Send a holiday greeting to an imprisoned writer
Every year in December, members of the PEN community come together to write messages of solidarity, support and hope to their fellow writers imprisoned or killed for practicing their right …
Author: PEN-Canada
After Assad: five Syrian and Arab writers on what’s next
The Syrian civil war, which began in 2011, has been a devastating and prolonged conflict led by the Syrian government under Bashar al-Assad. The conflict has caused immense humanitarian suffering, …
PEN welcomes changes to Bill C-63, Online Harms Act
PEN Canada today commended the Government of Canada for removing more controversial parts of Bill C-63, particularly the heavy-handed hate speech penalties. The government heeded concerns expressed by a wide …
PEN urges government to reject UN draft Convention on Cybercrime
This week, we signed an open letter, alongside 20 organizations and experts, urging the Canadian government to reject the UN draft Convention on Cybercrime. The draft is up for approval …
Censoring Books in Schools and Libraries: What does it mean for our future?
Ira Wells in conversation with James L. Turk Wednesday, February 26, 2025 at 7 p.m. EST Link to Zoom event: torontomu.zoom.us/j/91941276567 In his new book, On Book Banning, Ira Wells …
“We can’t teach a book with that word in it”: Reflections on the role of literature in society
Lawrence Hill in conversation with Debra Thompson Wednesday February 5 at 7 p.m. EST Link to Zoom event: torontomu.zoom.us/j/91941276567 When prominent Canadian novelist Lawrence Hill learned his award-winning The Book …
The life of a surveilled citizen: what is Digital Transnational Repression?
by Brendan de Caires (Executive Director, PEN Canada) Twenty years ago, Florian von Donnersmarck’s dark film “The Lives of Others” showed how easily a nation state – in the form …
What should be the limits of freedom to expression in Canadian universities?
Tuesday January 28, 2025, at 7 p.m. EST Link to Zoom event: torontomu.zoom.us/j/91941276567 As culture wars continue to engulf universities, important questions about the limits of expressive freedom on campus have …
Can editorial standards be applied fairly in highly polarized situations? The case of Israel and Gaza
Tuesday, January 14, 2025, at 7 p.m. EST Link to Zoom event: torontomu.zoom.us/j/91941276567 Bitter divisions over the war in Gaza have provoked a flood of allegations that Canadian and American …
Tala Motazedi named 2024 PEN Writer-in-Residence at George Brown College
Tala Motazedi, a queer screenwriter and novelist from Iran, has been chosen as the 2024 PEN Writer-in-Residence at George Brown College. She is the first screenwriter and second playwright ever …