Posted on October 1, 2021 at 8:00 AM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek
The latest high-profile open letter from big-name writers isn’t controversial in the least.
That is, unless you’re an Iranian official — it seeks the release of three writers were sent to a Tehran prison in September 2020.
Writers’ association PEN America described the national security and propaganda charges against Baktash Abtin, Keyvan Bajan, and Reza Khandan Mahabadi as “spurious,” reports the Guardian, and issued a public letter demanding their release.
Among the signatories of that letter: Jonathan Franzen, Margaret Atwood, Joyce Carol Oates, Khaled Hosseini, Tom Stoppard, Alice Sebold, Colm Tóibín, and Art Spiegelman.
In addition to fighting for their release, PEN is awarding the three writers the PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write award this October.
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Categories: Today in Books