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)