PEN Award for Freedom of Expression

The PEN Award for Freedom of Expression is given in recognitions of writers’ significant contribution to freedom of expression around the world and as a distinction to writers and journalists committed to free speech despite the danger to their own lives.

Formerly known as the Oxfam Novib/PEN Award for Freedom of Expression, the award was originally given in as a collaboration of PEN International, the PEN Emergency Fund and Oxfam Novib. It has been given to writers who continue to work for freedom of expression in the face of persecution since 2005. This year, PIP The Hague (People in Print) will support the Award.

‘This award is not only our way of honouring courageous writers and journalists who continue to fight for freedom of expression at great personal risk, it is also a way of telling those who seek to silence them that the world is watching.’ – Carles Torner, PEN International Executive Director.

Recipients

2020

Stella Nyanzi (Uganda)

Read PEN's announcement of the 2020 winner.

2019

Gioconda Belli (Nicaragua)

Roberto Saviano (Italy)

Dareen Tatour (Palestinian citizen of Israel)

Read PEN's announcement of the 2019 winners.

2018

Eskinder Nega (Ethiopia)

Milagros Socorro (Venezuela)

To read PEN’s announcement of the 2018 winners click here.

2017

Ashraf Fayadh

Malini Subramaniam (India)

To read PEN’s announcement of the 2017 winners click here.

2016

Amanuel Asrat (Eritrea), poet, writer and editor-in-chief Can Dündar (Turkey), writer and journalist Omar Hazek (Egypt), poet and writer

To read PEN’s announcement of the 2016 winners click here.

2015

Razan al-Maghrabi (Libya), writer and journalist Jila Bani-Yaghoub (Iran), journalist and women’s rights activist Bahman Ahmadi-Amouee (Iran), journalist Abdelmoneim Rahama (Sudan), poet, writer, journalist

To read PEN’s announcement of the 2015 winners click here.

2014

Abdiaziz Abdinur Ibrahim (Somalia), freelance journalist Oksana Chelysheva (Russia), journalist, activist Dina Meza (Honduras), journalist, activist

To read PEN’s announcement of the 2014 winners click here.

2013

Samar Yazbek (Syria), writer and journalist Enoh Meyomesse (Cameroon) writer, activist Nargess Mohammadi (Iran), journalist activist Deo Namujimbo (Congo), journalist Busra Ersanli (Turkey), writer, academic

To read PEN’s announcement of the 2013 winners click here.

2012

Asieh Amini (Iran), journalist, blogger and activist Jesús Lemus Barajas (Mexico), journalist and writer Mikhail Bekhetof (Russia), journalist Rachid Nini (Morocco), newspaper editor Alhaj Warrag and Abdul Moniem Suleman (Sudan), newspaper founder/editor; and columnist (respectively)

2011

Andrei Nekrasov (Russia), film and journalist Sakit Zahidov (Azerbaijan), journalist and poet Nedim Şener (Turkey), journalist J.S. Tissainayagam (Sri Lanka), journalist

2009

Chi Dang (Vietnam), writer Maziar Bahari (Iranian-Canadian), journalist Irakli Kakabadze (Georgia), writer Sonali Samarasinghe Wickrematunge (Sri Lanka), journalist Daniel Coronell (Colombia), columnist

2008

Dejan Anastasijevic (Serbia), journalist Pierre Roger Lambo Sanjo (Cameroon), writer Christopher Mlalazi and Raisedon Baya (Zimbabwe), playwrights Maung Thura and Saw Wei (Burma), poets

2007

Fatou Jaw Manneh (Gambia), journalist Svetlana Alexievich (Belarus), writer Lydia Cacho Ribeiro (Mexico), writer Ekbal Baraka Ekbal (Egypt)

2006

Simon Mol (Poland), journalist Andrei Dynko (Belarus) Roya Toloui (Iran/Kurdistan) Faraj Bayrakdar (Syria) Hrant Dink (Turkey)

2005

Sihem Bensedrine (Tunisia), journalist and human rights activist Neziha Rejiba (Turkey), journalist and editor Sarah Mkhonza (Swaziland), novelist and columnist Claudia Anthony (Sierra Leone), journalist and editor Duong Thu Huong (Vietnam), novelist

2004
Du Daobin (China)
Wajeha Al-Huwaider (Saudi Arabia)
Irene Fernandez (Malaysia)
Anna Politkovskaya (Russia)
Zohair Yahyaoui (Tunisia)

2003
Ragip Zarakolu (Turkey)
Jiang Qisheng (China)
Saâda Omar (Algeria)
Saul Paul (Sierra Leone)
Tamba Mbetoka Allieu (Sierra Leone)

2002
Tohti Tunyaz (China)
Said Eddin Ibrahim (Egypt)
Esmet Qaney (Afghanistan)
Siamak Pourzand (Iran)
Philip Njaru (Cameroon)

2001
Mehrangiz Kar (Iran)
San San Nwe (Birma)
Nizar Nayyuf (Syria)