PEN's Content

Iran: a Conversation about the Elections, Protests, and the Future

PEN — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 09:41:12 -0700

Only one month following the start of Iran’s civilian uprising, PEN American Center joins forces with The New York Review of Books and 92nd Street Y Unterberg Poetry Center for New York City’s first public discussion about the recent events in this pivotal Middle Eastern country. Shaul Bakhash, a leading expert on Iran and frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books will moderate a panel including New York Times’ columnist Roger Cohen -- who has recently returned to the U.S. from covering the elections -- and Iran analysts Haleh Esfandiari (Director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson international Center for Scholars, who was imprisoned in Iran in 2007), and Karim Sadjadpour (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington D.C.).
With traditional media shut down, it is increasingly difficult to follow events on the ground and behind the scenes in Iran. What is happening in heavily censored Iran today? And where are today’s events taking this country of 70 million people (two-thirds of whom are under the age of 30)? Do not miss this extraordinary opportunity to hear real stories from the streets and a discussion led by experts on the future of this complex country.
Tickets: $15/$8 for students with ID and PEN members: www.smarttix.com or call 212-868-4444
Where: 92nd Street Y
1395 Lexington Avenue
New York, NY

A Message from Liu Xiaobo

PEN — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 11:51:05 -0700

Renowned literary critic, writer and activist Liu Xiaobo talks about freedom of expression in China.

Voices Against Torture: Writers and Lawyers on the Way Forward

PEN — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 13:00:07 -0800

On Tuesday, December 16, 2008, ACS and the PEN American Center will host a panel featuring writers and lawyers discussing their work and its relationship to combating torture. This evening of law and literature examines the roles that lawyers and writers have played, and continue to play, in exposing human rights abuses and in reminding nations of their human rights responsibilities. As lawyers have fought for legal rights to be enforced, writers have awakened the consciences of nations, reminding citizens of the values that undergird rights. This moderated conversation will bring together novelists, journalists, legal advocates, and scholars.

The panel will feature:

* Moderator, Dahlia Lithwick, Senior Editor, Slate
* Anouar Benmalek, Author of The Lovers of Algeria and Co-founder of The Algerian Committee Against Torture
* Scott Horton, Professor of Law, Columbia Law School, and Contributor to Harper's Magazine
* Elisa Massimino, Executive Director and C.E.O. of Human Rights First
* Jane Mayer, Author of The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals and Staff Writer for The New Yorker

The panel will begin promptly at 6:30 p.m. and will end at 7:45 p.m., followed by a wine and cheese reception. This event is free and open to the public.

6:30 pm-8:30 pm
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Judson Memorial Church
55 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012

Reading Burma: A Benefit for Cyclone Relief and and Freedom of Expression in Burma/Myanmar

PEN — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 12:27:15 -0700

On the first anniversary of the monks' uprising in which thousands protested against Burma's military dictatorship, and the 20th anniversary of the 1988 pro-democracy protests, PEN will join with the Open Society Institute's Burma Project and the New York Review of Books to honor Burmese writers whose work has been suppressed by the military regime and to support victims of the recent cyclone.

With:
Kirin Desai
Siri Hustvedt
Joseph Lelyveld
Orhan Pamuk
Paulo Sergio Pinheiro
Salman Rushdie
and special guests

and a conversation with George Packer and the Venerable U Gawsita, a leader of the 2007 Monks' Uprising

Tuesday, September 23, 2008
7 p.m.
The Great Hall of Cooper Union
7 East 7th Street
New York City

ALL proceeds from the event will be donated to the International Burmese Monks Organization (IBMO), a network of Burmese Buddhist monks distributing relief aid to the victims of Cyclone Nargis

$20 (general admission) and $100 (includes post-event reception)
$15 for students and PEN members (with valid ID)
Tickets: www.smarttix.com or call (212) 868-4444

For more information, visit www.pen.org

PEN Members Demand Release of All Writers Imprisoned in China

PEN — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 12:03:25 -0700

99 days before the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympics, PEN Members Salman Rushdie, Francine Prose, Edward Albee, Rick Moody, and Ma Jian delivered to the Chinese Mission to the United Nations a petition signed by more than 3,000 PEN Members and supporters demanding the release of all writers and journalists imprisoned in China for exercising their right to freedom of expression. This press conference preceded the petition delivery.

Bringing Down the Great Firewall of China: Silenced Writers Speak on the Eve of the Olympics

PEN — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 07:59:36 -0700

On Thursday evening, August 7, 2008 – the night before the Olympic Games open in Beijing – PEN will hold an event at Tishman Auditorium in New York City in which a dozen of our leading members, including Edward Albee, Russell Banks and Francine Prose, will give voice to the more than 40 writers and journalists currently in prison in China. "Bringing Down the Great Firewall of China: Silenced Writers Speak on the Eve of the Olympics" will feature new and previously untranslated statements and writings by several of these jailed writers and other leading dissidents and members of the Independent Chinese PEN Center, which is on the front lines of the struggle to expand freedom of expression in China.

As the culminating event of PEN's eight month-long "We Are Ready for Freedom of Expression" campaign to win the release of all the writers and journalists currently held in Chinese prisons, it is timed to ensure that, as the attention of the world is focused on Beijing, we hear the voices that the Chinese government has tried to silence.

WHEN: Thursday, August 7, 2008
7:00pm (doors open at 6:30)
WHERE: Tishman Auditorium, The New School
66 W. 12th St. (between 6th and 7th Aves)

FREE and open to the public

For more information on the campaign and to take action, please visit www.pen.org/china

PEN American Center

PEN — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 08:22:38 -0700

PEN American Center is the largest of the 145 centers of International PEN, the world’s oldest human rights organization and the oldest international literary organization. International PEN was founded in 1921 to dispel national, ethnic, and racial hatreds and to promote understanding among all countries. PEN American Center, founded a year later, works to advance literature, to defend free expression, and to foster international literary fellowship. The Center has a membership of 3,300 distinguished writers, editors, and translators.

In addition to defending writers in prison or in danger of imprisonment for their work, PEN American Center sponsors public literary programs and forums on current issues, sends prominent authors to inner-city schools to encourage reading and writing, administers literary prizes, promotes international literature that might otherwise go unread in the United States, and offers grants and loans to writers facing financial or medical emergencies.

In carrying out this work, PEN American Center builds upon the achievements of such dedicated past members as W. H. Auden, James Baldwin, Willa Cather, Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, Thomas Mann, Arthur Miller, Marianne Moore, Susan Sontag, and John Steinbeck.