How do authors transform the raw material of a traumatic memory into a compelling fiction or nonfiction narrative? This was ...

PEN Canada is pleased to announce Ira Wells as the new president of PEN Canada. He was elected on Thursday, June 12, 2025 ...

Ira Wells has been elected as president of PEN Canada. Wells is a critic, essayist, professor of literature, and author of three books, the latest of which, On Book Banning (Biblioasis, ...

PEN Canada celebrates literature, defends freedom of expression and aids writers in peril.

PEN Canada was founded in 1983. We are a nonpartisan organization of writers and readers. One of our central roles is to defend the right to freedom of expression. We raise our voices against domestic ...

Given the enormous size of the U.S. book market relative to the Canadian market, and the pervasiveness of U.S. cultural trends, what happens in the United States affects Canadian writers and Canadian ...

PEN Canada is now accepting English-language submissions for the 2025 RBC PEN Canada New Voices Award. The annual award supports and celebrates emerging talent in Canadian literature. Unpublished ...

Nancy Huggett has won the 2024 RBC PEN Canada New Voices Award. For her winning submission, Revelation, she will receive a $3,000 cash prize and mentorship from a Canadian author. A jury of Canadian ...

PEN Canada joins 39 organizations and 132 individuals in a joint letter demanding a complete withdrawal of Bill C-2. The following letter was sent this week to Canadian authorities, including Prime ...

Step into an afternoon of inspiration and storytelling as we present Voices of Freedom at Hirut Jazz Cafe in Toronto’s east end. This special edition of the reading series, hosted by the Writers in ...

Jimmy Lai, a journalist, writer, media publisher, and pro-democracy activist, has won PEN Canada’s One Humanity Award. Lai, who has been in solitary confinement since December 2020, is currently ...

This year for Day of the Imprisoned Writer, PEN is calling for urgent international action from November 15 – 29 to protect four writers targeted for their peaceful free expression work, including ...