PEN America works tirelessly to defend free expression, support persecuted writers, and promote literary culture. Here are some of the latest ways PEN America is speaking out.
- PEN America published a white paper on the threats to free expression in public schools and colleges as outlined in Project 2025, a proposed policy blueprint for the next conservative White House. “If adopted, Project 2025 would ramp up book banning, impose a greater climate of censorship and self-censorship on schools and college campuses, and silence educators and students–all on a national level,” the analysis concluded.
- PEN America joined Reporters Without Borders (RSF), and Front Line Defenders, for the official launch of the Free Narges Coalition, in collaboration with the Narges Mohammadi Foundation, alongside 27 other civil society organizations as founding members. The Coalition demands the release of the imprisoned Nobel Laureate. PEN America’s Director of Writers at Risk, Karin Deutsch Karlekar, and managing director of the PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Center, Liesl Gerntholtz attended the ceremony at the Nobel Peace Conference in Oslo last week. “Narges’ case has been a priority for the PEN global network for over a decade,” noted Karlekar. “PEN believes in the power of solidarity, and as we have experienced working on other cases, we’re often stronger working together.”
- PEN America signed a joint statement with Radio Free Asia (RFA), PEN International, the Vietnamese Abroad PEN Centre (VNAPC) following the seven-year sentencing of Vietnamese blogger and writer, Nguyen Vu Binh. The organizations strongly condemned his guilty verdict and demanded immediate release.
- PEN America is calling on writers, readers, and advocates to band together for Banned Book Week 2024 from September 22 to 29. Drawing attention to the spiking of book bans in the past year–over 10,000–, events are scheduled to take place in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Coral Gables, Florida, Austin and Dallas, Texas, Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Farmington, Utah. They will feature an incredible roster of creatives including award-winning authors Rex Ogle, Elana K. Arnold, Abdi Nazemian, Kalynn Bayon, Ryan La Sala, journalists Kelly Jensen of Book Riot and Mike Hixenbough of NBC News, and Grammy-winning songwriter Joanie Leeds.
- This week’s PEN Ten features PEN America’s 2024 Emerging Voices Fellows. From what piece of writing had the most impact to their reading and writing habits, the weekly interview captures their passion as the early-career writers prepare to undergo the five-month immersive mentorship.
