CUBA: Vatican deal frees Normando Hernández González
Normando Hernández González, the Cuban journalist adopted as an Honorary Member at PEN Canada’s 2009 Annual General Meeting, has been freed from a 25-year sentence after the government of Cuba agreed to release 52 prisoners of conscience. The journalist Ricardo González Alfonso, also set free by the Vatican deal, recounts his experience in a July 15 New York Times
Op-Ed.
Zarakolu acquitted, co-defendant convicted
Ragip Zarakolu, the Turkish publisher and human rights activist who has faced periodic harassment, trials and imprisonment since the 1970s, was acquitted June 10 on charges of "spreading propaganda" for the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) by publishing the novel More Difficult Decisions than Death. PEN International welcomed Zarakolu’s acquittal but criticised Güler’s conviction as "an act that breaches Turkey’s obligations under the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights and Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights."
Urgent appeal for PEN Haiti
The January 12 earthquake destroyed PEN Haiti’s offices and claimed the lives of president Georges Anglade and his wife Mireille. Georges was an active board member of PEN-Québec and well-known in the PEN International community. In his memory, PEN Canada is joining PEN-Québec, American PEN and PEN USA in raising funds for the Cercle des amis – PEN Haiti/Circle of Friends – PEN Haiti. Each centre is asking its members to make a single $100 donation towards the relaunch of the PEN Haiti centre.
Scholars call for Liu’s release
On March 10, 2010, more than a hundred prominent Chinese authors, scholars, and human rights defenders published a letter to China’s National People’s Congress calling for the immediate release of Liu Xiaobo. In December 2009, after being sentenced to 11 years in prison and two years deprivation of political rights for helping to write and publish Charter 08, Liu stated that "I have long been aware that when an independent intellectual stands up to an autocratic state, step one toward freedom is often a step into prison. Now I am taking that step; and true freedom is that much nearer."
A Joint Statement from the International PEN community
An Extraordinary Statement by Liu Di,
detained during Liu Xiaobo's trial
Escaping Eritrea
PEN Canada Writer-in-Exile Aaron Berhane recently recounted his dramatic escape from Eritrea for Natasha Fatah, host of CBC’s Promised Land.
Read more here, or listen to the whole program here (MP3 file, 13 Mb).
Membership Benefits
"I signed up for the Coalition’s health plan last March, went to the dentist in May, and a week later received a cheque for $245. It kind of stunned me. I don’t mean the speedy turn-around; I mean the unexpected sense of relief. Like coming down off the high wire to see someone has, at last, installed a net."
– Susan Crean, Writer, former Chair of The Writers’ Union of Canada 1991-1992.
PEN Canada members are eligible for insurance plans through the Writers’ Coalition of Canada. See www.writerscoalition.com for more information.
New Releases
PEN Canada celebrates 50th anniversary of International PEN's Writers in Prison Committee
International PEN launches a year-long campaign – Because Writers Speak Their Minds – marking 50 years of defending freedom of expression around the world.