Jean Rafferty: Worldwide Reading for Ashraf Fayadh
The Clutha Bar, Glasgow, 14th January 2016 Written by Jean Rafferty. You can visit her website here and follower her on Twitter at @fireopal19. Jean is the author of “The Four Marys”, published by...
View ArticleScottish PEN Statement on Key SNP Amendments to Investigatory Powers Bill
The parties in opposition including both SNP and Labour are facing an uphill battle to suggest amendments that offer substantial and robust civil liberties protections as part of the Investigatory...
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Why Scottish PEN is calling for defamation reform
As a partner in the Libel Reform Campaign, Scottish PEN is working with a range of partners to reform the legislation governing defamation in Scotland. As it stands, the existing legislation severely...
View ArticleJoin us on Twitter to defend Egyptian writer Ahmed Naji
Scottish PEN is hosting its first ever Twitter book club next Thursday (12th May) between 7-8pm. Join us online to discuss an extract from The Guide for Using Life, a novel written by imprisoned writer...
View ArticleStatement on the Queen’s Speech
As laid out by the Queen at the State Opening of Parliament, “proposals will be brought forward for a British Bill of Rights.” Scottish PEN reaffirms its resolute opposition to replacing the Human...
View ArticleThe Investigatory Powers Bill: We Deserve Better
Yesterday, the IP Bill passed the 3rd reading with a vote of 444 MPs for and 69 against. While the vote represents a key step in the bill’s journey to expand and update the UK’s surveillance powers to...
View ArticleLetter to David Cameron on Raif Badawi
Dear Rt. Hon. David Cameron, In the last four years, the people of Scotland voted to remain in the union, you and your party have moved from a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats to a...
View Article“Publishing is a women’s world”: Gender inequality in the writing industry
Guest blog post by Caroline Criado-Perez. You can find Caroline on Twitter at @CCriadoPerez and on her website. Publishing is a women’s world. According to a survey by Publisher’s Weekly, in 2014,...
View ArticleStatement on Faculty of Advocates
Without reform of defamation laws, the people of Scotland will continue to be deprived of essential protections for free speech. Scientists speaking out in the public interest, journalists...
View ArticleFreedom of expression at the Edinburgh Art Festival
The Edinburgh Art Festival starts today, so we’re offering our pick of events that amplify marginalised voices and explore free speech in the digital age. Part of the festival this year is its...
View ArticleAnnouncement: Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust Funding
We are delighted to announce that we have been awarded a grant of £40,000 from the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust. Over the past months, we have built our capacity for advocacy on issues of...
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Edinburgh International Book Festival 2016: Member events
August has arrived and that can only mean one thing: the festival season has started. We’ve compiled a list of Scottish PEN member events at the Book Festival so you can easily catch them reading and...
View ArticleDefamation Quiz: Results!
Thank you for taking our Defamation Quiz on Buzzfeed! Here is your complete result: Let’s see! If you’ve communicated with someone else with an accusation they deem to be defamatory they could sue you,...
View ArticleWigtown Book Festival: Big Brother’s Bookcase
Whether the fictional dystopias of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World or George Orwell’s landmark 1984, or the imagined lives of those under the state’s gaze as seen in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaiden’s...
View ArticleBanned Books Week 2016: The Legacy of Censorship
At Wigtown Book Festival, former Home Secretary Kenneth Baker introduced his new book, On the Burning of Books which spoke to the legacy of book burning throughout the age, whether fuelled by...
View ArticleWe’re hiring! Project Officer (fixed term, part-time)
Scottish PEN is looking for a Project Officer for a 17-month fixed period, from 1 Nov 2016 – 31 Mar 2018. This individual will work on Scottish PEN’s exciting ‘Many Voices’ project, connecting writers...
View ArticleAnalyst Desktop Binder_REDACTED
look for listeria sick swine white powder clouds and plumes the colour of avian flu the shape of hazmat suits small island embroidered with explosives human to human human to animal the sound of power...
View Article82nd International PEN Congress: A report from Carl MacDougall
In many ways, Congress was defined by an early statement to the Writers At Risk Committee. During the opening reports, one of the Turkish delegates began by saying, “I am not going to give my name.”...
View ArticleHiding from watch lists and lost in translation: Marjorie Lotfi Gill on...
Earlier this year, a friend looking to organise an event exploring the poetry of the jihad told me that none of the academics she’d tried to contact had returned her emails (even though articles on the...
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Under Construction
We are currently in the process of building a beautiful new website, and so will be taking a little longer than usual to update our online content. Please bear with us during this time, and we will do...
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