PEN Canada envisions a world where
writers are free to write,
readers are free to read,
and freedom of expression prevails
Largely without public debate – and absent any new safeguards – we’ve become even more dependent on a technological ecosystem that is notoriously insecure, poorly regulated, highly invasive and prone to serial abuse.
There is a widespread belief that social media companies do not care about these problems and have resisted every attempt by government to regulate them. But that is not always the case
PEN is delighted to learn of the temporary release of prominent Iranian writer, lawyer and human rights activist, Nasrin Sotoudeh, on November 7, 2020.
Maria Saba is the recipient of the 2020 PEN Canada-Humber College Writers-in-Exile Scholarship, which provides peer mentorship to one member of PEN Canada’s Writers-in-Exile program each year.
A Q&A with Em Dial, winner of the 2020 RBC/PEN Canada New Voices Award.
PEN Delhi and PEN International note with deep concern the attack on three journalists from The Caravan on August 13th, 2020. At about 2 pm, on the day, a group in Subhash Mohalla, North East Delhi’s North Ghonda neighbourhood, attacked The Caravan reporters Shahid Tantray, Prabhjit Singh, and a woman journalist (who asks not to be named […]
Poet Em Dial wins PEN Canada’s New Voices Award for 2020 August 27 (Toronto) Emily (Em) Dial has been chosen as the winner of PEN Canada’s 2020 New Voices Award. Dial, whose winning entry is titled Lineage Without the Bullets, won the $3,000 prize out of a total of 175 submissions from writers and poets […]
PEN Canada intervenes in OSC case regarding Section 91 of Elections Act New section includes prohibitions and penalties that violate Charter right to free expression TORONTO (August 25) PEN Canada has been granted permission by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to intervene in the Canadian Constitution Foundation’s (CCF) challenge to the constitutionality of section […]
PEN International is concerned by reports that Jimmy Lai, pro-democracy activist and owner of prominent Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily, has been detained with eight others on national security charges. Lai’s arrest, which coincides with raids on his media company, Next Digital, and the arrest of his two sons, marks the latest example of the newly enacted […]
RAPID ACTION NETWORK RAN No. 06/20 4 August 2020 PEN International calls for the immediate dropping of all charges against Zimbabwean author and filmmaker, Tsitsi Dangarembga. PEN has received reports that Dangarembga was peacefully protesting corruption on Friday July 31, 2020 in Harare when she was arrested by members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police with […]
Finding the Words: Writers on Inspiration, Desire, War, Celebrity, Exile, and Breaking the Rules