PEN Canada envisions a world where
writers are free to write,
readers are free to read,
and freedom of expression prevails
Who is defined as a writer today? How do we advocate most effectively in an online world? How can we create a national conversation about freedom of expression? The internet has meant that though ideas can spread further and more quickly than ever before, there are also more opportunities than ever for free speech to be curtailed.
Bo Xilai, the former boss of the Chongqing Communist Party, was recently sacked after a corruption scandal involving his family. Jiang Weiping, an Honorary Member of PEN Canada, is a Chinese journalist who served a six year prison sentence for “inciting subversion of state power” after he published an exposé of Bo’s corruption more than a decade ago.
“We cannot expect Canadian scientists to work productively for the greater good at home, or exert Canadian influence abroad, if their work is routinely subordinated to the demands of political messaging. If this is not the case, the government should offer a plausible explanation for its actions.”
March 20, 2012 – PEN International Writers in Prison Chair, Marian Botsford Fraser and Honorary PEN Canada member, Jiang Weiping join over 200 people, groups and organizations in 165 cities in 41 countries in honoring Nobel Peace prize laureate, Liu Xiaobo by reading from his work.
This amendment was the focus of our recent delegation to Mexico City, and in particular of our conversation with the President of the Senate and other Senators. Its passage is a very important step in the reforming of Mexican law to make it serve the freedom of expression of Mexican writers and Mexican citizens as a whole.
“As a dentist I could only open one mouth at a time,” quipped Zarganar. “But when I tell jokes I open many mouths.”
PEN Canada welcomes the release of Maung Thura – the Burmese poet and comedian better known as ‘Zarganar’ – in an amnesty for several hundred prisoners in Myanmar. Zarganar is an Honorary Member of PEN Canada and the recipient of our 2008 One Humanity Award.
Finding the Words: Writers on Inspiration, Desire, War, Celebrity, Exile, and Breaking the Rules