Maaza Mengiste has lent her voice to PEN International’s Day of the Imprisoned Writer 2025 campaign by writing a letter of solidarity to Venezuelan journalist and activist Rory Branker.
The Day of the Imprisoned Writer is an annual initiative established by PEN International to show solidarity with writers, poets, journalists, and publishers who are jailed, persecuted, or silenced for their work and for exercising their right to free expression. Observed each year globally, the campaign raises awareness, demands justice, and offers direct support through letter-writing initiatives such as PENWrites, reminding imprisoned writers that they are not forgotten. The 2025 campaign runs from November 15 to December 10.
This year, PEN International has focused attention on four imprisoned writers and activists: poet and Hirak movement activist Mohamed Tadjadit from Algeria; writer and Uyghur activist Yalqun Rozi from China; journalist and activist Rory Branker from Venezuela; and writer and activist Mzia Amaglobeli from Georgia.
PEN International President Burhan Sönmez said, “Across the world, writers continue to pay a heavy price for speaking truth. Rory Branker, Yalqun Rozi, Mohamed Tadjadit, and Mzia Amaglobeli remind us that words can shake the powerful — and that courage endures even when their freedom is taken away. Their persecution is a wound to justice and humanity itself. We must not rest until they are free.”
Novelist and academic Maaza Mengiste joined the initiative by writing a message of solidarity to Rory Branker, affirming that he is not alone and that many people around the world stand with him in the struggle for freedom.
In her letter, she wrote in part: “Rory, your bravery is an inspiration. I hope that soon, you will be home with your family and you will feel a new season coming through the changing wind. I hope, too, that one day, we will meet and I can thank you for your refusal to remain silent as those in your country suffer from injustice.”
The full letter appears below.
Maaza Mengiste
To: Rory Branker
From: Maaza Mengiste
Date: 13 November 2025
Dear Rory,
We have never met, but I have been following your story for some time. My name is Maaza Mengiste, and I write this letter to you with admiration for your courage and deep distress over your forced disappearance and unjust detention. I am a novelist who lives in New York, and your experiences remind me once again how vital words are in the fight for democracy and a free society. Thank you for your faith in words and for your insistence that one voice can make a difference.
I do not know when you will have the chance to read this letter or where you will be when you do, but here it is November. The cool air carries the promise of a cold winter. Leaves are falling across the city in astonishing shades of red and orange, yellow and green. Today, as I walked through a pile of those leaves, I imagined your words moving freely, scattering across many landscapes and languages. I thought of you in prison, isolated from your friends and family, and I hoped that you know you are not forgotten. You are not alone.
The authorities who ordered your detention believe that removing you from society will silence you. I write to let you know that there are far more people than you may realize who stand with you in your fight for freedom. I join many others around the world in calling for your immediate release.
Rory, your bravery is an inspiration. I hope that soon you will be home with your family, feeling a new season arrive on the changing wind. I also hope that one day we will meet, and I can thank you in person for your refusal to remain silent as people in your country continue to suffer injustice.
I write this in solidarity,
Maaza Mengiste
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