Skip to main content

Theme: Hong Kong Voices with China in View

Interview

Transforming Hong Kong

Bao Pu runs the publishing house New Century Press in Hong Kong that has published several politically sensitive books. In Jojje Olsson’s interview Bao Pu describes a Hong Kong that once had a...

Text: Jojje Olsson June 13 2019
Article

Letter to Gui Minhai

It has been over 1,400 days since the Swedish publisher Gui Minhai was imprisoned in China. This is a letter to Gui Minhai written by his publisher colleague Eva Gedin. “You cannot hear us but we are...

Text: Eva Gedin June 13 2019
Article

A Tale of Two Places

Jessica Yeung is a docent of translation at Hong Kong Baptist University where her research includes minority cultures. In this text she depicts the common denominators that weave together Hong Kong...

Text: Jessica Yeung June 13 2019
Fiction

Picnic at Victoria

”Justice is left unserved and history continues to be overwritten” Yoyo Chan, writer and translator, writes in her text that is taking place on the memorial day of the massacre at Tiananmen square in...

Text: Yoyo Chan June 13 2019
Poetry

Burn After Reading

Lui Waitong’s poem “Read and Burn” is a personal text that depicts generations of suffering against the foil of Chinese history. The author takes a retrospective look at her maternal grandfather who...

Text: Liu Waitong June 13 2019
Poetry

Takeout Poem

Writer and poet Cao Shuying was born in Harbin in northern China, but is currently living in Hong Kong. PEN/Opp publishes one of her poems—a poem where an unruly rebellious force is ever present:...

Text: Cao Shuying June 13 2019
Poetry

Writing Despite Inarticulateness

“They did everything to keep us asleep,” says Tammy Ho Lai-Ming, writer and Chairperson of PEN Hong Kong, in one of her poems. Ever present in her poetry is the worry she feels for the future of Hong...

Text: Tammy Ho Lai-Ming June 13 2019
Fiction

Hong Kong is my Myth and my Legend

Yan Lianke is one of China’s foremost authors. His recent texts have become more critical of society, which has made it harder to get them published. His works have either been retracted or not re...

Text: Yan Lianke June 13 2019
Article

Of Forbidden Words and Architecture in Hong Kong

In “Forbidden Words and Architecture in Hong Kong” author and journalist Ilaria Maria Sala sketches the development of architecture in Hong Kong as it opens more and more doors to Beijing and the...

Text: Ilaria Maria Sala June 13 2019

Theme: The Unsung Heroes of Ethiopia

Editorial

Texts about Hope

In April 2015 PEN/Opp had texts about Eritrea and Ethiopia, and among the contributors was Reeyot Alemu, the much...

Text: Elnaz Baghlanian May 03 2019
Article

The Emperor’s New Clothes

Gezahegn Mekonnen is an Ethiopian journalist and filmmaker, and one of the founding members of PEN Ethiopia. He currently lives in exile in Toronto, Canada, where he edits the journal New Perspectives...

Text: Gezahegn Mekonnen May 03 2019
Article

Open letter to the Prime Minister of Ethiopia

Solomon Hailemariam, author and founder of PEN Ethiopia, had to leave his homeland Ethiopia in 2015, after repeated attacks on himself and the organization. He now lives in exile in Canada, and serves...

Text: Solomon Hailemariam May 03 2019
Article

The Unsung Heroes

It is now more than six years since Swedish journalist Martin Schibbye and photographer Johan Persson returned home after 438 days in Ethiopian prison, accused of terrorism. Today, Martin Schibbye...

Text: Martin Schibbye May 03 2019
Poetry

Poems from Exile

Sosina Ashenafi, author and journalist, was born and raised in Ethiopia, and is known for her sarcastic essay style, short story writing and her poetry. She now works and lives in Canada, where she...

Text: Sosina Ashenafi May 03 2019
Poetry

Let Me Hear Your Truth

Chaala Hailu Abata, an Ethiopian poet who was imprisoned and tortured in his country of origin for writing poetry critical of the regime, lives in safety in Sweden today. But his thoughts remain back...

Text: Chaala Hailu Abata May 03 2019
Poetry

Salt and Metal

The metallic taste of clotted blood, like the salt from a cold sweat, seems ubiquitous. Ineradicable. Liyou Libsekal was born in 1990 in Ethiopia and currently lives in Addis Ababa. She is an award...

Text: Liyou Libsekal May 03 2019
Fiction

The Booksellers on the Street

Mohammed Selman is a journalist and freelance writer, presently working for BBC Amharic. He was previously an editor at Littmann Books, one of the leading publishing houses in Ethiopia. In “The...

Text: Mohammed Selman May 03 2019
Article

The Dawn is Not Here

In 2011, award-winning Ethiopian journalist Reeyot Alemu was sentenced to fourteen years in prison for her writing, on an accusation of “terrorism”. Her crime was having written critical texts on...

Text: Reeyot Alemu May 03 2019
Article

Censorship and Hate Speech in Ethiopia

In this text, journalist and author Bisrat Woldemichael discusses the challenges that the freedom of expression is facing in the newly democratised Ethiopia. As hate speech is highly spreading in the...

Text: Bisrat Woldemichael May 03 2019
Article

Journalism in Ethiopia: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

Woubshet Taye Abebe is an Ethiopian journalist and writer. Prior to being convicted, along with three other journalists, under the Ethiopian terror act in 2011, he served as editor-in-chief of the...

Text: Woubshet Taye Abebe May 03 2019
Fiction

There is Hope Now

Lena Bezawork Grönlund was born in 1975 in Addis Abeba and was raised in Northernmost Sweden. She is a librarian, and her first novel, Slag, was published in 2017. This issue contains a text in which...

Text: Lena Bezawork Grönlund May 03 2019

Like what you read?

Take action for freedom of expression and donate to PEN/Opp. Our work depends upon funding and donors. Every contribution, big or small, is valuable for us.

Donate on Patreon
More ways to get involved

Menu

Search