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Current opportunities
We’ve opened applications for two short residencies for writers in the UK who are currently experiencing displacement. These five-day residencies will take place between May and July 2026, with partner hosts in London and Southwest England. The residents will also be commissioned to write new short non-fiction for our magazine PEN Transmissions.
Applications close 2 March 2026, and are open to writers currently based in England who identify as experiencing displacement – including (but not only) refugee writers, writers seeking asylum, and writers in exile.
Write to an imprisoned writer
PENWrites is our international letter-writing campaign in solidarity with writers in prison and at risk around the world. Join us in sending a message of hope today.
Featured Writer: Jimmy Lai
Send a message of support to award-winning writer, publisher, and human rights activist, Jimmy Lai, who has been imprisoned in Hong Kong since December 2020 on multiple charges related to his journalism and activism. In February 2026, Jimmy Lai was sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment under Hong Kong’s National Security Law (NSL). We remain in solidarity with Jimmy and his family and call on the UK to act urgently and decisively to secure his release.
“I get so many letters from PEN members...
Perhaps this is why I never feel helpless.”
Zehra Doğan, Writer in Residence
Campaign with us
Every year, hundreds of writers are imprisoned, persecuted, attacked, threatened, exiled or even murdered as a result of their work. We seek to defend and support them and their families, to pressurise governments where the right to freedom of expression is under attack, and to help bring about the necessary changes to make freedom of expression a reality around the world.
Help support our work
English PEN is one of the world's oldest human rights organisations. With the support of our members – a community of writers, readers and activists – we protect freedom of expression whenever it is under attack. Your support is vital to our work. There are plenty of ways you can get involved and show your support.
Find out how