Lizzie Eldridge, the chair of Scottish PEN’s Writers At Risk Committee, was recently interviewed by Palestine International Broadcast in her capacity as a writer and activist.  The discussion covered many aspects as the horrors taking place in Gaza, including the recent arrest for protesting in Edinburgh of award-winning Scottish screenwriter, Paul Laverty, the targeting of journalists […]

30 June 2025 – English PEN, Scottish PEN, Wales PEN Cymru and PEN International are deeply concerned by the UK government’s proposal to proscribe the protest group Palestine Action under terrorism legislation. We urge the authorities to reconsider this step and to ensure full respect for the rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful […]

Jean Rafferty describes the Worldwide Reading for Ashraf Fayadh event held in Glasgow’s Clutha Bar.

Poets of Protest A number of films for Al Jazeera are made by the (now Edinburgh-based) young Iranian filmmaker, Roxana Vilk. On Wednesday 20 November, she will be presenting and discussing her work at a meeting of the Scottish Poetry Association, that will take place at the Scottish Poetry Library, Canongate, Edinburgh. Dr Mario Relich introduces her work and […]

  BAFFLED IN BETHLEHEM May 2010 They took my photograph beside That controversial wall.  Beneath the brutal sun we both Stood strong and straight and tall. A cross in white aslant on blue Marks the symbolic spot:  I posed beside a Saltire Sprayed by a left-wing Scot..  I hadn’t brought an aerosol And couldn’t even […]