Today marks 8 and a half years since the assassination of the investagative journalist #DaphneCaruanaGalizia in Malta.
We demand full justice for her killing & stand in solidarity with Daphne's family and our colleagues in Malta.
#JusticeForDaphne
#JournalismIsNotACrime
Scottish PEN stands in solidarity with all those arrested today and condemns the ongoing attacks on freedom of expression and the right to protest.
The erosion of civil liberties & the criminalisation of those standing in opposition to genocide must be opposed at every level and always.
Massive Attack frontman Robert Del Naja has been arrested on suspicion of showing support for a proscribed organisation after attending a mass protest against the ban on Palestine Action in London
Industry bodies have condemned Israeli strikes that killed three journalists in a single day, including one in a targeted strike
Update❗ The pre-trial detention of Ahmed Douma has been extended by a further 15 days in relation to his writings and online expression.
This continued detention is arbitrary and unjust. We reiterate our call for his immediate and unconditional release.
www.pen-international.org/news/egypt-p...
President Donald Trump’s apocalyptic warning that Iran's “whole civilization will die tonight” is a threat to commit war crimes and may constitute a threat to commit genocide.
The international community must take urgent action to avert an impending catastrophe.
Read more 👇
Our investigation in Byline Times exposes a network of global ultra-conservative groups using courts to target trans healthcare.
bylinetimes.com/2026/04/02/how-the-us-ch...
I wished a poet a happy birthday on World Poetry Day, then spent the day being more of a dad than a poet.
But! Here’s one I prepared earlier, if you like poetry. Or the world. Or days.
www.brokensleepbooks.com/product-page...
Crown prosecutors have binned terror charges against a Scottish man alleged to have supported Palestine Action at a Gaza rally.
The decision, thought to be a UK first, should 'start a precedent' and see other cases thrown out as well, he said
www.thenational.scot/news/2595575...
Interesting: The UK’s three national human rights institutions have warned that weakening protections under the European Convention on Human Rights would risk the rights of everyone in the country👇
🔗 www.heraldscotland.com/news/2594907... via @heraldscotland.bsky.social
ARTICLE 19 welcomes the news that human rights defenders Nasta Lojka & Marfa Rabkova and journalist Katsiaryna Andreeva are among 250 prisoners released in Belarus.
But this does not signal a change in repressive policies.
All political prisoners must be freed.
www.article19.org/resources/be...
📣 We welcome the release of journalist, writer, and poet Kaciaryna Andrejeva and many others after years behind bars in #Belarus. There must be full accountability for the violations they suffered.
#FreeThemAll
www.rferl.org/a/washington...
#Lithuania: Index and other organisations have raised serious concerns about proposed amendments to the country's public service media law.
The current draft risks undermining the independence and sustainability of the national broadcaster, LRT⬇️
www.ebu.ch/news/2026/03...
"At the moment, my life is all black. I thought I’d reached the bottom. But I was wrong, it wasn’t the bottom." Marfa Rabkova wrote these words from prison to her husband. Now, she is finally free. She should never have been imprisoned in #Belarus.
www.indexoncensorship.org/campaigns/le...
PEN International is deeply saddened by the passing of dedicated writer and advocate Joel Pablo Salud, former PEN Philippines board member and Writers in Prison Committee Chair. Our heartfelt condolences to his family and colleagues at PEN Philippines.
www.rappler.com/people/obitu...
One of the many benefits of giving @ruthaylett.bsky.social
and my novel an astronomical title is that there's an excuse to promote it twice a year! Do check out the excellent @stairwellbooks.bsky.social for Equinox and its sequel, Solstice.
www.stairwellbooks.co.uk/product/equi...
Guinea has banned 40 political parties, a blow to political freedoms and free expression.
ARTICLE 19 calls on the govt to reverse the ban and uphold obligations under the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, the ICCPR + Guinea’s constitution.
www.article19.org/resources/gu...
EXCLUSIVE: A Scottish man who was charged with terrorism after allegedly showing support for Palestine Action has had his case thrown out in what is thought to be a UK first
A shocking new investigation by Index reveals that Emily (not her real name), a school librarian in Greater Manchester, faced disciplinary action after stocking the book Men Who Hate Women.
Nearly 200 books were targeted. 1/4
By @katiedd.bsky.social
'i thank You God for most this amazing' by e. e. cummings i thank You God for most this amazing day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything which is natural which is infinite which is yes (i who have died am alive again today, and this is the sun's birthday; this is the birth day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay great happening illimitably earth) how should tasting touching hearing seeing breathing any- —lifted from the no of all nothing-human merely being doubt unimaginable You? (now the ears of my ears awake and now the eyes of my eyes are opened)
Happy spring equinox to those of us in the north! This day always makes me think of this poem by e.e. cummings
📣 We welcome reports that #ValeryjaKaściuhova is among those released from prison in #Belarus. Thank you to everyone who stood with her on #InternationalWomensDay, collective action makes a difference!
www.pen-international.org/our-campaign...
101 months ago today, #DaphneCaruanaGalizia was assassinated in Malta because she spoke truth to power.
Scottish PEN stands in solidarity with Daphne's family & all those fighting for justice for her murder.
#JusticeForDaphne
@peninternational.bsky.social @irishpen.bsky.social
Celebrate IWD with Scottish PEN this coming Tuesday evening in Edinburgh with Nada Shawa and readings of imprisoned women writers from UniEd Creative Writing students
#UK: We join @indexoncensorship.org and others in urging the UK government to ensure the BBC World Service has the funding it needs to continue its vital work across the globe. Read our joint letter 🔽 www.pen-international.org/news/open-le...
Join Scottish PEN for IWD event Woman of Courage and Endurance: Scottish-Gazan poet Nada Shawa, plus Uni-Ed Creative Writing students read the work of imprisoned international women writers and some of their own. MARCH 10th, 7pm, Edinburgh Futures Centre rm 2.55. Free tickets, tinyurl.com/5c7e5vcf
"In states that once focused mainly on health care and sports for transgender minors, debates now revolve around the validity of transgender identity."
Because it was never about sports.
www.nytimes.com/2026/02/18/u...
Bypass here:
archive.ph/jUvSO
From tomorrow, we’ll share poems celebrating Indigenous and Minoritised languages worldwide as @pen-tlrc.bsky.social launches its 6th Video-Poem Marathon for International Mother Language Day.
Explore last year’s video-poems: www.pen-international.org/tlrc
#MotherLanguageDay #TLRCMarathon
30 Years of Creative Writing Festival
28 Feb & 1 March @glasgow.ac.uk – free
A 2-day festival of readings, workshops, panel discussions & activities celebrating the discipline of Creative Writing at Glasgow University, featuring alumni, current students & staff
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/30-years-o...
A devastating report by the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan, finding that the 18-month starvation siege & subsequent atrocities during the fall of El-Fasher genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.
www.ohchr.org/sites/defaul...
I wish it were true that "no one is above the law". But while the City of London acts as laundromat for the world's dirty money, as almost all fraud and waste crime go unprosecuted, as no one has gone to jail for the financial crash or the poisoning of our rivers, this is manifestly untrue.