Advocacy & Aid

This year, to mark the International Day of the Imprisoned Writer (Sunday November 15), Irish PEN/PEN na hÉireann and PEN Canada will join forces for an online letter writing event in solidarity with imprisoned writers:

Sunday November 15
Online over Zoom
11am – 12.30pm EST (Canada)
5pm – 6.30pm (Ireland/GMT)

As with previous PEN Friends events run by Irish PEN, PEN members will come together informally, online, to write to selected writers who are at risk or in prison because of their work. This is the first time that Irish PEN is inviting members of another PEN Centre to join the event. Both Centres are very excited about the idea of coming together in this way.

In the past, Irish PEN has received replies from recipients of messages who were very happy to hear from us. At last year’s Dublin Book Festival Irish PEN event Kurdish Poet İlhan Sami Çomak told the audience that on days when he knew that we were holding this event, he ‘felt like I was flying’.

The idea (for those of you in both Irish PEN and PEN Canada who haven’t done this before) is that we meet online and spend time together while writing messages of support to writers who are in prison or under threat. We are given information about the selected writers during the session and we can talk about those writers, ask questions about what to say, and so on. We expect the event to last for 90 minutes, so we ask that you gather cards and writing materials in advance and have tea/coffee etc to hand. However, if you can only join for 20 minutes, or need to leave during the session, that’s fine too.

Registrants will be sent further details, including guidelines on how to write to a prisoner, in advance of the event. A Zoom link will be sent to registrants on the morning of Sunday November 15.