Monday 18th-Sunday 24th May 2020 marked Scotland’s Learning Disability Week. Scottish PEN supported the week by highlighting writers with learning disabilities and accessible tools to support multi-sensory storytelling.

Azimzhan Askarov is an ethnically Uzbek Kyrgyzstani political activist who founded the group Vozduh in 2002 to investigate police brutality. During the 2010 South Kyrgyzstan ethnic clashes, which primarily targeted people of the Uzbek nationality, Askarov worked to document the violence.

Children increasingly share their creative work, writing and beliefs online. While the internet offers opportunities to communicate with new audiences and build communities, Scottish PEN’s Project Manager Lisa Clark argues that this must go hand in hand with education about digital rights, censorship and surveillance

Scottish PEN has highlighted the potential impact of the UK and Scottish Government response to coronavirus on writers’ freedom of expression; including the impact of delays to democratic processes and increased surveillance.

Scottish PEN expresses its great concern about the clampdown on criticism of the Bangladesh government response to COVID-19 pandemic

Scottish PEN joins PEN International and PEN centres around the world in expressing its great concern about the arrest and continued detention of reporter, lawyer and human rights defender Elchin Mammad.

Scottish PEN signed a joint letter calling on Peter Grech, Malta’s Attorney General, to request support from Europol in relation to the case of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

From the anthology, Declarations: On Freedom for Writers and Readers, Professor Sir Tom Devine has selected three prize winners. We are delighted to announce that Elspeth Brown was selected for her piece, “Declaration of Dunbar”