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.
- After the Senate failed to pass the bipartisan Protect Reporters from Exploitative State Spying Act, known as the PRESS Act (S.2074) on Tuesday, PEN America expressed concern and urged its passage by the end of the year. “The free press plays a vital role in American democracy,” said Hadar Harris, managing director, PEN America, Washington. “There has never been a more important time to protect journalists doing their job.”
- PEN America’s Russian Independent Media Archive (RIMA) and the Internet Archive have collaborated to make available online the entire digitized archive of Russian news magazine Itogi for the first time. “It is immensely gratifying that a new generation of readers will finally have access to the Itogi archive, despite the Putin regime’s ongoing efforts to control and distort the historical record,” said M. Gessen, who worked as chief correspondent for the weekly.
- PEN America condemned the enforced disappearance of Jesus Armas, a pro-democracy activist and commentator in Venezuela, and called for his immediate release. Armas is feared to be in state-enforced detention and is one of over 2000 such cases since Maduro claimed government power in July.
- PEN America sounded alarm bells over the decision by Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), one of seven nonprofit bodies that accredits higher education institutions to delete all references to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) from the standards. In a formal letter, Jeremy C. Young, Freedom to Learn program director, wrote, “PEN America takes no position on the merits of including these terms.”
- In an open letter to Florida Superintendents and School Board Attorneys, four advocacy groups, including PEN America, wrote about their concerns that efforts to comply with “parental rights” laws has led to prohibitions on health education. Katie Blankenship, PEN America’s Florida senior director and counsel, said, “Florida’s leadership should be focused on shoring up public education and restoring books to libraries – not targeting critical curriculum.”
- PEN America joined The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University and Free Press in expressing disappointment over the dismissal of a First Amendment challenge to the federal TikTok ban, which is scheduled to go into effect in January. “What was needed was a narrowly tailored decision going to articulated privacy and security risks. This needs to be fixed,” said Eileen Hershenov, PEN America’s Deputy CEO and counsel.
- PEN America applauded the signing of the Freedom to Read Act by Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey. “We hope others will join states like New Jersey, Maryland, Minnesota, and Illinois in ensuring the right to read for all,” said Kasey Meehan, program director, Freedom to Read at PEN America.
- PEN America mourned the death of poet and activist Nikki Giovanni, who passed away on Dec 10. “From her rise in the Black Arts Movement to the fight against book bans, Giovanni continuously wrote and spoke out against injustices,” the statement said. “We are exceptionally fortunate as readers and writers to have her voluminous body of writing to draw from.”
- PEN America expressed gratitude to Rep. Michelle Steel for sponsoring Vietnamese writer and prisoner of conscience Le Huu Minh Tuan as part of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission’s Defending Freedoms Project (DFP). Tuan is serving an unjust 11-year prison sentence in Vietnam for his human rights writings.
- In this week’s PEN Ten interview, Award-winning author Gu Byeong-Mo spoke to Esmé O’Brien Smith, intern, World Voices Festival & Literary Programs. They discussed Byeong-Mo’s latest novel Apartment Women (Hanover Square Press, 2024; translated by Chi-Young Kim), the most challenging part of writing, and cultural expectations of women in South Korea.
- Author Shane Jordan, and illustrator Rick Hendrix, whose latest, The Rainbow Parade: A Celebration of LGBTQIA+ Identities and Allies (Sourcebooks, 2024), is a beautiful story of a father and child going to a Pride parade, spoke to Sabir Sultan, Director, World Voices Festival & Literary Programs at PEN America. In a PEN Ten interview, they shared their views on inclusivity and important conversations.
