PEN Canada (Official)

At the end of this month, please join us in #Toronto for the wildly successful Voices of Freedom series. This time you'll hear from three writers: • Tala Motazedi, a Toronto-based screenwriter and playwright originally from Iran. • Andersson Boscán Pico, an Ecuadorian journalist and co-founder of La Posta, an independent media outlet known for investigative reporting on corruption and organized crime. • Raffi Minas, a Syrian-Canadian writer, trainer, mentor, and social worker. The event is free, and all are welcome to attend.

With one month until submissions close, we are excited to announce this year’s New Voices Award will be judged by authors Lydia Perovic (An Immigrant's Second Thoughts), Madeleine Thien (Do Not Say We Have Nothing), and Shashi Bhat (Death by a Thousand Cuts). The RBC/PEN Canada New Voices Award encourages new writing and provides a space where unpublished writers (age 17 and over) can submit short stories, creative non-fiction, journalism, prose and poetry. Eligible writers are invited to submit their work for a chance to win $3,000 CAD and mentorship from an esteemed Canadian author. The deadline to submit is Monday May 12, 2025. Learn more about the jury, and how to submit for the award, here: https://lnkd.in/g92kfi2k

Walid Batrawi is a Palestinian journalist and media consultant. He arrived in Canada in spring 2024, coming from the West Bank city of Ramallah. A few months later, he joined the PEN Canada Writers in Exile community. This week, the Globe & Mail published an article from him, "As a Palestinian, I can only hold so much in my heart right now." You can read it here: https://lnkd.in/g7YyNPHN

Mississauga — come out this Saturday for a seminar with PEN Writers in Exile: 📚 The Price of Freedom: The Voice of Literature in the Face of Exile 📅 Saturday April 5, 2025 at 5:00 PM 📍 Mississauga Arabic Book Fair (at the Palestine House, 3195 Erindale Station Rd) Featuring: Kamel Riahi (Tunisian writer), Mostafa Al-A'Sar (Egyptian writer and journalist), Almohannad Alnasser (Syrian writer), and Abdulrahman Matar (Syrian poet and writer). - #Mississauga

"When institutions silence voices and go along to get along, the world becomes more dangerous." Together, PEN Canada, PEN America and Artists at Risk Connection (ARC) have sent a joint letter to the Art Museum of the Americas regarding the cancellation of an exhibit. Andil Gosine, a Canadian scholar, writer and artist, was set to open his exhibit last week, which had been years in the making. But in February 2025, the exhibit was abruptly cancelled during a private phone call. Our concern is that the decision was not based on a lack of funding, but based on fear. The letter reads in part: "It appears from media reports that the decision was motivated by fear, especially anti-DEI measures signed as Executive Orders by President Trump. These measures are being used to silence artists, dissidents, and members of the targeted groups in ways that are deeply alarming. We see this playing out from corporate America to college campuses, and places of culture and creation, which is why we are writing to you. The most insidious form of censorship is not carried out by governments, but by institutions, businesses, and individuals who do the government’s bidding, hidden from public scrutiny. People are fired quietly, exhibits are closed, and budgeting decisions are made that cannot be questioned." Read the full letter on our website: https://lnkd.in/gzm8B-d6 -- #AndilGosine #ArtMuseumoftheAmericas #WashingtonDC

PEN America, PEN Canada, and PEN Québec have issued a joint letter, calling for books and literature to flow freely across our shared border. Amid rising political tensions between the U.S. and Canada, and escalating threats of a broader trade war, the downstream effects of tariffs on writers, readers, publishers, and booksellers will be profound. Just as Canadian publishers have called for the Canadian government to exempt books from tariffs on U.S. goods, we call on both countries’ governments to adopt such measures as an absolute minimum. Failure to act risks long-term impacts on literary culture that could prove irreversible. On behalf of the literary communities in our countries and around the world, we call on U.S. and Canadian governments, publishers, and literary institutions to heed the principles of the international PEN Charter, that works of art are “the patrimony of humanity at large,” and that “literature knows no frontiers and must remain common currency among people in spite of political or international upheavals.” Words and ideas are not owned by nations and states; the closing of borders is a harbinger for the closing of minds. In this context, ideas and information must be allowed to travel freely, a potential antidote to ignorance and chauvinism. Our writers must not be silenced, either -- whether through direct censorship, intimidation, the chilling effect of political tensions, or the creation of economic barriers. The full statement is available on both organizations' websites. Read it here: https://lnkd.in/gRYE_PTd

Come out this Sunday 🙌🏼 Join us in Toronto's east end for this free event. You'll hear from Tala Motazedi, Andersson Boscán Pico, and Raffi Minas — writers, journalists and artists who have new works and words to share with you.

Mark your calendar for two online panels, tackling some of the biggest challenges facing free expression today: ⚖️ Freedom of Expression, Public Engagement, Democracy: What Can We Expect for the Next Ten Years 📅 Tuesday April 8, 2025, at 7 p.m. EST • On the Centre for Free Expression’s 10th Anniversary, we are exploring two questions: What are likely to be the biggest challenges to freedom of expression, informed public engagement, and democracy in the coming ten years? 📚 Trump's War on Truth 📅 Wednesday May 7, 2025, at 7 p.m. EST • The return of Donald Trump to the White House has seen not only an unprecedented assault on media freedoms, including lawsuits, personal denunciations of reporters, and stripping news organizations of their credentials. We are also witnessing politicians attack the very notion of fact-checking and truth. Four American journalists on the frontlines of this story look at the dangers -- and the road ahead. These Centre for Free Expression events are FREE to attend, and no registration required. Get the Zoom here: https://lnkd.in/gZ7nS-XK

What is the PEN International Case List? For nearly a century, PEN International has monitored and advocated for writers who have suffered repression of their right to write freely, and to comment on the world around them without fear of arrest, violence and even death. In 1961 it began to formally record these attacks in what eventually became the ‘Case List’ summarizing who has suffered attack, where and by whom, the legal processes and the motivations behind them. The annual Case List focusses on writers of fiction and non-fiction, poets, playwrights, song writers, translators - anyone who works with the written word. The PEN International Case List’s primary role is to inform its membership and others engaged in advocacy for free expression and serves to enable PEN centres to identify where their focus could be. This year's report records 138 attacks on writers that were reported in 2024. Explore the Case List here: https://lnkd.in/ghG5gZvE -- #WritersInExile #WritersInPeril #WritersInPrison #ImprisonedWriters #AttacksOnJournalists

“PEN International condemns the brutal onslaught on peaceful expression unleashed by the authorities of Türkiye," says Burhan Sonmez, PEN International President. "The ever-growing roll back on fundamental rights in the country must end at once.” On March 19, 2025, over 100 people, including Istanbul’s mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, were detained on alleged ‘corruption’ and ‘terrorism’ grounds, in a move widely seen as politically motivated. Massive protests have since erupted in Istanbul – defying a ban on all public demonstrations – and across the country. The authorities temporarily restricted access to social media and messaging platforms in a bid to suppress access to information, and urged X to block access to hundreds of accounts. Journalists who covered the protests reported being subject to police violence. At least ten media workers were detained in morning raids in Istanbul and Izmir on March 24, as the authorities’ onslaught on fundamental rights intensified. Read more in PEN International's statement from today: https://lnkd.in/g9522zfg -- #Turkiye #Istanbul