Writers at Risk Database
PEN America champions the freedom to write, recognizing the power of the word to transform the world. The bedrock work of the global PEN network is advocacy and assistance on behalf of individuals persecuted for their use of the written word or other forms of expression. PEN America’s Writers at Risk Database is a searchable catalog of the writers, journalists, academics, public intellectuals and others under threat around the world. The database includes historical cases PEN America has worked on from 1987 onwards; non-active cases are color-coded black. PEN America is grateful to the John Templeton Foundation for support that enabled the establishment of the Writers at Risk Database and to PEN International for their collaboration in assembling this database.
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ImprisonedYi Xie Bu Yu Xie
Literary writerChinaAsia-PacificYi Xie Bu Yu Xie, an online author of homoerotic fiction novels, was arrested on June 20, 2024, as part of China’s crackdown on “pornographic” content, particularly targeting writers on the Taiwan-based platform Haitang Literature City. On December 16, 2024, she was sentenced to one year and five months in…
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ImprisonedYuan Shang Bai Yun Jian
Literary writerChinaAsia-PacificYuan Shang Bai Yun Jian, a Chinese author of homoerotic fiction, was arrested on June 23, 2024 as part of a nationwide crackdown on “pornographic” content, particularly targeting writers on the Taiwan-based platform Haitang Literature City. After five months in detention, she appeared in court in a severely weakened state…
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DetainedZan Aizong
Activist, Journalist, Literary writerChinaAsia-PacificOn July 20, 2024, Zan Aizong was detained on suspicion of provoking disturbances for organizing a memorial service on the seventh anniversary of Liu Xiaobo’s death. In February 2024, Aizong had published a statement in which he wrote that throughout the past two years, he had faced constant surveillance by…
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Displaced/In ExileBadiucao
Creative artist, Literary writerChinaAsia-PacificUntil 2019, exiled Chinese dissident cartoonist and writer, based in Australia, Badiucao used a pseudonym and wore a mask to maintain his anonymity. In 2019, he revealed his identity and Chinese authorities began threatening his relatives. In March 2025, Badiucao, alongside journalist Melissa Chan, co-authored You Must Take Part in…
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ImprisonedCi Xi
Literary writerChinaAsia-PacificCi Xi is an author of online homoerotic novels and stories on the website ‘’Haitang Literature City.” They were arrested alongside dozens of other authors publishing homoerotic fiction on Haitang and “profiting from the distribution of obscene material.” Unable to return the money Ci Xi had earned from their writings,…
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ImprisonedJi Xiao Long
Online CommentatorChinaAsia-PacificChinese activist Ji Xiao Long was sentenced to three and a half years in prison on January 14, 2018 for supporting the “toilet revolution” protest against the Chinese Communist Party. Following his release in 2021, he continued his activism, publishing an open letter in 2022 condemning the government’s “zero COVID”…
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DetainedLi Weizhong
Journalist, Online CommentatorChinaAsia-PacificChinese journalist Li Weizhong, who writes under the pen name Li Yuanfeng, was forcibly disappeared on October 10, 2024 and then transfered to criminal detention by the Hunan police on October 26 for “seeking obstacles and provoking trouble.” On November 15, 2024, it was revealed that he had been placed…
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DetainedXie Yang
Online CommentatorChinaAsia-PacificLawyer Xie Yang, known for representing many pro-democracy and human rights protestors, is outspoken on social media including Weibo, WeChat, and Twitter where he routinely criticises China’s political and judicial system. In 2022, he was arrested and indicted on charges of “inciting subversion of state power” due to social media…
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ImprisonedXu Zhiyong
Activist, Literary writerChinaAsia-PacificXu, a noted essayist and public intellectual, had for decades advocated for good governance and citizen engagement through his writing. In February 2020, he was detained amid a crackdown on activists critical of Chinese government policies who had gathered in late December 2019. He was tried in secret in June…
Writers at Risk Database Key:
STATUS box that is red: Active case
STATUS box that is black: Inactive case
Funder
PEN America is deeply grateful to the John Templeton Foundation for its generous support of the Freedom to Write Index and Writers at Risk Database.
Partner
PEN America thanks the PEN International Secretariat and the Writers in Prison Committee for their extensive contributions to and collaboration on compiling the cases included in this database.