A dramatic rise in book challenges and book bans targeting what are often called “diverse books” in children’s literature is sweeping North America. While the bans are mostly seen as local issues in ...

“There’s a lot of emotion unsaid between my family and myself,” Christine Wu says over a call, reaching us from her maritime home in Kjipuktuk (Halifax). She is speaking of her immigrant parents and ...

Nancy Huggett has won the 2024 RBC PEN Canada New Voices Award. For her winning submission, Revelation, she will receive a $3,000 cash prize and mentorship from a Canadian author. A jury of Canadian ...

PEN Canada was founded in 1983. We are a nonpartisan organization of writers and readers. One of our central roles is to defend the right to freedom of expression. We raise our voices against domestic ...

Writers gather for sessions on the climate emergency and war. The 57th International Meeting of the Writers for Peace Committee this month hosted powerful witness and action in response to conflict ...

PEN Canada calls on the Canadian government to insist that combatants in the Hamas-Israel war protect and respect the right of journalists reporting from Israel, Gaza and the West Bank, to perform ...

Deepa Rajagopalan is completing her MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Guelph, and is a graduate of the Creative Writing program from the University of Toronto. She is an editor of Held ...

Arzu Yildiz is a Turkish journalist who has covered high profile murder cases and the illegal arms trade to Syria. She has worked as an editor and senior reporter in both print and television ...

PEN Canada is accepting submissions for the 2025 RBC PEN Canada New Voices Award. The award encourages new writing and provides a space for unpublished writers (age 17 and over). Writers can submit ...

Step into an afternoon of inspiration and storytelling as we present Voices of Freedom at Hirut Jazz Cafe in Toronto’s east end. This special edition of the reading series, hosted by the Writers in ...

We write from PEN Canada, PEN America and the Artists at Risk Connection, nonpartisan organizations that defend freedom of speech, to express our concern about the abrupt cancellation of an exhibit by ...

On February 28, 2020, you were arrested by Hong Kong police in your home above Mong Kok district. Fifteen officers took you away in a car. The press was alerted beforehand so that you could be shamed ...