PEN America

Writer and journalist Dong Yuyu has long shared his ideas through essays, columns, and public exchanges. A 2007 Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, he marks another birthday imprisoned for his writing in China, where he’s been detained since 2022. He is currently serving a 7-year sentence. In prison, his health has suffered and authorities have denied him books. Just last month, authorities moved him to a remote prison even further from his family, making any visit a 5-hour round trip. Dong is the co-editor of Political China – a book banned by the Chinese government in 1998 – and a newsroom leader and columnist working in Chinese and international media. We urge the Chinese government to unconditionally release Dong and correct the injustice of his continued imprisonment. https://lnkd.in/e3PZCdH2

At our 62nd annual Literary Awards Ceremony, Julia Cho accepted the PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award, which honors a mid-career playwright “working indisputably at the highest level of achievement.” Backstage, PEN America caught up with Cho about what AI can’t take away from creators, the prophecy her dad gave her as a child, & where she turns for support when, in moments like the present, writing grows tough. Read more at: https://lnkd.in/diWvD84h

It may be difficult to imagine how changes at a liberal arts college with just 700 students could be a harbinger for authoritarian efforts to control and redirect higher education across the country. The new documentary First They Came for My College makes clear that the 2023 takeover of the New College of Florida was just that. Based on hundreds of hours of footage filmed on and around the palm-tree lined Sarasota campus — a good portion of it shot by students themselves — the film is making its way around festivals this spring, as universities around the nation face a concerted assault on academic freedom. Learn more at: https://lnkd.in/dvqQa7rm

What does it cost to speak freely today? For too many writers in the world, the cost is prison, exile, censorship, or violence. This year’s PEN International Case List “Writers Under Siege: Defying Silence” highlights writers at risk who continue to speak out and the role of international solidarity in defending their rights. Read and share their stories: https://lnkd.in/e-j_vjBM

"Access to other cultures, I think, is one of the answers for peace in the world," says Miriam Calleja, one of the judges for the 2026 #PENLitAwards. For a better understanding of the thoughtfulness and dedication of our expert judges, read how the 2026 PEN Poetry in Translation Award Panel chose its winner at: https://lnkd.in/ekx-DX6h #poets #poetry #translation

PEN America is celebrating the memory of Harry Keyishian, one of the most important champions of academic freedom in the twentieth century. PEN America’s Staff Attorney for US Free Expression Programs, Elly Brinkley said, “At a time when the values for which Keyishian and his fellow plaintiffs stood face grave threats, let us remind ourselves of Justice Brennan’s indelible words in the opinion: ‘Our nation is deeply committed to safeguarding academic freedom, which is of transcendent value to all of us, and not merely to the teachers concerned. That freedom is therefore a special concern of the First Amendment, which does not tolerate laws that cast a pall of orthodoxy over the classroom.’ We owe it to Harry Keyishian’s legacy to continue to fight for that transcendent value.” Read more: https://lnkd.in/djw67s2V PEN America interviewed Keyishian last year on how he sees “echoes” of the red scare today. Read our 2025 interview here: https://lnkd.in/enRftU8d

The 2026 PEN/Barbey #FreedomToWrite Award will honor Iranian writers Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee and Ali Asadollahi. Writer, poet, and human rights defender Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee has faced more than a decade of harassment, detention, and repeated imprisonment for her writing and activism on a range of human rights themes. She is currently jailed in Evin prison. Writer, poet, and translator Ali Asadollahi was arrested in January 2026 and detained for nearly two months as part of the Iranian government’s most recent crackdown on dissent. He was released on bail in mid-March amid mounting international pressure but remains at risk of re-arrest. The PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award recognizes writers who are targeted for their expression and jailed at the time of selection. The announcement comes amid a deepening crisis for free expression in Iran, where writers face both the long-standing repression of their own government and the immediate and life-threatening consequences of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. https://lnkd.in/dE6Fsk-e

PEN America's McKenna Samson, MPA joins the MomsRising.org podcast Breaking Through to talk about the importance of students everywhere being granted the #FreedomToRead. Listen here: https://lnkd.in/eqsUrqEi or at https://lnkd.in/dYCUKw5X

The 2026 PEN America World Voices Festival is just one week away! Join is in Los Angeles on April 30 and May 1 for two unforgettable free events. Full details at: https://lnkd.in/epsPtUxU #PENWorldVoices #WorldVoices

The 2026 PEN America World Voices Festival is just one week away! Join is in NYC April 29-May 2 for unforgettable conversations with incredible writers—about literature, humanity, democracy, and more. Dozens of events, many free! Details: https://lnkd.in/epsPtUxU #PENWorldVoices #WorldVoices