Category Archives: PEN International News

Joanne Leedom-Ackerman: Building Literary Bridges: Past and Present

pi82-ourense      Gathered in the ancient city of Ourense, Spain in the heart of Galicia, writers from around the world celebrated history, debated the present and committed to the future of literature and freedom of expression at PEN International’s 82nd Congress organized around the theme “Building Literary Bridges.” Continue reading

Writers from across the globe gather in the city of Ourense, Galicia for the 82nd PEN Congress

pi8225 September, 2016 – More than 200 writers and PEN members will gather this week in the city of Ourense, Spain for the 82nd PEN InternationalCongress hosted by Galician PEN. Writers and journalists participating at the event include Russian-American writer Masha Gessen, Turkish journalist and PEN Main Case Can Dündar as well as Galician writers Manuel Rivas and Xosé Luís Méndez Ferrín, Almudena Grandes, , Nélida Piñon, Claudia Piñero, Ma Thida, Andrei Kurkov, Beatrice Lamwaka and many more. Continue reading

China: Continued harassment of veteran journalist Gao Yu (f); health concerns

12 April 2016

Update #4 to RAN 09/14

Gao-YuPEN International is deeply concerned for the health of veteran journalist Gao Yu following reports that she was hospitalised after the Beijing Municipal Bureau of City Administration and Law Enforcement identified her garden for destruction on 31 March 2016. Gao Yu remains in hospital; her condition has now stabilised. PEN International calls on the Chinese authorities to stop harassing Gao Yu and to approve her application to be granted leave to travel to Germany for medical treatment. Continue reading

On World Poetry Day Take Action for Dissident Poets

World Poetry Day, marked each year on 21 March, is an opportunity to celebrate poetry, the power and creativity of language and to promote reading, writing, publishing, and teaching poetry throughout the world. PEN International uses this day to highlight the great challenges poets face across the globe simply for their work. Each year PEN focuses its campaigning on behalf of poets who have paid a high price for their poetry and ask Centres, PEN members and supporters to take action on their behalf. Continue reading

Tibetan Writers Abroad PEN Centre mark International Women’s Day

8 March 2016 – Tibetan Writers Abroad PEN Centre marked International Women’s Day by holding a workshop at Dolmaling Nunnery in Dharamasala, India with over 250 female participants. Speakers at the conference included five Tibetan women writers and three nun writers, exploring issues relating to freedom of expression and dangers facing women writers, including PEN International’s focus cases Fatima Naoot, Mahvash Sabet and Narges Mohammadi. Continue reading

The English PEN Modern Literature Festival

Saturday 2 April, 2:00 pm9:30 pm |Free

As part of the Enemies Project, over 30 contemporary English writers will present new works in tribute to writers at risk around the world. 

On 2 April 2016, over 30 writers, poets, novelists, playwrights and artists will come together to celebrate English PEN’s Writers at Risk programme and the incredible individuals we support. Continue reading

China: End use of enforced disappearances against writers and publishers

London, 6 January 2016

An upsurge in cases of possible enforced disappearances in China in the context of an ongoing crackdown on dissent is deeply worrying, PEN International, the global writers’ organisation said today. Since November 2015, five Chinese writers, publishers and booksellers have disappeared in China and Thailand and PEN believes that it is highly likely that they are detained by the Chinese authorities in conditions amounting to enforced disappearance. Continue reading

China: Prominent author barred from travelling

RAN 15/15

23 December 2015

 PEN International is deeply concerned at the news that prominent Chinese author Wang Lixiong was barred from traveling to Japan  on 16 December 2015 apparently due to concerns that his visit would “damage national security.” The Japanese translation of his 1991 novel “Yellow Peril” about an apocalyptic civil war in China went on sale in Japan in November 2015. Wang is known for his critical views of the Chinese authorities’ treatment of minorities. Arrested in 1999, he spent 42 days in prison, and has been placed under house arrest several times, including most recently in July 2014 with his wife, Tibetan writer Tsering Woeser during the visit to China of US Secretary of State John Kerry.  PEN International is calling for the travel ban to be lifted, as it is a violation of the right to freedom of movement and to freedom of expression, as provided under Articles 12 and 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which China is a signatory.   Continue reading