PEN Canada

10/07/2026

Announcing the featured speakers for Voices of Freedom 🎤

This month, come meet and hear new work from Basima Takrouri (Palestinian writer and poet), Sabiha Ali Naderi (Afghan social worker, educator and writer), and Musa Zafar (Afghan writer and advocate for human rights and education), whose readings will be hosted by Janielle Browne, a Vincentian writer, educator and scholar.

Voices of Freedom is a PEN reading series featuring the members of our Writers in Exile group. This event series celebrates the strength and resilience of their courageous voices, while they share their latest works in development and their perspectives on the complexities of life in exile.

📅 Monday October 19 at 7 p.m.
📍 Emmanuel College Chapel, University of Toronto (3rd floor, 75 Queen's Park Cres E)
🎟️ Entry is free for PEN members, $10 for the public

Learn more about these writers — and get your ticket — here: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/voices-of-freedom-a-reading-series-october-chapter-tickets-2002953154804

10/06/2026

Thank you for an incredible night 💫

Last week's event honoured the remarkable Joan Leishman and raised money for our Joan Leishman Memorial Fund, a new PEN initiative to support writers in exile living in Canada.

The Glenn Gould lobby was filled with love and respect for Joan and a commitment to helping these writers establish their careers in this country. Your participation in the event and online auction has given Joan's fund a strong start and we're deeply grateful for that.

🎟️ Tax Receipting

A portion of your ticket price is eligible for a tax receipt, issued by PEN Canada. Your tax receipt was sent to your email at the time of purchase — check your inbox and spam folders.

If you need a copy of your charitable tax receipt, please contact us at [email protected].

10/02/2026

Save-the-date for Voices of Freedom, our reading series with the Writers in Exile, which returns in two weeks:

📅 Monday October 19 at 7 p.m.
📍 Emmanuel College Chapel, University of Toronto (75 Queen's Park Cres E)
🎟️ Entry is free for PEN members, $10 for the public

This event series celebrates the strength and resilience of courageous voices from across the globe. Join us to hear their latest works in development and their perspectives on the complexities of life in exile.

This month's event will feature writers from Afghanistan and Palestine -- readers will be announced next week.

Ticket sales open next week.

10/02/2026

For International Translation Day, Palestinian poet Dareen Tatour reflects on translation as a literary and political act.

Drawing on her own experience, she explores the responsibilities of carrying texts across languages, cultures and systems of power.

More from Svenska PEN/PEN Sweden:

Some words cross borders and open a window, others cross them and open the door to a prison cell.

10/02/2026

TIFA Presents PEN Canada Graeme Gibson Talk with Evan Gershkovich, Carol Off, and Philippe Sands:

The PEN Canada Graeme Gibson Talk is an annual conversation between writers with expert knowledge of an urgent political, social, cultural or economic iss…

10/01/2026

These are some of the original artworks you can bid on at our auction.

All proceeds will go to the Joan Leishman Memorial Fund, a new PEN fund which at a future date will provide urgent assistance and critical support directly to exiled writers living in Canada.

The auction is open for bids from now until 8:30 p.m. on Thursday October 1.

Place your online bids, and get your event tickets, here: https://pencanada.ca/event/the-power-of-words-writers-in-exile/

10/01/2026

Tickets are now on sale for our centennial celebration.

Join us for a special conversation with one of our most beloved writers, Louise Penny, as she discusses mystery, belonging and the communities our books create.

The evening will also feature three new PEN award recipients, special tributes, and plenty of reasons to raise a glass with talented members of the Canadian literary community.

📅 Wednesday November 25, 6 - 9 p.m.
📍 Bram & Bluma Appel Salon, Toronto Reference Library
🎟️ Ticket required

Get your ticket:

An evening of belonging, community and literature, to celebrate 100 years of PEN in Canada.

09/30/2026

A literary treasure in our auction: one of just 300 signed limited editions of Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments, from the author’s private collection. Complete with artifacts and Aunt Lydia’s wax seal.

The eagerly awaited sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, The Testaments broke Canadian sales records on publication in 2019 and shared that year’s Booker Prize. Its story of life under a theocratic and repressive regime continues Atwood’s enduring exploration of power, resistance and the consequences of silencing voices.

All proceeds from this auction will go to the Joan Leishman Memorial Fund, a new PEN fund which at a future date will provide urgent assistance and critical support directly to exiled writers living in Canada.

Few works of literature could speak more powerfully to this event's cause. The Testaments imagines what happens when freedom of expression is extinguished — and the courage required to resist.

This item is open for bids from now until 8:30 p.m. on Thursday October 1.

Place your bids here: https://pencanada.ca/event/the-power-of-words-writers-in-exile/

09/29/2026

This event will examine how repressive governments around the world are reshaping the experience of exile and undermining freedom of expression.

Join moderator Samira Mohyeddin (journalist and presenter), Ross Holder (Head of Research, Policy and Advocacy, PEN International), Basma Mostafa (Egyptian journalist and writer), and Doan Bao Chau (Vietnamese journalist and writer) for a public panel discussion on transnational repression.

This is a free public event, held as part of the 92nd annual PEN International Congress.

Together, the panelists will explore the realities of being targeted across borders, the wider patterns of transnational repression, and how governments, international organizations, and the literary community can better protect those whose persecution does not end when they leave home.

🗓️ Wednesday September 30, 12 p.m. AT, 11 a.m. ET or 8 a.m. PT
📍 Online
🎟️ Free — register on Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/no-safe-haven-writers-and-the-rise-of-transnational-repression-tickets-1999394423543?aff=oddtdtcreator

09/29/2026

Today is the first day of Congress 🌍 and this year, we're online!

Since 1923, the PEN International Congress is hosted each year by a different PEN Centre around the world. It's been held in Canada twice — first in 1989 and then again in 2015.

What happens at this meeting? Writers from around the world travel to meet with each other and discuss contemporary issues, , and freedom of expression.

This year, on September 29 & 30, congress will be hosted online. During sessions and working groups, PEN Canada is looking forward to seeing familiar — as well as new — faces online.

For members of the public, you can register to attend this year's only public online free event, happening on Wednesday September 30: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/no-safe-haven-writers-and-the-rise-of-transnational-repression-tickets-1999394423543?aff=oddtdtcreator