PEN America and Amnesty International are launching a series of videos on May 16, of writers and artist reading from the poetry of detained Chinese poet Liu Xia. Readers include Khaled Hosseini, Michael Chabon, Ayelet Waldman, JM Coetzee, and (PEN International Board Member) Ma Thida. PEN America and Amnesty are launching these videos to help publicize Liu Xia’s case and call for her freedom.
PEN America is asking its fellow Centers to help promote this message. At this link are the set of videos that PEN America and Amnesty will be releasing throughout May 16. It would be wonderful if our fellow PEN Centers around the world could also post one or more of these videos to their Facebook and Twitter accounts at some point in the day.
Please do not post the videos before 9 AM EST (New York Time) on May 16. That is when the media embargo lifts.
Otherwise, we would appreciate it if PEN Centers can simply be sure to retweet the videos when they come out from PEN America’s twitter account (@penamerican) or Amnesty’s account (@amnesty). I would recommend they use the hashtag #FreeLiuXia
Possible message to include in such a tweet or Facebook post would be:
Liu Xia has been under house arrest for almost eight years. Today, her fellow writers and artists are calling for her release. #FreeLiuXia
Chinese poet Liu Xia has committed no crime, and yet she has been detained for years. Listen to her fellow writers and artists read her work, and call for her freedom. #FreeLiuXia
Today we stand in literary solidarity with Chinese poet Liu Xia, who has been detained for almost eight years, separated from the world. Listen as artists and writers read her poetry to highlight her work. #FreeLiuXia
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