General

• Before the new iteration of for Irish PEN/PEN na hÉireann was formally launched, we formed an alliance with other PEN Centres on these islands: the WISE group (Wales PEN Cymry; Irish PEN; Scottish PEN and English PEN). We worked together on many events and supported each other in various campaigns, too many to list here. This was an incredibly productive and rewarding alliance.
• Over the years we have also worked with other literary and human rights organisations including but not limited to: The Irish Writers’ Union, the Irish Writers Centre, Aontas na Scríbhneoirí Gaeilge, Frontline Defenders, Index on Censorship, the Italian Institute of Culture, the Ukrainian-Irish Cultural Platform and the John Hewitt Society.
• We have presented the work of imprisoned and endangered writers at numerous festivals at home, abroad, in the Poetry Jukebox and online.
• We have joined several PEN International committees, including but not limited to the Turkey Action Group, Writers for Peace and the Women Writers Committee.

2021

• In this year, we consulted with PEN International, established and registered a Company, drew up a formal Constitution and set up a formal Board. We also held an online launch in November, featuring the President of PEN International Jennifer Clements.
• We took part in the (ultimately successful) campaign to allow the family of Margaret Keane (Coventry) to have an Irish language inscription on her gravestone without translation. This was a victory for all minority languages.
• To remember Lyra McKee on the second anniversary of her murder and to celebrate the launch of the paperback edition of her thought-provoking book Lost, Found, Remembered, we partnered with English PEN and Faber Members to bring about a film of readings and tributes to Lyra.
• In May, working with the Wise group, we organised and hosted an international Roundtable meeting of organisations who work to protect journalists, with a specific focus on threats to working journalists in Northern Ireland. One of the issues raised here and followed up later was the issue of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPS).
• We received confidential information from Myanmar, which we passed on to relevant personnel in the DFA (this continued until 2023)
• Together with the WISE group we held an International (online) reading to raise awareness of the plight of Indian Poet Varavara Rao, who was on temporary medical release from prison at the time.
• We initiated a members-only event, PEN Friends, where members from across the country meet online to discuss the cases of imprisoned and endangered writers and send messages of solidarity.

2022

• Following the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine and the re-location of hundreds of Ukrainians to Ireland, we contacted PEN Ukraine to extend a hand to any writers who may be among them. In this way we made contact with several writers, some of whom remain in touch with us and began a long and fruitful relationship with Ukrainian writers internationally.
• This year we hosted a memorial event and award ceremony in MoLI for Eavan Boland, the last recipient of the Irish PEN Award for outstanding contribution to Irish Literature.
• As part of the Imagine Belfast festival programme, we hosted an event celebrating and supporting the dangerous work of South American journalists such as Paola Ugaz (Peru) and Dan Collyns; this was followed by a discussion on threats and difficulties experienced by journalists in Northern Ireland, featuring Patricia Devlin and Kathryn Johnston.
• Board members gave a presentation and readings related to imprisoned writers in person and online at several Book Festivals and on the Poetry Programme (RTÉ Radio 1)
• In September, following the brutal attack on Salman Rushdie, members gathered at the gates of the National Library to read extracts from The Satanic Verses in a show of solidarity.
• In October, representatives attended and gave presentations at a memorial event for Daphne Caruana Galizia, whose case has been a focus and motivating force for much of our work to date.
• Also in October, Ukrainian writer Victoria Amelina came to speak in Smock Alley at our invitation, supported by the UNESCO City of Literature Office. While here, Victoria gave a workshop at a party for Ukrainian children in Pearse street library; we arranged a meeting with officials in the DFA and at the Ukrainian Embassy; and she gave media interviews to raise public awareness about Ukraine.
• A representative from the Board attended the Opening Ceremony of the Frontline Defenders’ Conference.
• In November, we held a screening of Narges Mohammadi’s film White Torture in Dublin Castle as part of the Dublin Book Festival
• In December we held an online reading party for members, to celebrate the Winter Solstice.

2023

• We held a very successful public event as part of the Imagine Belfast Festival in March. The topic was immigration, and Sally Hayden discussed her powerful book The Fourth Time, We Drowned, with Board member, Liz McManus.
• Our next activity – online – was a PEN Friends event on 21 June, where Irish PEN members gathered virtually in order to write to those writers who are imprisoned or harassed because of what they write. Among the imprisoned and persecuted writers to whom we wrote were men and women from Peru, Egypt, Iran and Turkey.
•  In September of 2023, we held the first FESTIVAL OF ITALIAN AND IRISH LITERATURE organised by the Italian Institute of Culture in partnership with Irish PEN. The launch was held at the IIC on 7 September, with an exhibition celebrating Irish writers in Italy between the two world wars.
• We met regularly with the other PEN Centres of England, Scotland, and Wales, and were in regular contact with PEN International, keeping ourselves informed about threats to democracy worldwide.
• On 14 October, in partnership with the Dublin Arts and Human Rights Fesival, we held  an event at Pearse St Library with the renowned poets George Szirtes and Csilla Toldy.
• In 2023, Victoria Amelina was killed by a Russian missile strike. She had been due to return for events in the Dublin Book Festival, at our invitation. Instead, we held events in her memory that November, including a range of invited Ukrainian speakers and poets who spoke not only about Victoria, but about the cultural war that Russia is waging against Ukraine
• Also as part of that festival, we produced a concert in Windmill Lane in partnership with The Ukrainian-Irish Cultural Platform, in which Ukrainian and Irish poets and musicians participated
• December saw another iteration of the PEN Friends writing/solidarity event. During this event we also support English PEN’s PENWrites campaign.

2024

• In April, Irish PEN took part in an event to welcome the Palestinian poet, Marwan Makhoul, to Dublin. The event was organised in partnership with Poetry Ireland took place in the James Joyce Centre. That month we also took part in an online fundraising event for Ghassan Abu Sittah Children’s Fund (Gaza), organised by Fiona O’Rourke.
• We also had a stand at the Belfast Book Festival to talk to people about PEN principles and what we do. We held an Empty Chair event for each day of the festival at the Crescent Arts Centre, selecting 21 writers from the PEN International Case List and invited participants to send postcards of support
• In July, an Irish PEN event was one of the main events at the John Hewitt Summer School. This event commemorated the life and work Victoria Amelina on the first anniversary of her death. It was the first year of our partnership with the JHSS, which also saw twenty emerging writers from across the island of Ireland sponsored to take part in a programme of workshops and events
• In September, Irish PEN, in partnership with the Italian Cultural Institute, held the second edition of FIILI – Festival of Italian and Irish Literature in Ireland.
• In November, we partnered once again with the Dublin Book Festival. The Day of the Imprisoned Writer took place on the 15th November, and focus was on the Kurdish poet, and first Honorary Member of Irish PEN, Ilhan Sami Çomak, imprisoned for 30 years. He was one of Turkey’s longest-serving political prisoners. We were joined by İpek Özel, Ilhan’s Mackenzie Friend, Caroline Stockford, his translator, and Burhan Sonmez, President of PEN International.
• Throughout 2023 and 2024, Irish PEN worked in partnership with English PEN and the Heaney Estate in order to award a new poetry prize that embraced the values of PEN and of Heaney himself. The first such award ceremony was in December 2024, the second will take place in December 2025.

2025

• Work in partnership with, among others, The John Hewitt Society, The Italian Cultural Institute and the Seamus Heaney Estate, along with various festivals, continues throughout the year
• In June, our first partnership with Listowel Writers’ Week was a great success.  We also had a stand during the Belfast Book Festival, where volunteers spoke to the public about the woprk of PEN International.
• In June, we also circulated a statement to the media calling for an immediate end to the Israeli-Palestine conflict, signed by 400 Irish writers. The statement received extensive media coverage.
• In August, we followed this with a statement on our website decrying the arrest of dozens of people in London who were exercising their right to peaceful protest against the ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. Our statement concludes:  “To arrest and charge with terrorist offences those expressing their opposition to genocide seems like an unnecessary and unwelcome form of censorship.”
• In July, we held a Dublin launch for Looking at Women Looking at War: A War and Justice Diary written by our friend and colleague Victoria Amelina, which has won the 2025 Orwell Prize for political writing. One of the book’s editors, Yaryna Grusha, came to Ireland for the launch.
• We then travelled up to Armagh for a second event as part of our partnership with the John Hewitt Summer School. For the second year running, our partnership with the John Hewitt Society has also seen a writers’ development programme with 20 early-career writers participating in a series of workshops throughout the Summer School, culminating in a masterclass in editing.
• Our partnership with the Italian Cultural Institute saw the third iteration of FIILI: The Festival of Italian and Irish Literature in Ireland in September.
• This autumn, we’re very excited to be hosting Kurdish poet Ilhan Sami Çomak in person, alongside Ipek Ozel, who was his Mackenzie Friend during his long period of imprisonment. Ilhan was our first Honorary member. In 20024 he was the subject of our Dublin Book Festival as an imprisoned writer. This year he is free, after 27 years of imprisonment. We are very proud to have been part of the campaign for his release. We held an event during the Dublin Book Festival (8^th November).
• December 2025 will see a re-run of our popular PEN Friends event.
• In December, we will also celebrate the second annual award ceremony for the Seamus Heaney Poetry Prize, to be held in the National Library of Ireland. This prize is managed jointly by the Seamus Heaney Estate, Irish PEN/PEN na hÉireann and English PEN. Last year’s ceremony was held in Queen’s University Belfast. This year it will be in Dublin, Next year in London.

Individual cases who have been particularly supported, 2021–2025

• Varavara Rao (India)
• Daphne Caruana Galizia (Malta)
• Nedim Türfent (Turkey)
• Narges Mohammadi (Iran)
• İlhan Sami Çomak (Turkey)
• Victoria Amelina (Ukraine)
• Paola Ugaz (Peru)
• Fatma Hassona (Palestine)
• Uyghur writers (China)
• Alaa Abd El-Fattah (Egypt)
• We lobbied in support of a successful application for visas for a family from Afghanistan

In all of these years we have held online gatherings for members, where we highlight cases of writers who are in danger or in prison because of their work. We then write letters and cards of support to these people and/or their families. Some of this work is in conjunction with English PEN’s PEN Writes programme.

We have participated in international online festivals and in person in places including Belfast, Armagh, Dublin, London, where we have highlighted issues related to Freedom of Expression and the cases of people who have been persecuted for their writing. All of this work has been done on a voluntary basis. It is against the constitution of Irish PEN/PEN na hÉireann for a Board member or committee member to earn money from appearances or work on PEN business. However, since we believe in the principle of Pay the Writer, we do accept donations to Irish PEN for services rendered.

Extracted from a report by Lia Mills