January 17, 1958 – d. August 3, 2025 As a young reporter working for a local TV station, Joan was drawn to international ...

Given the enormous size of the U.S. book market relative to the Canadian market, and the pervasiveness of U.S. cultural trends, what happens in the United States affects Canadian writers and Canadian ...

Photo of Christine Wu, credit to Leah Pohlman “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).

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 ...

This year for Day of the Imprisoned Writer, PEN is calling for urgent international action from November 15 – 29 to protect four writers targeted for their peaceful free expression work, including ...

Jimmy Lai, a journalist, writer, media publisher, and pro-democracy activist, has won PEN Canada’s One Humanity Award. Lai, who has been in solitary confinement since December 2020, is currently ...

Ira Wells has been elected as president of PEN Canada. Wells is a critic, essayist, professor of literature, and author of three books, the latest of which, On Book Banning (Biblioasis, 2025), ...

PEN Canada joins 39 organizations and 132 individuals in a joint letter demanding a complete withdrawal of Bill C-2. The following letter was sent this week to Canadian authorities, including Prime ...

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 ...

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 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 ...

PEN Canada unequivocally condemns the Alberta government’s decision to pursue policies that are likely to lead to widespread book bans in the province’s schools.