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The annual PEN Canada benefit, now well established as the launch pad for Toronto’s International Festival of Authors (IFOA), has seldom seemed more timely. The fundraiser is at the end of busy month for PEN, an international organization of writers dedicated to freedom of speech. PEN International, gathered in Tokyo for its annual conference at the start of this month, called for the release from prison of Chinese freedom of speech activist Liu Xiaobo, who went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize...At the PEN Canada benefit and all subsequent IFOA events the stage will feature an empty chair, intended to symbolize the absence of an imprisoned writer. This year’s recipient is Canadian/Iranian blogger Hossein Derakhshan, who has been sentenced to nearly 20 years in Iranian prison...