Day of the Imprisoned Writer

Everyone recognises the feeling of excitement when you receive a letter in the post. When it lands in the hallway and the handwritten address on the front of the envelope tells you it’s not junk mail or a bank statement. When you know that it contains words of friendship or good news.

Imagine, now, you are not sitting comfortably on your sofa when you hear that unmistakable clang of the post box and the soft shuffle of letters on the floor. Instead, you are enshrouded in darkness, kept in conditions we all know humans are subjected to but choose to conveniently store at the backs of our collective mind. You are unfairly imprisoned for exaggerated or imaginary crimes, held without fair trial, shut off from the world because of your views and writing. Imagine the moment hope a letter of support could bring.

International PEN has, for the past 32 years, held an annual Day of the Imprisoned Writer. This day highlights the plight of writers around the world who are imprisoned, or at risk of being imprisoned, for holding and writing about beliefs that challenge the status quo. On this day, which in 2014 falls on the Saturday the 15^h of November, supporters of the freedom to read and write bring these issues to the forefront of their communities through readings, letters of support and fundraising activities.

Liverpool Student PEN will be marking the Day of the Imprisoned Writer on Monday the 17^th, (as the official date of the 15th is on a Saturday and we want to make the biggest impact on the University of Liverpool campus), and we will be writing letters of support to the following five writers.

 Nelson Aquilera

Azimjon Askarov

Dieudonné Enoh Meyomesse

Mahvash Sabet

Gao Yu