On Monday 14th January, the Scottish Government announced its public consultation on reforming defamation law. This is a vital step to ensuring our laws are fit for the modern age.

Here is a snapshot of Scottish PEN’s 2018, outlining our work protecting free expression in Scotland and across the globe.

Scottish PEN travelled to Pune in September for the 84th PEN International Congress. This is a report of the event written by Scottish PEN trustee, Jane Archer.

It is with great sadness that we learned of the death of Janet Paisley. Here is an obituary authored by Liz Niven, the chair of the Writers In Exile Committee

The Day of the Imprisoned Writer shouldn’t need to exist because writers should be free to express themselves free from the threats of censorship, imprisonment or violence. Nik Williams marks the day with a call to action to protect writers across the globe.

In honour of the Day of the Imprisoned Writer, here is an interview by Arnold Zable with Kurdish-Iranian journalist and writer, Behrouz Boochani who has been detained on Manus Island.

Here is the resolution put forward by PEN Netherlands and Scottish PEN about the state of free expression in Malta at the 84th PEN International Congress in Pune, India, September 2018

On the one year anniversary of the killing of Daphne Caruana Galizia we remember her bravery and legacy and look to the future to what we can do to protect journalists in Scotland, Europe and across the globe.

PEN centres based in the UK have urged the Foreign Secretary to call on the Brazilian government to ensure The Gospel According to Jesus Queen of Heaven by Jo Clifford can be performed in Brazil free from threats of violence and censorship.

Here is the Scottish PEN statement on the refusal of over a dozen visa applications for writers scheduled to speak at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

Scottish PEN welcomes the release of Liu Xia and calls on China to release all imprisoned writers and protect free expression.

Find out who signed our letter to the First Minister calling on her to prioritise defamation reform in the upcoming Programme for Government.