Author: PEN-Canada
Events

SuperFan Showcase, Calgary: André Alexis & Yann Martel – this Wednesday October 5th

PEN Canada is thrilled to be partnering with Wordfest on the SuperFan Showcase series, in which notable Canadians engage in wide-ranging, generous conversation about writing and ideas with their favourite authors. When we approached Yann Martel, he loved the idea of an in-person show, but thought he would be the host, given how much he enjoys André Alexis’s work. Actually, it was André who asked for Yann – which demonstrates that this 75-minute event is going to be well-grounded in mutual admiration (although they will likely both recoil at the notion of super-fandom). Intelligent. Self-effacing. Unpredictable. Not to be missed.
Blog / News

Q&A with 2022 New Voices Award Winner Fareh Malik

Fareh Malik is a spoken word poet from Hamilton, Ontario and the winner of the 2022 RBC/PEN Canada New Voices Award. His new book Streams that Lead Somewhere is available from Mawenzi Press. In its citation the New Voices Award jury praised Malik’s “tenderness and throat-grabbing use of imagery” and his “wide range of voices and tones to convey a nuanced spectrum of emotions and a laser sharp critique of Canada’s blatant and covert systemic racism.”

Blog

Seeking Justice for Dawit Isaak

Dawit Isaak and his colleagues are the longest detained journalists in the world today.  September 23, 2022 will mark 21 years of detention. Their cases and causes are not only heartbreaking and egregiously unjust, but emblematic of the global assault on media freedom by authoritarian regimes, which continues to intensify under the cover of a global pandemic of impunity.
Archives

Special Event — Disinformation, Dictators & Democracy: Maria Ressa & Ronald Deibert

The Toronto International Festival of Authors, in partnership with PEN Canada and CBC Radio’s IDEAS, presents Nobel Peace prize laureate Maria Ressa (author of How to Stand Up to a Dictator, being released November 2022) in conversation with Citizen Lab founder Ronald Deibert on the topic of defending freedom of expression and human rights. Margaret Atwood will provide the introduction to the evening’s subject, one of the most critical challenges of our time: the link between disinformation and the decay of our democracies. Their conversation, moderated by CBC IDEAS’ Nahlah Ayed, will be the second annual PEN Canada Graeme Gibson talk, a series founded in 2021 to honour the legacy of renowned Canadian author and writers’ advocate, Graeme Gibson (1934-2019).

Bob Rae and Salman Rushdie at the 1992 PEN Canada benefitJean-Marc Desrochers Photography
News

Watch CODENAME SALLY

Codename Sally Watch CODENAME SALLY, a short documentary on how members of PEN Canada brought Salman Rushdie, in total secrecy and heavy security, out of deep hiding in the UK …

Salman Rushdie at the 2017 PEN Canada Gala
News

An attack on one writer is an attack on us all

PEN Canada was shocked and horrified by the vicious attack on Salman Rushdie at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York State last Friday. Now, a few days later, we are heartened by the positive news as to his condition – on the mend, says his agent — despite wounds that are life-changing and the prospect of a long road to recovery.

Salman Rushdie 1992 benefit, Ric Young, Salman Rushdie, Louise Dennys, and Michael Ondaatje
News

PEN condemns attack on Salman Rushdie

PEN International is deeply shocked and appalled to learn that former PEN America President and renowned writer, Salman Rushdie, was attacked today just before giving a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution in New York. We utterly condemn the attack and wish him a prompt and full recovery.
Blog / News

Q&A with Amber Bracken, Canadian photojournalist and 2022 Ken Filkow Prize winner

Amber Bracken is a Canadian photojournalist who has reported extensively on the impacts of colonization, often affecting Indigenous peoples in North America. PEN Canada awarded her the 2022 Ken Filkow Prize for her courageous coverage of  the 2021 coastal pipeline protests on Wetʼsuwetʼen First Nation territory in British Columbia. Bracken has also won the Contemporary Issues category of the 2017 World Press Photo awards and in 2022 won the overall World Press Photo of the Year.