Press Releases

PEN Afrikaans verneem met leedwese dat die PDF-weergawe van Truth to Power deur André de Ruyter skynbaar geredelik op die sosiale media gedeel word.

Members of PEN Afrikaans, PEN Nederland and PEN South Africa are invited to apply for this month-long writers’ residency

PEN Afrikaans urges eNCA to reinstate the anchors, Xoli Mngambi and Jane Dutton, in their positions with immediate effect. Press freedom and freedom of expression is essential to ensure that the media can continue to play its valuable role in our democratic society.

As an organisation defending freedom of expression and media freedom, PEN Afrikaans condemns the attack in the strongest terms and urges the EFF leadership to do the same.

Authors have united in their call upon the South African legislature to refrain from adopting the Copyright Amendment Bill to be debated in the National Assembly this week. A petition against the adoption of the Bill, which could have devastating consequences for authors and intellectual, artistic and educational production in South Africa, is being presented […]

The Copyright Amendment Bill does not strike a fair balance between the interests of the authors and the interests of the “users” of copyright works. It is not in line with international copyright treaties.

PEN Afrikaans, with the support of PEN International, presented a panel discussion on the multilingual poetry anthology ConVerse at Tuin van Digters (Garden of Poets), an annual poetry festival hosted by the Breytenbach Centre in Wellington.

“Under no circumstances should writers have to fear retribution in the form of physical violence in any manner or form. Such reprehensible threats have no place in a society that values freedom of expression as a constitutional right.”

“Violence and senseless killing amounts to the most serious attack on the freedom and respect owed to all human beings who should be allowed to express themselves freely in their daily lives, not least of all writers and all who cherish the value of the written word in expressing the full scope of human experience.”

“PEN Afrikaans supports press freedom and acknowledges the watchdog role of the media as a vital part of a healthy democracy.”