PEN Transmissions

March 26, 2020March 26, 2020

How to Quarantine a Revolution

Lebanese writer and actress Dima Mikhayel Matta writes on quarantine, revolution, and being queer in Beirut.

February 11, 2020February 11, 2020

Who Gets to Write What?

Ananda Devi writes on Mauritius and London, the purpose of fiction, and appearing to tread dark territories.

January 28, 2020February 6, 2020

Where Should They Throw Us? An Interview with Rodaan Al Galidi

Iraqi-Dutch novelist speaks to us about writing the asylum process, language and the value of humour.

May 17, 2018January 22, 2020

On the move: a conversation with Olga Tokarczuk

The concept of a ‘nation’ doesn’t have the power to describe the contemporary identity of people living in the world. We should look for other ideas to describe us as a collective, as a group, as a society.

March 20, 2020March 25, 2020

The Egret: Poetry by Adam Baron and Ahmed Mansoor

On March 20, 2017, poet and human rights activist Ahmed Mansoor was arrested and subsequently sentenced to ten years in prison in the UAE. On this, the third anniversary of his arrest, we are honoured to be publishing Adam Baron’s poem for Ahmed, ‘The Egret’, alongside translations of Ahmed’s own poetry.

February 26, 2020March 25, 2020

Silence, Our Noisy Silence: A Conversation with Sema Kaygusuz and Nicholas Glastonbury

Sema Kaygusuz and Nicholas Glastonbury discuss shame, representation and the Turkish language.

January 21, 2020February 26, 2020

Free Music

Iranian musician Mehdi Rajabian writes on his time in Evin Prison, and music as a form of resistance in the Middle East.

December 27, 2019February 26, 2020

Translating Ulysses for Iran

Iranian-Canadian novelist and translator Akram Pedramnia writes on translating James Joyce into Persian, evading the censors, and imperial co-option of resistance.

December 12, 2019January 28, 2020

With this Novel, I Return: An Interview with Rafik Schami

Syrian-German novelist Rafik Schami discusses liberty, storytelling, language and exile.

November 26, 2019January 16, 2020

Always Against the Idols: A Conversation with Chus Pato and Erín Moure

Galician poet Chus Pato and Canadian poet and translator Erín Moure discuss collaboration, Francoism, language rights and iconoclasm. PEN Transmissions is English PEN’s magazine for international and translated voices. PEN’s members are the backbone of our work, helping us to support international literature, campaign for writers at risk, and advocate for the freedom to write…