report on the… More
Sounding the Alarm: International Experts and Trump’s Attacks on the Media
An overview of recent statements indicates that human rights watchdogs around the world believe press freedom is under attack as never before in the United States. More
She is Not Free: Liu Xia’s “Time to Mourn” Video Suggests Government Propaganda
Liu Xia’s recent “grant me time to mourn” video fits squarely within the pattern of Chinese propaganda videos in which individuals give coerced statements that promote the party narrative. More
‘Citizens Must Draw Line Between Free Speech and Arbitrary Spite’: Nigerian Writers Call for Calm in Response to ‘Ethnic Hate Speech’
In response to the worsening climate, a group of Nigerian writers are calling for restraint amid heated rhetoric as the nation splinters along ethnic and religious lines. More
Editing Book Reviews: A Dangerous Act in Turkey
In the dark age of anti-intellectualism and autocracy, Turkish authorities want to keep the two editors in prison for life. More