Monthly Archives: 3 月 2017

PEN-supported translations – a match for English language titles

English PEN has published an evaluation of its first grant-giving programme, PEN Promotes, which has supported literary translation since 2005 Continue reading

China’s Evolving Space Capabilities

China’s Evolving Space Capabilities: Implications for U.S. Interests. By Mark A. Stokes and Dean Cheng. Washington, DC: Project 2049 Institute, April 26, 2012. 85 pages. Available on-line at https://project2049.net/documents/uscc_china-space-program-report_april-2012.pdf. Continue reading

PEN International interview series marks International Women’s Day 2017

8 March 2017

It is the extraordinary legacy of women writers and journalists that inspire us at PEN to continue fighting the many barriers women writers still face. Whether that is censorship in the form of physical or emotional violence, a society that stereotypes and marginalizes them, or a publishing industry that still sees women earning less, publishing less, and being reviewed less than their male peers. This is a struggle that affects us all because everyone needs the stories, voices, and craft women writers have always offered – despite a huge number of challenges – in such abundance. The stories, rhythms, and power of women writers have created new worlds, both real and fictional, in which readers can lose and find themselves, glean inspiration to live more visibly and inhabit women’s knowledge. Continue reading

Julia Lovell: The Cultural Revolution on Trial by Alexander Cook review – a sensational moment in Chinese history

Yao Wenyuan

Irrational premise … Yao Wenyuan, a writer and member of the Gang of Four, is tried in 1980. Photograph: Tang Likui/AP

China’s civil society has suffered badly in the political crackdown of the last four years: journalists are stifled by ever-tightening constraints; intellectuals are nervous of even saying the president’s name in company, for fear of being seen as denigrating the cult of “Uncle Xi”. Above all, the Chinese Communist party (CCP) has rained down blows on the rule of law. Legal personnel have been held for months in “black” prisons without access to counsel and been shackled, tortured, their family members harassed. On 14 January this year, China’s chief justice aggressively emphasised that the law was subservient to party writ: “We should resolutely resist erroneous influence from the west: ‘constitutional democracy’, ‘separation of powers’ and ‘independence of the judiciary’. We must make clear our stand and dare to show the sword.” Continue reading

Mexican Journalists Stand in Solidarity with US journalists

PENMarch 6, 2017

To our colleagues in the United States of America,

At this time of an unprecedented, relentless assault on the free press of the United States by the Trump administration, we Mexican journalists, writers, and publishers stand in solidarity with you as you do your crucial work. Continue reading

Chinese Attorney Defends Torture Report Amid Accusations of ‘Fake News’

Screenshot of detained lawyer Jiang Tianyong

Screenshot of detained lawyer Jiang Tianyong in interview with Beijing-backed satellite broadcaster Phoenix TV in which Jiang inaccurately stated he made up claims his client Xie Yang, another detained lawyer, was tortured, March 2, 2017. Public domain

Claims by official Chinese media that allegations of torture meted out to jailed human rights lawyer Xie Yang were “fake news” cooked up to appeal to “Western media tastes” were rejected by his defense lawyer on Thursday. Continue reading

PEN America Condemns Violent Attack on Speaker at Middlebury College

NEW YORK—PEN America condemned a violent attack on author Charles Murray and Middlebury College Professor Allison Stanger that took place on the evening of Thursday, March 2, 2017, when Murray was invited to speak on campus. Continue reading

Attack on BBC Crew Reflects Threat to Foreign Journalists in China

NEW YORK—The assault and coerced confession of a BBC camera crew in rural China, just days before China’s National People’s Congress, is a violation of clearly established rules allowing journalists to travel and report freely in the country and an effort to suppress coverage of sensitive subjects, PEN America said in a statement today. Continue reading