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 ...

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 ...

“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 ...

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 ...

The annual award supports and celebrates emerging talent in Canadian literature. Unpublished writers are encouraged to submit short stories, creative nonfiction, journalism, and poetry. The ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Freedom to Read Week is an annual event that encourages Canadians to think about and reaffirm their commitment to intellectual freedom, whether you are a librarian, bookseller, educator, student, or ...

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 ...

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 ...