As writers, artists, musicians, filmmakers and others active in cultural pursuits, we are inspired and enriched by the works of colleagues beyond our borders. The strength of our work individually, and our cultures collectively, is the fruit of a free exchange of information and ideas with the creative community across the world. Among our colleagues today are many creators and cultural figures in the People's Republic of China. We celebrate the growing international recognition of Chinese artists from all disciplines, a development exemplified by Mo Yan's 2012 Nobel prize for literature, and we welcome the ever-expanding avenues of cultural exchange.
We cannot, however, listen to China's great and emerging creative voices without hearing the silence of those whose voices are forcibly restrained. These include 2010 Nobel peace prize recipient Liu Xiaobo, who remains in prison; his wife, Liu Xia, who lives under house arrest; and more than 40 other writers and journalists currently jailed for their work. We cannot appreciate the accomplishments of Chinese creators across disciplines without thinking of the works we are not able to enjoy because of censorship in the arts, in the press, and on the internet – or of the many other works that cannot be imagined or created because of these constraints. The impact of these restrictions is set out vividly in a new Pen International report, Creativity and Constraint in Today's China.
Our plea to China's new leaders is simple. Respect and protect the right of our colleagues and all of China's citizens, to freedom of expression. Respect and protect the right of Chinese citizens to a free and independent press. Respect and protect the right of writers to write, publishers to publish, and artists of all disciplines to create and present their work without fear of reprisal. Release all those unjustly imprisoned for exercising this most fundamental right. Creativity is strength. Freeing China's creative voices will enrich us all.
Cláudio Aguiar
Edward Albee
René Appel
Anthony Appiah
Antón Arrufat
John Ashbery
Paul Auster
Russell Banks
Gioconda Belli
Andrei Bitov
Eduardo Blandon
Breyten Breytenbach
Lydia Cacho
JM Coetzee
Edwidge Danticat
Aline Davidoff
Don DeLillo
Antonio Della Rocca
Kiran Desai
EL Doctorow
Tracey Emin
Victor Erofeev
Nuruddin Farah
Moris Farhi
Anthony Fleischer
Charles Foran
Marian Botsford Fraser
Neil Gaiman
Arthur Gawkwandi
Juan Gelman
Nadine Gordimer
Juan Goytisolo
AC Grayling
Tarik Gunersel
Eduardo Halfon
Andrei Khadanovich
Guenter Kunert
Ola Larsmo
Sonja Loots
Alberto Manguel
Emile Martel
Myroslav Marynovych
Tienchi Martin-Liao
Ian McEwan
Christopher Domínguez Michael
Helmuth A Niederle
Salman Rushdie
Teresa Salema
Raffaella Salierno
Marjane Satrapi
John Ralston Saul
Will Self
Elif Shafak
Mohamed Sheriff Sjón
Gillian Slovo
Wole Soyinka
Noémi Szécsi
George Szirtes
Colin Thubron
Colm Tóibín
Jarkko Tontti
Tomas Tranströmer
Luisa Valenzuela
David Van Reybrouk
Mario Vargas Llosa
Marina Warner
Richard Wentworth
AB Yehoshua