Des de 1922, defensem la llibertat d'expressió i els drets lingüístics, salvaguardem el patrimoni literari català i promovem el diàleg intercultural.
Since 2006, PEN Català has coordinated the Writers In Refuge Programme. This programme, with its roots in the Shelter Cities programme which was promoted by the International Parliament of Writers, aims to host a writer who is threatened, persecuted or at risk of being imprisoned as a consequence of their writing.
PEN Català promotes literary translation to overcome the linguistic barrier that prevents understanding between people and cultures. It works for both the promotion of Catalan literature in the world and to support the translation of universal literary works into Catalan. It is within this framework that the digital magazine Visat is published.
PEN is committed to the respect of all languages, and the protection and promotion of minority languages. PEN's central and guiding principles on linguistic rights are laid out in the Girona Manifesto, promoted by PEN Català.
PEN Català monitors human rights violations against writers, editors, translators and journalists around the world and organises campaigns to support them.
You can become a full member if you are a writer in any field, journalist, editor or translator and share the founding values of PEN.
If you are not a writer and want to join the defense of languages and freedom of expression, you can be part of the Circle of Friends of PEN.
Help us continue to defend language and freedom of expression.
Sí! El nostre web s'adapta a dispositius mòbils, però encara està en desenvolupament. Per veure-la ara correctament, consulta-la des d'una mida de pantalla major de 1100px ; )
Normando Hernández González, born in Camagüey in 1969, is a Cuban writer and freelance journalist. He founded and was Director of the Association of Independent Journalists of Camagüey and has collaborated on the independent digital media service Cubanet.
In 2003 he was detained, along with 72 other journalists, writers and librarians, in a wave of repressive actions by the Cuban regime known as the Black Spring. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison, accused of “endangering state independence and the territorial integrity of its articles”. During the first few months of his detention, Hernández was kept in solitary confinement, during which he was permitted only four hours of sunlight per week and had extremely limited communication with the outside world. Due to the unsafe conditions inside Cuban prisons, Hernández was seriously ill and suffered from tuberculosis in 2007 and heart problems in 2009.
Thanks to pressure from the international community and negotiations between the Cuban government, the Catholic church and the Spanish Government’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Hernández was freed in July 2010 and travelled to Madrid with his family. He currently lives in Miami.