Every year, our colleagues at PEN International compile a list of writers at risk and their families to whom members are encouraged to send seasonal greetings. Past recipients have told us about how these cards can provide much-needed moral support, and a crucial reminder that they have not been forgotten; others have told of how they were afforded better treatment by prison guards as a result of cards flooding in from all over the world.
Among the writers we’re asking supporters to send cards to are academic Dr Abduljalil Al-Singace and human rights defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja in Bahrain, Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo and veteran journalist Gao Yu in China, imprisoned Egyptian novelist Ahmed Naji, and many other fellow writers from Iran to Turkey, from Eritrea to Vietnam.
We also hope that many of you will continue to send cards and messages of support to your chosen writer throughout 2017 and beyond – and if you’re not already a member of English PEN, please consider joining today and supporting our work defending the freedom to write and the freedom to read all year round.
Please email [email protected] to request this year’s Season’s Greetings list.
The list contains details of writers at risk, alongside addresses and instructions regarding what to send. We recommend that you include a return address but if you would prefer to use English PEN’s office address please do: Writers at Risk Programme, English PEN, Free Word Centre, 60 Farringdon Road, London, EC1R 3GA.
We ask that you please do not to publish the list as it contains personal addresses, but we very much encourage you to share photos of any cards you send (before adding the address) on social media with the hashtags #PENgreetings and #imprisonedwriter and tagging @englishpen
Many thanks and very best wishes to you all for 2017.