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Day of the Imprisoned Writer
International day to support persecuted writers
The Day of the Imprisoned Writer is an annual, international day intended to recognize and support writers who resist repression of the basic human right to freedom of expression and who stand up to attacks made against their right to impart information. This day is observed each year on November 15. It was started in 1981 by PEN International's Writers in Prison Committee.
In addition to increasing the public's awareness of persecuted writers in general, PEN uses the Day of the Imprisoned Writer to direct attention to several specific persecuted or imprisoned writers and their individual circumstances. Each of the selected writers is from a different part of the world, and each case represents circumstances of repression that occur when governments or other entities in power feel threatened by what writers have written. On this day, the general public is encouraged to take action—in the form of donations and letters of appeal—on behalf of the selected writers.
The day also serves to commemorate all of the writers killed since the previous year's Day of the Imprisoned Writer. Between November 15, 2007, and November 15, 2008, at least 39 writers from around the world were killed in circumstances that appeared to be related to their professions.
Highlighted writers from past observances
2013
Kunchok Tsephel Gopey Tsang; internet writer and website editor, China - Tibet
Dina Meza; human rights defender and journalist, Honduras
Zahra Rahnavard; author and political activist, Iran
Rodney Sieh; newspaper founder, publisher and editor-in-chief, Liberia
Fazıl Say; writer, composer and musician, Turkey
2012
Muharrem Erbey; human rights lawyer and writer, Turkey
Shiva Nazar Ahari; journalist, activist and blogger; Iran
Ericson Acosta, poet, songwriter and activist, Philippines
Eskinder Nega; journalist and blogger, Ethiopia
Regina Martínez; journalist, Mexico
2011
Abduljalil al-Singace; blogger and human rights defender, Bahrain
Reeyot Alemu; opposition journalist, Ethiopia
Nedim Sener and Ahmet Şık; writers in prison, Turkey
Susana Chavez Castillo; poet and human rights defender, Mexico
Tashi Rabten (pen-name Te’urang); dissident writer, Tibet
2010
Robert Mintya; newspaper editor, Cameroon
Hossein Derakhshan; blogger, Iran
Bladimir Antuna (full name José Bladimir Antuna García); crime reporter, Mexico
Tal Al-Mallouhi; blogger and poet, Syria
Dilmurod Saidov; journalist, Uzbekistan
2009
Lapiro De Mbanga; singer-songwriter, Cameroon
Liu Xiaobo; dissident writer, China
Maziar Bahari; journalist, editor, playwright and film-maker, Iran
Miguel Ángel Gutiérrez Ávila; anthropologist, author and activist, Mexico
Natalia Estemirova; journalist and human rights defender, Russia
2008
Eynullah Fatullayev; journalist, Azerbaijan
Melissa Rocío Patiño Hinostroza; student and poet, Peru
Mohammad Sadiq Kaboudvand; journalist, Iran
Tsering Woeser; writer and poet, China
Writers, Cast and Crew of The Crocodile of Zambezi; Zimbabwe
2007
Normando Hernanez Gonzalez; journalist, Cuba
Jamshid Karimov; journalist, Ouzbekistan
Fatou Jaw Manneh; journalist, Gambia
Yaghoub Yadali; novelist, Iran
Zargana Maung Thura; poet and comedian, Burma
2006
Hrant Dink; newspaper editor, Turkey
Wesenseged Gebrekidan; journalist, Ethiopia
Lydia Cacho; writer, Mexico
Yang Xiaoqing; internet journalist, China
2005
Orhan Pamuk; writer, Turkey
Shi Tao; poet and activist, China
Dr. Roya Toloui; writer and women’s rights activist, Iran
Paul Kamara; journalist, Sierra Leone
Victor Rolando Arroyo; journalist, Cuba
2004
Amir-Abbas Fakhravar; writer, Iran
Rakhim Esenov; writer, Turkmenistan
Guy-André Kieffer; journalist, Ivory Coast
Roberto Javier Mora García, Francisco Ortiz Franco, and Francisco Arratia Saldierna; journalists, murdered in Mexico