FREEDOM TO WRITE FREEDOM TO READ
English PEN is the founding centre of a global literary network. We work to defend and promote freedom of expression, and to remove barriers to literature.
English PEN is the founding centre of a global literary network. We work to defend and promote freedom of expression, and to remove barriers to literature.
In April 2017, Vahni Capildeo was among the writers to take part in our second English PEN Modern Literature Festival, in partnership with Steven J Fowler and the Enemies Project. The festival sought to highlight the cases of writers at risk around the world, pairing them with individual writers here in the UK, each of
Elliot Ackerman reflects on the role of fiction in times of conflict. His new novel Dark at the Crossing is published by Daunt Books in April 2017.
The prominent Syrian human rights defenders Razan Zaitouneh, Samira Al-Khalil, Wa’el Hamada and Nazim Hammadi, who remain missing three years after armed men abducted them, should be released immediately, 56 human rights organisations said today, on the anniversary of their abduction. On December 9, 2013, a group of armed men stormed into the office of
Journalist and lawyer Mazen Darwish was released from prison last August, after three years in detention in Syria. Founding director of the Syrian Centre for Media and Free Expression (SCM), and a leading human rights activist, he was subjected to torture and enforced disappearance. His wife, the journalist and activist Yara Bader, led the campaign
English PEN and PEN International are delighted to be hosting an event at this year’s Citadel Festival in London The Syrian uprising began five years ago when a group of children painted anti-government graffiti on the walls of a school. With a quarter of a million dead and 11 million displaced, the ongoing war is