Young writers across Asia find mentors, amplify silenced voices

When a young writer in Myanmar or the Philippines sits down to write about injustice, they're not writing into a void. They're writing toward a network of editors, mentors, and fellow writers who've chosen to listen — even when governments have chosen to silence them.

The Tomorrow Club, PEN International's mentorship program for writers under 35, has been doing this work since 1917. But its latest Asia-focused edition feels particularly urgent. In a region where censorship isn't abstract policy but lived reality — where a voice can be shut down with frightening speed — the program connected 30 young writers from 20 countries with established literary figures and each other.

Aung, a regional editor from Myanmar and steering representative for PEN International's Young Writers Committee, puts it plainly: "In many parts of Asia, censorship shapes what we can say and what we can read. It is frighteningly easy to silence a voice, to shut someone's mouth." But what she's witnessed through the Tomorrow Club is different. "Despite our differences, we never bow. We never surrender," she says of the writers she's worked with. "Across Asia, people share a profound love for independence and equality."

The writers featured tell stories that demand to be heard. Amanda Socorro Lacaba Echanis, a political prisoner from the Philippines, wrote about pain and courage from her own experience. Theodore Pham documented the work of activists trying to protect Vietnam's civil society space. Mayyu Ali captured the statelessness of the Rohingya people — a reality Myanmar's government continues to deny. Sai Nyan Linn Sett narrated what it means to be a young Myanmar citizen who fled to Thailand after the 2021 coup.

These aren't abstract stories about distant problems. They're immediate, personal accounts from people navigating systems designed to erase them.

What comes next

PEN International board member Ege Dündar has noticed something in the young students who encounter these stories: they recognize themselves in writers their own age from across the world. That recognition — the feeling that you're not alone — is transformative. It's why the Tomorrow Club is expanding. A mentorship scheme, a printed anthology, a documentary, and school programs are all in development. The goal is to get these stories in front of more young people, to show them that their peers are writing, resisting, and refusing to be silenced.

Dündar is clear about what's needed: more support from media, foundations, and institutions to create platforms where young writers can share across borders. Because right now, in a moment of political polarization and digital noise, young voices with urgent messages about their futures are being drowned out. The Tomorrow Club is betting that if we actually listen, we might hear something that changes how we see the world.