In order to comprehend the events of recent months, PEN Ukraine has launched a series of conversations entitled #DialoguesOnWar. On March 24, 2023, Oleksandra Matviichuk, Head of the Center for Civil Liberties, a Ukrainian NGO awarded the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, held a conversation with Anne Applebaum, an American historian, writer, and journalist.

In order to comprehend the events of recent days, PEN Ukraine has launched a series of conversations entitled #DialoguesOnWar. On February 16, 2023, Ukrainian poet Yuliya Musakovska held a conversation with the American writer and publisher Dave Eggers. This is a transcription of key moments from their conversation.

In order to comprehend the events of recent days, PEN Ukraine has launched a series of conversations entitled #DialoguesOnWar. On February 10, 2023, Ukrainian poet and writer Oksana Lutsyshyna held a conversation with the Indian writer Arundhati Roy. This is a transcription of key moments from their conversation.

“In critical situations, the essence of a nation is comprised of its citizens’ deeds. If, at the very beginning of the invasion, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians, from common and unprivileged ones to the very elite, had taken to their heels instead of taking up arms, we could have only dreamt today about the liberation of Kyiv – or even Vinnytsia and Khmelnytskyi.”

In order to comprehend the events of recent days, PEN Ukraine has launched a series of conversations entitled #DialoguesOnWar. On February 2, Ukrainian journalist, researcher and head of the Crimea Platform, Maria Tomak, held a conversation with the British journalist and author Christina Lamb. This is a transcription of key moments from their conversation.

In order to comprehend the events of recent days, PEN Ukraine has launched a series of conversations entitled #DialoguesOnWar. On December 15, Sofia Cheliak, a Ukrainian cultural manager, translator, TV host, and programme director of Lviv BookForum, held a conversation with Margaret MacMillan, a Canadian historian and professor at the University of Oxford. This is a transcription of key moments from their conversation.

In order to comprehend the events of recent days, PEN Ukraine has launched a series of conversations entitled #DialoguesOnWar. On December 8, 2022, Olesia Ostrovska-Liuta, general director of the Mystetskyi Arsenal National Arts and Culture Museum Complex in Kyiv, held a conversation with Dan Ariely, an Israeli-American professor of psychology and behavioural economics. This is a transcription of key moments from their conversation.

In order to comprehend the events of recent days, PEN Ukraine has launched a series of conversations entitled #DialoguesOnWar. On October 11, 2022, Ukrainian poet, translator, and cultural manager. Iryna Vikyrchak held a conversation with the French author Pascal Bruckner. This is a transcription of key moments from their conversation.

In order to comprehend the events of recent days, PEN Ukraine has launched a series of conversations entitled #DialoguesOnWar. On October 20, Ukrainian journalist Tetyana Ogarkova held a conversation with French journalist and editorialist Sylvie Kauffmann. This is a transcription of key moments from their conversation.

In order to comprehend the events of recent days, PEN Ukraine has launched a series of conversations entitled #DialoguesOnWar. On November 1, Ukrainian journalist Nataliya Gumenyuk held a conversation with Polish journalist Sławomir Sierakowski. This is a transcription of key moments from their conversation.

In order to comprehend the events of recent days, PEN Ukraine has launched a series of conversations entitled #DialoguesOnWar. On October 4, 2022, Ukrainian author Kateryna Babkina held a conversation with the American writer of Ukrainian origin Askold Melnyczuk. This is a transcription of key moments from their conversation.

In order to comprehend the events of recent days, PEN Ukraine has launched a series of conversations entitled #DialoguesOnWar. On October 6, 2022, Ukrainian journalist Oleina Huseinova held a conversation with the Polish journalist Paweł Pieniążek. This is a transcription of key moments from their conversation. This conversation is supported by the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine.

In order to comprehend the events of recent days, PEN Ukraine has launched a series of conversations entitled #DialoguesOnWar. On September 6th, Oleksandr Zinchenko, a Ukrainian journalist, held a conversation with the German journalist Katrin Eigendorf. This is a transcription of key moments from their conversation.

In order to comprehend the events of recent days, PEN Ukraine has launched a series of conversations entitled #DialoguesOnWar. On August 30, Kostiantyn Sigov, a Ukrainian philosopher, held a conversation with the French philosopher Philippe de Lara. This is a transcription of key moments from their conversation. This conversation is supported by the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine.

In order to comprehend the events of recent days, PEN Ukraine has launched a series of conversations entitled #DialoguesOnWar. On July 8, Sophia Andrukhovych, Ukrainian author and translator, held a conversation with Orhan Pamuk, author and Nobel Prize winner in Literature.
This conversation is supported by the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine.

Since October 2019, the Belarusian PEN Center has been carrying out a systematic collecting of information on violations of cultural and human rights which impact culture workers. This document includes statistics and an analysis of violations from the first half of 2022. Material has been prepared on the basis of generally available information collected from open sources and direct communications with cultural figures.

“To sing a song/The guard with an electric baton in his hand/Ordered me to sing 100 songs.” Liao Yiwu, a prominent poet, reportage writer and folk musician, was arrested for publishing his long poem Massacre and other works to commemorate the Beijing Massacre of 1989, and later sentenced to four years imprisonment on counter-revolutionary propaganda and incitement.

“I believe that when girls/women start disappearing or hiding in the city, children disappear as well. And that’s how a downfall to community life or city vibrancy begins.” Peacemakers Pakistani share a crucial story of the use of public space.

“To stay alive, is a true miracle .” Shi Tao, a journalist, writer and poet, was sentenced to imprisonment for 10 years in 2005 for releasing a document of the Communist Party to an overseas Chinese democracy site after Yahoo! China provided his personal details to the Chinese government.

“When the night's chill hit me through the iron window, I seemed to see a row of iron bars between us – the father and son, weeping towards each other; I seemed to see my boy who had lost his father’s guidance turning evil under gangsters’ control and fooling around on the streets all day...” Du Daobin, a government official, writer, and freelancer, was arrested in 2003 for internet writings and sentenced to imprisonment for “inciting subversion of state power”.

“Put out the lamp/ Let only the cigarette burn the night’s coldness/ Spill the wine out the window to the night/ Let the darkness get drunk/ To vomit out another dawn/ A daybreak when perhaps there will be news.” Dr. Liu Xiaobo and Liu Xia, husband and wife, writers and activists, were imprisoned, put under house arrest, and separated by the Chinese authorities as a consequence of their struggle for human rights. Deprived of social contact and community interaction, the couple had nothing left to do but imagine a life beyond confinement.

“Several days after that, on the way to school or at home, Droma would quietly take out the half candy to lick it gently. Sometimes when there were no others around at school, she would quietly take it out and lick it a few times. Sometimes at home she would take it out to let her brother lick it a few times and put it back. The sheep dog often stared at Drolma's hands with its big and black eyes, sitting still with an expectant look.” Yang Tongyan (April 12, 1961 - November 5, 2017), a famous dissident writer and social activist better known as Yang Tianshui, was sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment for “subverting state power” because of his critical essays on overseas websites, as well as his political activism.

“The spring arrived and the earth became light green. At the foot of the high wall, there emerged a patch of tiny grass in light green. Without sunshine, the grass grew thin and yellow. Every day, I concentrated on this patch of light green.” Kang Yuchun, a doctor and writer, was sentenced to 17 years in prison for political issues in 1992.

“Living in the dormitory without any privacy will inevitably create contradiction and hostility, which constrain human nature and twist human character. Anyone who has ever lived in a dormitory has an intimate knowledge about this. Half a dozen people living together in a room less than 10 square meters over the years is incredible to those who live in a free world. However, in China, you have to bear this for a long time.” Zhang Lin, a dissident writer and social activist, was arrested in 1994 and then sentenced to three years of Reeducation-Through-Labor after contacting foreign journalists about human rights violations near his home village.

“ (…) in my days there are beetles/a dream of stardom, the city of Nanjing/and a pair of hands to bury the ruins.” Shi Tao, a journalist, writer and poet, was sentenced to imprisonment for 10 years in 2005 for releasing a document of the Communist Party to an overseas Chinese democracy site after Yahoo! China provided his personal details to the Chinese government. How does the imprisoned travel? What’s his community? Tao reports from a half-buried landscape.

“Roadblock! Roadblock! Roadblock! The students shouted and rushed to the Square West Road and Chang'an Avenue, chasing the tank – actually a light armored vehicle – and throwing soda-water bottles, bricks, and even the pens and books. The vehicle seemed confused for a moment, and then made a sudden U-turn, running away along its previous route towards West Qianmen Street.” Environmentalist, writer, and editor, Tan Zuoren, reimagines a turning point in the life of a Chinese square.

Open Cities Lab is using code to create social capital and civic engagement. “My one concern was that it was too simple to be useful,” said founder Richard Gevers. “Clearly it wasn’t and clearly this is something people wanted. If you create an enabling environment, people can and will participate.” This is how hundreds of thousands of voters were empowered in the South African 2021 local government elections.

Off Centre Collective explores the Bhalswa landfill and asks a fundamental question: Are all citizens equal?

In 2019, PEN Belarus began systematically collecting data on the violation of the human and cultural rights of cultural workers in the country. In 2021, the crisis in Belarus continued, and culture remained the focus of the monitoring. The level of repression faced by cultural workers has not decreased since 2020.

The monitoring by PEN Belarus contains statistics and analysis of the violations that took place in 2021. It was prepared using public information collected from open sources as well as direct communication with cultural workers and representatives of cultural institutions throughout the year.

Urban scholars, Luise Noring and Bruce Katz, examine the need to include cities as full-fledged participants and partners in the refugee response. They find that public, private, and civic leaders in municipalities across Germany and Europe have been on the front lines of refugee reception and integration. In the face of these huge challenges, they are inventing new methods of delivering the services that new arrivals need to be healthy and productive members of their new countries.