PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award

E101873

freedom of expression award human rights award literary award

The PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award is an international literary honor presented by PEN America to writers who have shown exceptional courage in defending freedom of expression, often at great personal risk.

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All labels observed (6)

Label	Occurrences
PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award canonical	7
PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award	2
PEN America’s Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award	1
PEN Freedom to Write Award	1
PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award (shared via recognition of imprisoned Ethiopian journalists)	1
PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom-to-Write Award	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T862549 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Context triple: [Eskinder Nega, awardReceived, PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award]

A. PEN West Award
The PEN West Award is a regional literary honor presented by PEN Center USA to recognize outstanding writing and contributions to literature in the Western United States.
B. PEN New England Award
The PEN New England Award is a regional literary prize presented by the PEN New England branch to honor outstanding works of writing and promote literary excellence.
C. PEN/Hemingway Award
The PEN/Hemingway Award is a prestigious American literary prize honoring an outstanding debut work of fiction by an author.
D. Lannan Cultural Freedom Prize
The Lannan Cultural Freedom Prize is an award presented by the Lannan Foundation to honor individuals whose work courageously advances social justice, human rights, and freedom of expression.
E. Dayton Literary Peace Prize
The Dayton Literary Peace Prize is a prestigious American literary award that honors books promoting peace, social justice, and global understanding.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
Target entity description: The PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award is an international literary honor presented by PEN America to writers who have shown exceptional courage in defending freedom of expression, often at great personal risk.

A. PEN West Award
The PEN West Award is a regional literary honor presented by PEN Center USA to recognize outstanding writing and contributions to literature in the Western United States.
B. PEN New England Award
The PEN New England Award is a regional literary prize presented by the PEN New England branch to honor outstanding works of writing and promote literary excellence.
C. PEN/Hemingway Award
The PEN/Hemingway Award is a prestigious American literary prize honoring an outstanding debut work of fiction by an author.
D. Lannan Cultural Freedom Prize
The Lannan Cultural Freedom Prize is an award presented by the Lannan Foundation to honor individuals whose work courageously advances social justice, human rights, and freedom of expression.
E. Dayton Literary Peace Prize
The Dayton Literary Peace Prize is a prestigious American literary award that honors books promoting peace, social justice, and global understanding.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (48)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	freedom of expression award ⓘ human rights award ⓘ literary award ⓘ
aim	to advocate for the release of imprisoned writers ⓘ to highlight repression of writers worldwide ⓘ
alsoKnownAs	PEN Freedom to Write Award ⓘ linked to: PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom-to-Write Award ⓘ linked to: PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award
awardedFor	defending freedom of expression at personal risk ⓘ exceptional courage in defending freedom of expression ⓘ literary work and activism ⓘ
category	Awards for freedom of expression ⓘ International literary awards ⓘ
country	United States ⓘ linked to: United States of America
eligibility	imprisoned writers ⓘ persecuted writers ⓘ writers under threat ⓘ
field	freedom of expression ⓘ literature ⓘ
frequency	annual ⓘ
genre	fiction ⓘ journalism ⓘ non-fiction ⓘ
hasFocus	censorship ⓘ imprisonment of writers ⓘ political persecution of writers ⓘ
inception	1987 ⓘ
language	English ⓘ
location	New York City ⓘ
motto	Freedom to Write ⓘ
namedAfter	Barbara Goldsmith ⓘ
notableRecipient	Aron Atabek ⓘ Eskinder Nega ⓘ Liu Xiaobo ⓘ Nasrin Sotoudeh ⓘ Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o ⓘ Raif Badawi ⓘ
organizer	PEN America ⓘ
partOf	PEN America Literary Awards ⓘ linked to: PEN America awards
presentedBy	PEN America ⓘ PEN American Center ⓘ linked to: PEN America
relatedOrganization	PEN Centers worldwide ⓘ PEN International ⓘ
scope	international ⓘ
selectionProcess	chosen by PEN America board and committees ⓘ
sponsor	Barbara Goldsmith ⓘ PEN America ⓘ
status	active ⓘ
website	https://pen.org ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (13)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Eskinder Nega → awardReceived → PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award ⓘ

subject linked to: Ethiopian journalist Eskinder Nega

Serkalem Fasil → awardReceived → PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award (shared via recognition of imprisoned Ethiopian journalists) ⓘ