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Theme: Against the Grain: Writing Resistance

Editorial

Against the Grain: Writing Resistance

As a part of Banned Books Week, PEN/Opp publish an issue edited by the artist Shubigi Rao. The publication is made during a time when book banning is increasing globally in the wake of autocratisation...

Text: Shubigi Rao October 08 2025
Poetry

My Father’s Skin Looks Like the Surface of the Moon

Years ago, I was adamant I’d never write about the war that took place in Bosnia in my infancy. I found the topic passé and though it had nothing to do with me. Poetry laughed at my hubris. Who among...

Text: Selma Asotić October 08 2025
Article

The Philippines and Freedom of Expression

In The Philippines and Freedom of Expression Conchitina Cruz describes the attempted neoliberal takeover and militarization of universities, issues that are of particular global relevance in this...

Text: Conchitina “Chingbee” Cruz October 08 2025
Article

Letter to Tatay

This is a letter penned in jail by Amanda Echanis to her father, peace consultant Randall “Ka Randy” Echanis. Amanda, a writer and organizer of the Amihan National Federation of Peasant Women, was...

Text: Amanda Socorro Lacaba Echanis October 08 2025
Poetry

Ina's song

Reina Mae “Ina” Nasino, a student activist who became a community organizer, was pregnant when she was arrested on fabricated charges on November 5, 2019 with two other activists at their organization...

Text: Mara Peralta October 08 2025
Article

Myles

Myles Albasin had just graduated from University of the Philippines-Cebu when she and five other young activists were arrested in Mabinay, Negros Oriental on March 3, 2018. Like many detained...

Text: Mary Rose Ampoon October 08 2025
Interview

On Shadow Libraries: An Interview with Tomislav Medak

Shubigi Rao in conversation with Tomislav Medak, one of the initiators of Public Library, a book-sharing online project with the tagline ‘when everyone is a librarian, the library is everywhere’. This...

Text: Shubigi Rao October 08 2025
Article

Empty Fields

Gina Alexandra Srmabekian is a writer whose work grapples with transgenerational trauma, memory and identity. She writes about grief because it is the most powerful articulation of love.

Text: Gina Alexandra Srmabekian October 08 2025
Fiction

The Spoils of War Museum

In the wake of the 2020 war over Artsakh and the ethnic cleansing of the Republic that followed in 2023 by Azerbaijan, memory has become a battlefield as fraught as the land itself. “The Spoils of War...

Text: Gina Alexandra Srmabekian October 08 2025
Poetry

Two Poems

Nyree Abrahamian is a Canadian-Armenian writer and creative director based in Yerevan. She produces Country of Dust, an award-winning narrative podcast, and co-founded the Tumanyan International...

Text: Nyree Abrahamian October 08 2025
Article

Snowdrops and Other Poems

Ruzanna Grigoryan lives and writes poetry in Yerevan, Armenia.

Text: Ruzanna Grigoryan October 08 2025

Theme: Writers in Prison

Editorial

Messages of Solidarity, Writings of Hope

Around the world, writers take great risks by daring to write texts that oppressive rulers do not want to read. Writers...

Text: Elisabeth Löfgren and Hanna Nordell November 14 2024
Article

Seven weeks in Turkey’s Marmara prison

On 27 March 2025, Swedish author and journalist Joakim Medin is detained at Istanbul airport, where he had travelled to report on the nationwide protests following the arrest of Istanbul Mayor and...

Text: Joakim Medin September 19 2025
Fiction

Stories from The Zekameron

During the protests in Belarus in 2020, poet, writer and lawyer Maksim Znak was arrested and sentenced to 10 years in prison. While in prison, he began writing and smuggling out The Zekameron, one...

Maksim Znak March 18 2025
Article

The easiest way to escape from prison: literature

Kurdish poet and journalist Nedim Türfent spent more than six years in Turkish prison for his journalistic work. For PEN/Opp, he describes life behind bars and how letters and literature kept him...

Text: Nedim Türfent March 05 2025
Poetry

(2020–2023)

In October 2019, PEN Belarus started monitoring violations of rights in the cultural sphere. Since the stolen election in 2020 Belarus has experienced an unprecedented wave of repression against civil...

Text: Taciana Niadbaj November 14 2024
Poetry

Poem from Prison

In November 2020, Kacharyna Andreyeva covered a demonstration honoring the memory of artist Raman Bandarenka, who was beaten to death during a protest. Thousands of people were arrested and Andrejeva...

Text: Katsjaryna Andrejeva November 14 2024

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