"Receiving the prize was not just a personal milestone, but a moment that drew my attention away from myself and toward the deeper cause it represents," Diary Marif writes in his piece for Voices in Exile. "It points to the story, the struggle, and the voice of Sherwan Sherwani." buff.ly/2HSBnBM

This holiday season, write a letter of solidarity to Jimmy Lai 💌 Last week, guilty verdicts were handed down in Hong Kong in the trial of the writer and newspaper publisher. With his sentencing expected in January 2026, Lai, who recently turned 78, could spend the rest of his life in prison.

"The people who trust me with their stories — refugees, survivors, dissenters, families navigating grief or injustice — they remind me every day that storytelling is a sacred responsibility," Read Samira Mohyeddin's Ken Filkow Speech: buff.ly/doUNORz

We welcome the long-awaited release of PEN members Ales Bialiatski and Maksim Znak and fellow writers after years behind bars! We continue urging #Belarus to free all those still held on trumped up grounds. #FreeThemAll www.reuters.com/world/europe...

President Trump’s defamation lawsuit against the BBC, which seeks an extraordinary $10 billion, represents a coercive ploy to globalize his domestic threats to a free and independent press and to chill reporting overseas, says PEN America. Full statement: pen.org/press-releas...

PEN strongly condemns the arbitrary, violent arrest and detention of writer and Nobel Peace laureate Narges Mohammadi on December 12. Iranian authorities should immediately disclose her whereabouts and ensure that she has access to her lawyer and family. www.pen-international.org/news/iran-au...

PEN Canada is deeply concerned by the guilty verdicts handed down in the trial of writer and publisher Jimmy Lai earlier today. With sentencing due in January 2026, Lai, who recently turned 78, could spend the rest of his life in prison. buff.ly/9kHgWBi

Jimmy Lai, who turned 78 behind bars last week, was found guilty today of 2 counts of conspiring to collude with foreign forces under the Beijing-imposed national security law, and a third count of sedition under colonial-era legislation. More in the 855-page verdict: hongkongfp.com/2025/12/15/i...

Today, writer and media publisher Jimmy Lai was found guilty on two counts of conspiring to collude with foreign forces under Hong Kong’s draconian National Security Law, and a third count of seditious publications under the territory’s colonial-era sedition law. www.englishpen.org/posts/campai...

How are the attacks on arts and culture in the U.S. impacting Canadian teachers, librarians and writers? In an online (@cfetmu.bsky.social panel, Robin Stevenson (Canadian author, @robinstevenson.bsky.social) tells us about what teacher librarians are experiecning:

After months of threats, Iranian authorities have rearrested human rights defender, writer and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi. Mohammadi was detained by plain clothed security forces after giving a speech at a memorial service for lawyer Khosrow Alikordi: pen.org/press-releas...

#Vietnam: Ahead of the 4th anniversary of writer Pham Doan Trang's unjust sentencing, we join @rsf.org @amnesty.org @penamerica.bsky.social @pressfreedom.bsky.social & others in calling on the international community to secure her release #FreePhamDoanTrang www.pen-international.org/news/vietnam...

The story behind Marie-Ange Garrigue Prize winner, Diary Marif: Despite considerable risk to his own safety, Marif travelled to Iraqi Kurdistan and met with members of the regional parliament, journalists, and organizations urging pressure on the authorities for the release of Sherwan Sherwani...

Basking in glow of last week's PEN Awards Night ✨ Thank you to the writers, journalists, advocates and friends who joined us last week to celebrate the recipients of three awards, as well as achievements of our wider community.

This week, your donation to PEN will make double the impact: each gift to PEN Canada this week will be matched, dollar-for-dollar, up to $15,000. At PEN Canada, impact means sending emergency grants to #writers forced into hiding or finding safe passage for them:

This week, your donation to PEN will make double the impact: each gift to PEN Canada this week will be matched, dollar-for-dollar, up to $15,000. At PEN Canada, impact means sending emergency grants to #writers forced into hiding, or finding safe passage for them.

We joined nine partner organizations to urge Navi Mumbai Police Commissioner Milind Bharambe to investigate death threats made against Indian #journalist and Washington Post columnist Rana Ayyub and her father, and to provide immediate protection for both. Read our letter here: buff.ly/HxeFVuq

Diary Marif has won the 2025 Marie-Ange Garrigue Prize, which recognizes those that assist imperiled writers. After a call for nominations from the public, the jury selected Marif due to his work to raise awareness of the plight of Kurdish journalists imprisoned in Iraqi Kurdistan. buff.ly/JMj2BSN

PEN International celebrates @smohyeddin.bsky.social, winner of the 2025 Ken Filkow Prize from @pencanada.bsky.social for her courageous journalism and defence of free expression. Learn more about the prize and its past recipients: pencanada.ca/defend-expre...

Samira Mohyeddin has won the 2025 Ken Filkow Prize, which recognizes those whose work has advanced freedom of expression in Canada. Mohyeddin will receive the prize in Toronto on Friday, November 28, 2025 at the annual PEN Canada Awards Night.

#DayoftheImprisonedWriter: Today we call for justice for voices that continue to be silenced. Head to pen-international.org to learn more about their cases, get prompts for solidarity letters, and discover how you can take action over the next four weeks. -

Join us next week for an online panel on how the attack on #arts and culture in the U.S. is impacting Canada. Panelists: • Jordan Laffrenier, Associate Artistic Director, Canadian Stage • Sascha Priewe, President, ICOM Canada • Robin Stevenson Writes, award-winning Canadian author

#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...