Imprisoned Ukrainian Journalist Vladyslav Yesypenko to Receive PEN America Honor
PEN America has announced Vladyslav Yesypenko, a Ukrainian journalist imprisoned in Crimea, as the recipient of the 2022 PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award. Yesypenko was detained in Russian-occupied Crimea in March 2021 and sentenced to six years in a Russian labor colony. He will be honored at the 2022 PEN America Literary Gala at the American Museum of Natural History on May 23, where the award will be accepted by his wife, Kateryna Yesypenko.
Yesypenko’s case has been among PEN America’s top advocacy priorities since his arrest, after which PEN America released a statement demanding his immediate release. In the time since, PEN America has also issued a denouncement of Yesypenko’s sentence, and on November 15, 2021, honored him at an Empty Chair Day action.
