Syria is now the world’s most dangerous country for journalists. According to a Reporters Without Borders tally, more than 110 news providers (including 25 professional journalists) have been killed in connection with their work since March 2011 and more than 60 are currently detained.
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Earlier this year a popular new entertainment business cropped up in Havana: 3D movies. Cuba columnist Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo looks at the privately-owned “movie theaters” – rooms in private residences – which have recently come under the scrutiny of the Cuban government.
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The poem “Overture” is a “statement with a wish,” writes Tarık Günersel. He shares his short poem in 32 languages, including English and the Turkish original, with translations provided by fellow writers and PEN members from around the world. Günersel is PEN Turkey president.
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“When you face up to those in power you always do it from the periphery, whether you are in a neighborhood in Maracaibo, a housing estate in Valencia, a university in Caracas, or in any other part of the world.” Venezuelan writer Israel Centeno on exile and the ongoing struggle with having left.
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Iranian painter Nicky Nodjoumi left his country in 1980 after an exhibition of his work opened in Tehran. “[The authorities] saw the show and they labeled me as anti-revolution, anti-Khomeini, and anti-regime,” he says. He is now an established artist living in New York.
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On the rise and fall (for now) of the popular Butcher Shop, an innovative philanthropic e-commerce project that provides financial aid to families of political prisoners. The venture is organized by Rice-Delivery-Party, a writer/activist collective led by the author and blogger Ye Fu.
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“Like any other bar in any city on earth, nothing was overwhelming…” Traveling the American Midwest six years later, Egyptian writer Hamdy El-Gazzar finds a familiar bar full of characters, life, and creative inspiration.
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