PEN Canada envisions a world where
writers are free to write,
readers are free to read,
and freedom of expression prevails
PEN Canada’s annual general meeting will take place at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, June 18, 2019, in the Great Hall at the Arts and Letters Club (14 Elm St, Toronto, ON). Join us for light refreshments after the meeting (cash bar). All current PEN Canada members are encouraged to attend. Outstanding fees may be paid at the […]
PEN International welcomes the news that journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were released from jail in Myanmar on May 7, 2019. The two Reuters journalists were found guilty of breaching the colonial-era Official Secrets Act and were facing lengthy prison sentences for their investigation into the killing of 10 Rohingya Muslim men and […]
PEN International is deeply concerned about the ongoing trial of three Iranian writers, Baktash Abtin, Reza Khandan-Mahabadi, and Keyvan Bazhan. Mr Abtin’s last hearing was held on 27 April 2019 and that of Khandan-Mahabadi and Bazhan’s on April 28 2019. Both hearings took place before the 28 Branch of the Revolutionary Court in Tehran. Among […]
PEN International is shocked and deeply saddened by the news that Lyra McKee, a 29-year-old journalist, was shot and killed in Northern Ireland last night while covering rioting in Derry. McKee was a young, passionate and courageous journalist, described as a ‘tireless advocate and activist’ for the LGBTI community. Responding to the news, Salil Tripathi, chair of PEN International’s Writers […]
The Italian authorities should immediately drop criminal defamation charges against writer, journalist and PEN award winner Roberto Saviano, and repeal all criminal defamation laws, PEN International and English PEN said today. On March 20, 2019, Roberto Saviano announced that he had been summoned to stand trial on charges of defaming Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister and Interior […]
PEN International strongly condemns the apparent increasing use of military legislation and courts to prosecute writers in Egypt. Article 204 of the 2014 Constitution provides that civilians cannot stand trial before military courts except for crimes related to military sector. Furthermore, trying civilians by the military justice in Egypt contravenes Articles 9, 14 and 19 of the International […]
With the adoption of two new laws criminalising ‘insult’ to the state and the dissemination of ‘fake news’, as well as plans to increase government control of the Internet, the Russian authorities are imposing further, excessive restrictions on freedom of expression and undermining media freedom, PEN International, PEN Moscow and St Petersburg PEN said today. […]
TORONTO (April 8, 2019) – Nasrin Sotoudeh, the Iranian human rights lawyer renowned for her defense of women’s and children’s rights, will receive the One Humanity award at PEN Canada’s annual gala on April 11, 2019 in Toronto. Sotoudeh, 56, who is currently in prison, was sentenced in March 2019 to 148 lashes and more […]
PEN welcomes the release of Rashad Ramazanov, an Azerbaijani blogger and writer who was arrested on May 9, 2013 and sentenced to nine years in prison on fabricated charges of illegal possession and sale of drugs.
PEN International joins Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish PEN centres in expressing deep concern for the well-being of Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, who was handed over 38 years in prison and 148 lashes for national security-related offences.
Finding the Words: Writers on Inspiration, Desire, War, Celebrity, Exile, and Breaking the Rules