#Algeria: We condemn the 5-year prison sentence against poet #MohamedTadjadit for his poetry and peaceful activism. Tadjadit will be featured in our #DayoftheImprisonedWriter campaign launching Sat 15 Nov. Join us to help free him. Read more ⬇️ www.pen-international.org/news/joint-s...

Event announcement 📚 Join us on November 13 for an evening with Canisia Lubrin, in a conversation with Souvankham Thammavongsa, as we celebrate Lubrin’s forthcoming book The World After Rain. Tickets: buff.ly/AgafNX9

PEN Canada joins 43 organizations and 123 individuals in open letter opposing “National Sprint” consultation on AI strategy, which proposed a mere thirty-day window on short notice. pencanada.ca/news/open-le...

#Sudan: PEN International joins @ifjglobal.bsky.social and others in calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Sudanese journalist Muamar Ibrahim, reportedly detained on 26 October by RSF in El Fasher. Read more ⬇️ www.ifj.org/media-centre...

Save-the-date for our annual PEN Canada Awards Night 💌 Together we'll celebrate a year of achievements in advocacy, literature and free expression. This event is free, but a ticket is required. RSVP through Eventbrite: www.eventbrite.ca/e/1902334757...

How is the attack on arts and culture in the U.S. impacting Canada? So many thoughts about this and I am looking forward to this conversation! Join us online Nov. 20. (Thanks @cfetmu.bsky.social @pencanada.bsky.social and Mass Culture!)

LISTEN: “On Book Banning:The New Censorship Consensus” my @ricochetmedia.bsky.social “ In Bed with the Elephant” conversation with #IraWells University of Toronto Professor of Literature & President of @pencanada.bsky.social podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/i...

Limited tickets are still available for next month's Voices of Freedom event, at the #Toronto Reference Library. Save your seat here: www.eventbrite.ca/e/voices-of-...

‘Without justice, the balance of the world is undone. Justice is the gravity keeping us upright as humans.’ Leila Aboulela’s #PENPinterPrize 2025 speech – delivered at the @britishlibrary.bsky.social – is now in our online magazine, #PENTransmissions. pentransmissions.com/2025/10/10/t...

‘Or maybe a story that’s entirely different, fighting for its own space, its right to exist. Like a series of concentric circles fighting to stay whole’ In #PENTransmissions, Hajera Khaja on telling her friend’s story. w/ @pencanada.bsky.social. pentransmissions.com/2025/10/16/t...

What does the Western media get wrong about the Middle East? And how can we ensure better coverage of the raging conflicts that are shaping our world today? On Thursday Oct 16, this free, online panel will discuss: buff.ly/TsVW29F

Event announcement 📚 Join us on November 13 for an evening with Canisia Lubrin, in a conversation with Souvankham Thammavongsa, as we celebrate Lubrin’s forthcoming book The World After Rain. Tickets: buff.ly/AgafNX9

Come hear new work by #writers, novelists, filmmakers and journalists who live in exile in Canada. 🗓️ Wednesday, November 12, 2025 ⏰ 7:00 (Doors open at 6:30) 📍 Beeton Hall, Toronto Reference Library (789 Yonge Street) 🎟️ Free tickets available on Eventbrite: www.eventbrite.ca/e/voices-of-...

Two years since armed Palestinian groups' attacks, where some 1200 Israelis, including civilians, were killed, and 251 taken hostage. (1/4)

Tickets are SOLD OUT for our event with renowned Jamaican writer, Olive Senior. If you grabbed a ticket, we'll see you next week: 📅 October 8th, 2025 at 6 pm (doors open at 5:30 p.m.) 📍 D.G. Ivey Library, at the University of Toronto (20 Willcocks Street) pencanada.ca/event/an-eve...

A verdict is expected on 6 October in the preposterous case against Yavuz Ekinci. He faces years in prison on terror propaganda grounds for his book Rüyası Bölünenler (Dream Divided). We urge #Türkiye to drop all charges and to uphold the freedom to create. www.pen-international.org/news/trkiye-...

“The Kremlin stole my life.” That’s how #Ukrainian journalist Dmytro Khyliuk sums up his feelings after three years’ imprisonment in a Russian correctional colony. Although he is finally free, he says the memory of 1,271 days of physical and psychological suffering will stay with him forever.

‘By isolating Afghanistan from the outside world and denying millions the ability to communicate and engage in online expression, the Taliban risks plunging the country into darkness.," said Romana Cacchioli of PEN International. "This shutdown must be reversed immediately."

What can we learn about book banning from the 400 years of the Catholic Church’s Index of Prohibited Books? 📅 Tonight, James L. Turk and historian Robin Vose address the lessons we can learn from four centuries of failed attempts at institutional censorship. Get the Zoom link: buff.ly/KACNu2n

Tonight our webinar series kicks off with our first session, featuring Roger Reeves, Georgio Russell and Esi Edugyan. Register here: buff.ly/iqXuj0w

The RCMP wanted a photojournalist kept in custody for months after Mounties alleged she assaulted a sheriff following her high-profile arrest at a 2021 Wet’suwet’en pipeline standoff. More from the civil suit filed by Amber Bracken and The Narwhal: www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/artic...

"My fascination with Missed Connections isn’t because I’m waiting for a response on a post about someone I passed on a sidewalk... I read them because it feels like I’m bearing witness to the very human urge to try and figure out how to write into silence. How to archive a void."

📰 New piece by Canadian #author and previous PEN New Voices Award winner, Deepa Rajagopalan:

Exciting news! Our own MFA student #EmDial will be participating in @pencanada.bsky.social’s “Drawn to the Page” webinar series this October! Join Em and other talented writers as they explore craft, purpose, and how writers can respond to the social and political challenges of our time.

We're incredibly relieved that Alaa Abd el-Fattah has finally been released from prison. We would like to extend our sincere thanks to everyone who has supported Alaa and his family over these difficult years. www.englishpen.org/posts/campai...

We have a webinar series for writers! Tune in throughout October to explore what draws you to the page. Through conversations between emerging #writers and their #mentors, collaborators or award-winning peers:

This event includes writers Farzana Doctor, Jamal Saeed, Mostafa Al-A'sar and Saima S Hussain at the Toronto Reference Library. 🎟️ Ticket registration is required: buff.ly/VbBLpaB

The pardon of jailed Egyptian-British writer Alaa Abd El-Fattah corrects a deep injustice. PEN America calls for El-Fattah to be released and reunited with his family, and to be allowed to continue his life and work without restrictions. Full statement: pen.org/press-releas...

Israel’s targeted strikes on two newspaper offices in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, on September 10 have killed 31 journalists and media support workers. Read more from the Committee to Project Journalists: buff.ly/yLvDlO2

Upcoming free event 📅 On Friday October 10, Toronto Public Library and PEN Canada present an intimate literary evening that celebrates the rich diversity of Islamic perspectives and experiences through the power of storytelling and verse.

#Egypt: We welcome reports that British-Egyptian writer, activist & PEN's case Alaa Abd el-Fattah has been granted a presidential pardon after 6 years unjustly imprisoned for his words. We await his release and will be monitoring the situation in the coming days. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

We warmly welcome the news of British-Egyptian writer Alaa Abd el-Fattah's pardon. This is an important and positive development, and a huge relief for his family. We remain by their side and guided by them, and will share more once there is further clarity. fairsq.org/alaa-abd-el-...

Alaa Abd el-Fattah has been pardoned. His lawyer says he is expected to be released from Wadi Natron Prison, just north of Cairo, immediately after the state’s decision is published in the country’s official gazette, likely within the next two days. www.thestar.com/news/world/m...

This weekend marks 24 years of imprisonment for 12 journalists in Eritrea. Among them is Dawit Isaak, a prolific writer, playwright, and courageous journalist with Setit, Eritrea’s first independent newspaper. -- (Illustration by Michael Cho (michaelcho.com) commissioned by PEN Canada)

"writing what you don’t know is made up of research, speculation, and imagination. I wrestled with the incomplete – and possibly inaccurate – facts presented in my poem." — Christine Wu. I love this piece on writing into 'shadow histories' in complex families, using multiple ways of knowing.

Congratulations are in order for Raffi Minas, a member of the PEN Canada Writers in Exile. Raffi, a #Calgary based writer, has been recognized by the 2025 CBC Nonfiction Prize longlist for his story, The Home That Crossed Ocean. CBC will announce the winner on Sept. 25. www.cbc.ca/books/litera...

"What I initially considered controversial – imagination – serves its purpose in revealing an emotional truth." Christine Wu (2023 New Voices Award winner) is a featured writer in PEN Transmissions, English PEN’s magazine for international voices:

Last week, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced a rewrite of her government’s book-banning order. But, as Ira Wells says, those of us who care about our children’s right to read shouldn’t pop open the champagne just yet. 📰 More from Wells in the Toronto Star: www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

Alberta's latest book ban order focuses on images rather than words, banning four award winning graphic novels and memoirs and threatening many others. Here's a fantastic response from @pencanada.bsky.social 's Ira Wells. Read and share! www.thestar.com/opinion/cont...

Onder Deligoz has been chosen as the 2025 PEN Writer-in-Residence at George Brown College. His work at the college began in August and runs until April 2026.

Exciting news on the creation of 4 new Centres of PEN International 🙌 The process to establish a PEN centre can take years of collaboration and community building, and we celebrate this huge achievement by all involved.

Lawyers for jailed Hong Kong publisher Jimmy Lai have launched an urgent appeal to experts at the United Nations, warning his life is at serious and immediate risk in detention. After closing arguments last week, Lai's family believes he could die in prison. www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/art...

PEN International is delighted to announce the appointment of literary giant and Nobel Prize-winning Polish writer and activist Olga Tokarczuk as Vice President of PEN International. Read more ⬇️ www.pen-international.org/news/nobel-l...

What is happening in #Alberta the first — and largest — book ban of its kind in Canada. "What the government of Alberta is doing here is book banning. It is literary censorship and we should use those words," Ira Wells told CBC. Read more: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Join us for a captivating evening with renowned Jamaican writer, Olive Senior, one of the most influential voices in Caribbean literature. 📅 October 8th, 2025 at 6 pm (doors open at 5:30 p.m.) 📍 D.G. Ivey Library, at the University of Toronto (20 Willcocks Street) 🎟️ FREE, no registration required

Joan was a globe-trotting journalist, a champion of refugee writers in Canada and a tireless human-rights advocate. She worked more than 30 years for the CBC. Joan became deeply involved as a advocate for refugees, working with PEN Canada and Toronto’s Romero House for refugees.

In #Edmonton, more than 200 books deemed sexually explicit are slated for removal from library shelves for students in kindergarten to Grade 12. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Egyptian authorities have brought new charges against award-winning #poet Galal El-Behairy, which PEN International believe to be fabricated and intended to further extend his unjust incarceration. www.pen-international.org/news/egypt-p...

PEN Canada is seeking #volunteer interns for the fall term to assist with communications, outreach, events and programming initiatives. The deadline to apply is Thursday September 4, 2025 at 5 p.m. EST. Learn more: pencanada.ca/news/interni...