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 held its first annual Unified Voices Summit: Protecting Educational Freedom in Florida on July 12-13. The summit sought to fight against education censorship and book bans and featured a number of presentations from authors and activists including Jodi Picoult, Stacey Abrams, and George Emilio Sanchez. Read coverage of the summit here. 
  • PEN America condemned the assault and detention of author and President of PEN Palestine Dr. Hanan Awwad by Israeli soldiers and demanded an immediate investigation into the incident. “The assault is not just an attack on an individual, but on free expression at a moment when it is most needed in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories,” PEN America wrote in a statement.
  • Digital safety expert Viktorya Vilk weighed in on how surveillance of press by law enforcement curtails press freedom in a recent Los Angeles case.
  • In a new PEN America survey, 10 journalists provided suggestions about how community members can approach journalists, pitch stories to them, and form long-lasting relationships with them. The journalists’ responses can be found in a blog post here. 
  • After the Russian-America writer Masha Gessen was sentenced in absentia to eight years in prison for remarks they made about Ukraine, PEN America criticized the Russian government and urged it to overturn the decision. “With this conviction, the court is sending a strong message that the Russian government will continue to impose its repressive authority unchecked, punishing any critics who speak against it, no matter where they are,” said Liesl Gerntholtz, managing director of the PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Center.
  • Freedom to Read Program Assistant Madison Markham and Freedom to Read Program Consultant Tasslyn Magnusson penned a new blog post about the dangerous rhetoric of “parental rights” and the classroom censorship it has fueled in Wisconsin. 
  • Our digital safety experts, Viktorya Vilk and Jeje Mohamed, talked about their report with Columbia University’s Susan McGregor that focused on using peer support to reduce harm and increase resilience against the online abuse of journalists in the U.S. 

See previous PEN America updates