Freedom of expression

Author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has said she worries society is suffering from an "epidemic of self-censorship".

In a BBC lecture on freedom of speech, the writer said young people were growing up "afraid to ask questions for fear of asking the wrong questions".

50 celebrated authors, academics and journalists including Margaret Atwood, Salman Rushdie, Martin Amis and Noam Chomsky have signed a letter slamming 'cancel culture' after JK Rowling was attacked for speaking out about trans women.  Read more

Novelist Ian McEwan has defended free speech in an address to students at a US college, criticising the authors who pulled out of a PENSupported by eminent writers, this is the English branch of International Pen, which has centres in nearly 100 countries. It fights for freedom of expression and against political censorship. It campaigns for writers harassed, imprisoned and sometimes murdered for their views. http://www.englishpen.org/ event that honoured the Charlie Hebdo journalists.

Speaking at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania earlier this week, McEwan said freedom of expression "sustains all the other freedoms we enjoy".

 "The perceived speed of digital developments might have made us all lose perspective about the publishing business."