Maktabaa.com lists most African languages existing in every country, authors and their works. Maktaba means library in Kiswahili, Arabic and Urdu.

"In its modern history, the world has not yet seen valor and courage such as those displayed by the revolutionary Syrians in all our towns and villages, as the world has not yet seen such a silence, that is now considered a complicity in the murder and extermination of my people", says Syrian writer Khaled Khalifa in a letter to publisher and Norwegian PEN boardmember Asbjørn Øverås.

Turkey is on the way back where the country was 20 years ago: The country ranks among the world's worst  when it comes to imprisonment of writers and journalists. Sara Whyatt - Program Director, Freedom of Expression, at PEN International made it clear that the development has been going the wrong way under Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The Iranian journalist, blogger and activist Asieh Amini, is one of the recipients of the 2011 Oxfam Novib/PEN award for 2011.  Amini is currently a City of Refuge-writer in Trondheim, Norway.

"Accept my appologies", says honorable member of PEN Belarus and former presidential candidate, Vladimir Nekljajev, in an emotional letter to Norwegian and Danish PEN.  A delegation from the two centers was denied visa and entry to Belarus early Monday morning, 5. December.

Early Monday morning December 5th at the Minsk international airport, a delegation from Norwegian and Danish PEN was denied entry to Belarus.  Airport authorities demanded payment of 360 Euros for four visas which they never issued.

At a ceremony in Oslo on 15. November, this years recipient of Norwegian PENs Ossietzky Prize dedicated the prize to Iranian journalist Ahmed Zeidabadi. See video-clips from the ceremony and you will understand why.