• China: PEN condemns politically-motivated prosecution of publisher Gui Minhai

    London, 25 February 2020 The conviction and sentencing of Swedish-Chinese publisher Gui Minhai to 10 years in prison on charges of ‘providing intelligence’ abroad appears to be in retaliation for his work as a publisher and in response to international calls for his freedom, said PEN International today, as it called on the Chinese authorities […]

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  • IPA Condemns China’s New 10-Year Sentence for Prix Voltaire Laureate Gui Minha

    In News by Porter Anderson February 25, 2020 Characterizing publisher Gui Minhai’s treatment by Beijing as ‘meant to scare others into silence,’ the IPA asks for new action from Sweden, the EU, and international community on the jailed publisher’s behalf. Image – iStockphoto: Rattankun Thongbun By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson Gui Convicted of ‘Illegally […]

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  • IAF members in UK concerned by government withdrawal of support for authors’ rights

    29th January 2020 EU, News, UK With the UK Government announcing it will not be implementing the EU Copyright Directive, the authors’ community in the UK have criticised this move away from protecting authors’ rights. IAF members the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) and the Society of Authors have both issued statements urging the […]

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  • USA Authors Guild Issues Report Exploring the Factors Leading to the Decline of the Writing Profession

    February 19,2020 New York (February 19, 2020): The Authors Guild, the nation’s largest and oldest nonprofit professional association for published writers and journalists, today issued a report, “The Profession of Author in the 21st Century,” detailing the underlying social, economic and technological factors contributing to the ongoing decline of author incomes. “For much of literary […]

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  • New Zealand’s Richest Literary Award Donor Reveals Her Identity

    The anonymous benefactor responsible for funding the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards’ $50,000 annual fiction prize is ready to be known. Retired Bay of Plenty radiologist Jann Medlicott has been an avid reader her whole life and believes we cannot call ourselves a civilised society until we celebrate our writers and poets as much as […]

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  • #ReadWomenPEN – PEN CAMPAIGN FOR INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY MARCH 8

     FOR International Women’s Day  –  8 March.  PEN International will be marking this day by re-launching the social media campaign #ReadWomenPEN in which PEN members and supporters tweet their recommendations for books by women writers. This campaign was hugely successful when we launched it two years ago.  All you need to do is share your three book recommendations written by […]

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  • Calling for participants in the design of the Workforce Development Councils

    STEAM NOT STEM – Tertiary Education Commission   The Minister of Education had announced the creation of the Workforce Development Councils (WDCs), including the Creative, Cultural and Recreation WDC. Now, the Tertiary Education Commission is looking for participants from a range of background to join two key groups that will inform the shape of these WDCs. These […]

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  • Copyright: US Publishers Succeed in ‘Audible Captions’ Case

    In Feature Articles by Porter Anderson      February 6, 2020 The success of the Association of American Publishers in its case against Audible Captions may have long-lasting influence on issues of AI and intellectual property. Pallante: ‘Audible Has Agreed …’ In a resolution announced today (February 6), the Association of American Publishers has succeeded […]

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  • Vale Gordy! NZSA mourns the passing of Gordon McLauchlan

    Former NZSA President and prolific author Gordon MacLauchan, ‘Gordy’, died peacefully at 9.12 am yesterday January 26, after battling cancer for several months. He had just celebrated his 89th birthday. Gordon was presented on December 4, 2019, by Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy with his medal as an Officer of the NZ Order of Merit for […]

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  • Kiwi kids can read their local cricket team to victory this summer

    The Super Smash Reading Challenge brings together two favourite Kiwi summer pastimes: cricket and reading. Read NZ Te Pou Muramura (formerly NZ Book Council) has joined forces with New Zealand Cricket’s T20 summer tournament to get kids reading more books over the holidays.The Super Smash Reading Challenge is a new interactive website. Primary and intermediate-aged children […]

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  • RESOLUTION: THE DEMOCRACY OF THE IMAGINATION MANIFESTO

    RPRESENTED BY Presented by Jennifer Clement, PEN International President Per Wästberg, Emeritus PEN International President and Chair of the Nobel Prize for Literature Eric Lax, PEN International Vice President Nayantara Sahgal, PEN International Vice President Ngugi wa Thiong’o, PEN International Vice President Paul Muldoon, PEN America Board Member ARGUMENT Within the history of PEN is […]

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  • Lobbying for NZ writers – article reprinted from Reading Room

    OCTOBER 15, 2019 Updated 1 hour ago Mandy Hager is the author of both fiction and non-fiction, for adults and teens. Her work has won multiple awards and this year she received the Storyline Margaret Mahy Medal for life-time achievement and a distinguished contribution to New Zealand’s literature for young people. Her most recent book, […]

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