An empty chair, bound in chains, stands in for writers who have been erased.
It symbolises the fate of authors across the globe who are jailed, tortured or killed because those in power fear their words.
The Otago Southland branch of the New Zealand Society of Authors has been highlighting The Day of the Imprisoned Writer.
Local author Mira Harrison said the day, started by Pen International, was an important occasion for writers to support colleagues who did not have the same freedoms they had in New Zealand.
Author Philip Temple said in this country the observance was called Courage Day in honour of two New Zealand writers.
In the 1890s, writer Sarah Amelia Courage wrote a novel about the Canterbury society that was suppressed by people who thought they could identify themselves in her book.
"She was put in her place and her book was burned."
Her nephew James Courage had several of his works censored because he was gay and his 1959 novel A Way of Love was banned in New Zealand because of its homosexual content.
Dr Harrison said each year Pen International highlighted the plight of writers around the world who were jailed simply for what they wrote.
Georgian journalist Mzia Amaglobeli is serving a prison sentence on politically motivated grounds.
Venezuelan editor and journalist Rory Branker was arrested by intelligence agents and forcibly disappeared for more than 200 days and is being held in arbitrary detention without formal charges or due process.
Uyghur writer and editor Yalqun Rozi is serving a 15-year prison sentence in Xinjiang, China, for "inciting subversion of state power".
He had long promoted Uyghur language and culture through literature and education and his imprisonment is part of China’s crackdown on Uyghur intellectuals.
Algerian poet and activist Mohamed Tadjadit was prosecuted under terrorism-related charges in Algeria that watchdog groups described as baseless and punitive.
He was a leading voice in Algeria’s pro-democracy Hirak movement.
Dr Harrison encouraged those who supported the unjust imprisonment of writers to write letters of solidarity and to demand justice for these persecuted voices.
• Visit authors.org.nz/freedom-of-expression for details.
