Writers face grave risks for documenting the past, reflecting on the present, imagining different futures, and speaking up to hold power to account. When governments target writers, writers are not the only ones at risk – freedom for all is at stake.

The annual Freedom to Write Index, a count of writers jailed worldwide during each calendar year, examines thematic and country-specific threats to writers and their freedom of expression. The Writers at Risk Database tracks a range of threats against individual writers, cultural figures, and journalists, such as legal charges without detention or physical attacks, in addition to detention and imprisonment. Learn more about the methodology used for our Index and Database here. The PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Center was established in 2022 by a donation from the Edwin Barbey Charitable Trust.