A short story by Ellen Wiles about a writer from Myanmar reflecting on her country’s new transition, based on several true accounts of Burmese writers’ lives under censorship and beyond.
Read MoreIt's all in a name
Co-written with Andrea C. Hoffmann, translated from German by Shaun Whiteside. The weather is bad as we stand outside Sherbrooke town hall. The rain is pouring down – as it does so often in my new home, Canada, which is in every respect the opposite of my old one. All my friends have come. It…
Read MoreIt’s all in a name
Co-written with Andrea C. Hoffmann, translated from German by Shaun Whiteside. The weather is bad as we stand outside Sherbrooke town hall. The rain is pouring down – as it does so often in my new home, Canada, which is in every respect the opposite of my old one. All my friends have come. It…
Read MoreThe seizure of a book review
On 4 March 2016, Kitap Zamanı, the literary supplement of Turkey’s largest newspaper Zaman, was shut down by the government. Poet Can Bahadır Yüce reflects on the future of press freedom in Turkey.
Read MoreAmid a sea of red flags
The award-winning writer and artist discusses her life-long relationship with literature and the politics of being a writer in China.
Read MoreWomen writers in translation to read right now
To mark International Women’s Day 2016, the founder of #readwomen gives her top recommendations of women writers in translation.
Read MoreFrom the back of the bus: the significance of BAME writers
Poet, performer and educator Anthony Anaxagorou writes on the lack of diversity in UK publishing and why the new Bare Lit festival celebrating writers of colour is so needed.
Read MoreLetter to Britain
As the UK considers its place in the European Union ahead of a likely referendum in June, the German author sends a personal message.
Read MoreProphets and holy warriors
Ahead of his appearance at our first PEN Atlas event on 24 February, Bangladeshi journalist and editor Tasneem Khalil reflects on the death of Avijit Roy and other ‘prophets of freethought’.
Read MoreOn the beauty of international crime (fiction)
The publisher of brand-new imprint Point Blank makes the literary case for crime fiction, and explains how it might just open more eyes to the pleasures of reading in translation.
Read MoreJanuary 25th: from a revolution, to a conspiracy, to a forbidden call
Five years on from the historic events of Tahrir Square, writer and psychiatrist Basma Abdel Aziz reflects on the many names of the Egyptian revolution, and her hopes for the future.
Read MoreMy search for meaning
Femi Martin, founder of Full Circle Projects, discusses the impact of creativity in her own life and in the lives of the people she works with.
Read MoreTalking about home
Sudanese-American poet Safia Elhillo shares two new poems and comments on the complex relationship between language, identity, family and the concept of home when living in the diaspora.
Read MoreThe reading map: PEN Centres' 2015 Highlights
PEN Centres from around the world share their top reads of 2015, and tell us what they will be campaigning on in 2016.
Read MoreThe reading map: PEN Centres’ 2015 Highlights
PEN Centres from around the world share their top reads of 2015, and tell us what they will be campaigning on in 2016.
Read MoreThe UK gets its FIL
Translator and writer Jethro Soutar reports from the 2015 Guadalajara International Book Fair, the biggest annual literary event in the Spanish-speaking world.
Read MoreRefugees and Writers: Conversations in the Calais 'Jungle'
To mark International Human Rights Day, a special PEN Atlas dispatch from the refugee camps at Calais by writers Dr. Olumide Popoola and Annie Holmes.
Read MoreRefugees and Writers: Conversations in the Calais ‘Jungle’
To mark International Human Rights Day, a special PEN Atlas dispatch from the refugee camps at Calais by writers Dr. Olumide Popoola and Annie Holmes.
Read MoreThe Prison Book Club comes full circle
Canadian journalist Ann Walmsley, author of The Prison Book Club, reports from the last stop on her UK book tour – an English PEN ‘Meet the Writer’ event at HMP Wandsworth.
Read MoreFrom One Reader to Another
Good afternoon. I’d like to express my gratitude to Erica Jarnes [at English PEN] for giving me this opportunity to speak today, and to you all for listening. In the next half hour, I’ll touch on why I read, the different ways of reading, and how exactly books leave legacies inside us – and whether…
Read MorePEN Atlas Q&A: Amélie Nothomb
The prolific Belgian writer talks to PEN atlas about the Parisian literary scene, a recurring character called Amélie Nothomb and her latest book – Petronille, published in English translation by Europa Editions.
Read MoreOn the novel Laurus
Eugene Vodolazkin writes on using the language of the past to construct new meaning for the present, and the medieval and postmodern influences for his new novel Laurus.
Read MoreBuilding Bridges: The Conrad Festival in Kraków
The Feminist Press’s Lauren Hook sends a dispatch from Kraków’s annual Conrad Festival, reflecting particularly on the inspiring women writers she met there.
Read More#freeslahi: An appeal for justice
Larry Siems, director of the Freedom to Write and International Programs at PEN American Center, makes an impassioned plea for the case of Mohamedou Ould Slahi, imprisoned at Guantánamo.
Read MoreAn Affirming Flame: the voice of Kyiv
Two years after the Euromaidan movement began, translator Steve Komarnyckyj speaks to prominent Ukrainian writers about free speech and the influence of the Kremlin in Kyiv.
Read MoreAn Affirming Flame; the voice of Kyiv
Two years after the Euromaidan movement began, translator Steve Komarnyckyj speaks to prominent Ukrainian writers about free speech and the influence of the Kremlin in Kyiv.
Read MoreOn Translating Orwell’s Animal Farm
Zimbabwean lawyer Petina Gappah, founder of The Orwell Project, reflects on revolutions, betrayals, and the universality of Orwell’s masterpiece.
Read MoreOn Translating Orwell's Animal Farm
Zimbabwean lawyer Petina Gappah, founder of The Orwell Project, reflects on revolutions, betrayals, and the universality of Orwell’s masterpiece.
Read MoreCrossing cultures
Former child refugee Gulwali Passarlay shares his experience of stepping into a new life in the UK and discusses the publication of his memoir, The Lightless Sky.
Read More‘Banned from entry to Bahrain’
Marc Owen Jones, co-editor of a new book exploring the personal stories behind the Arab Spring’s ‘forgotten front’, shares his experiences of Bahrain as a child growing up and now.
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PEN Transmissions 