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 announced dates for its upcoming events celebrating the power of literature and free expression. The 2025 PEN World Voices Festival will run from April 30 to May 3, and the 2025 PEN America Literary Awards ceremony will take place on May 8. Read the press release, a letter from Interim Co-CEOs Summer Lopez and Clarisse Rosaz Shariyf, and an FAQ.
- PEN America denounced the federal arrest of Columbia University graduate, Mahmoud Khalil, and condemned his continued detention at a facility in Louisiana. “By the Trump administration’s own admission, it is unambiguous that Khalil’s arrest and detention are in retaliation for his political speech,” said Jonathan Friedman, Sy Syms Managing Director of U.S. Free Expression Programs. “Keeping him in detention is a fundamental violation of his human rights and right to free expression.” Read our statements here and here. Watch the coverage in Brazil by TV Globo here.
- PEN America condemned the abrupt lay-offs of staff at the Department of Education and called it a move targeting the student’s right to learn. “While the Trump administration is attempting to dismantle the Department of Education from within, only Congress can close it. PEN America calls on members of Congress to intervene on behalf of students, parents and educators to protect education for all,” said Hadar Harris, managing director of PEN America’s Washington, D.C. office. Read our statement here. Read related coverage in University World News here.
- PEN America joined a coalition of Florida-based grassroots education, free expression, and youth advocacy organizations at the Tallahassee statehouse on March 11 to speak out on bills that would undermine free speech and free expression, freedom of the press, immigrants’ rights, and LGBTQ+ rights. Read our press release here.
- PEN America criticized Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon for signing HB 147/HEA 67 into law. “This incredibly vague and broad law is a tool for censorship and suppression across the state,” said Amy Reid, Freedom to Learn senior manager at PEN America. “There will be no winners in this kind of game.” Read the full statement here.
- PEN America called the Miami Mayor’s proposal to terminate O Cinema’s lease over the screening of No Other Land unconstitutional. The Academy Award-winning feature documentary made by an Palestinian-Israeli collective of four activists shows the Israeli occupation of the West Bank. “Politicians do not get to tell theaters what movies they can show just because they disagree with a film’s message,” said Katie Blankenship, PEN America’s Florida director. Read more here.
- PEN America condemned President Trump’s comment that he may label protests against Tesla as “domestic terrorism.” “If President Trump is floating this idea to try it out, we need to be clear: this is what dictators do, not leaders in a democracy,” said Hadar Harris, managing director of PEN America’s Washington D.C. office. Read the full statement here.
- Harris also called Trump’s order restricting student loan forgiveness part of “a clear effort to undermine the rule of law and to undermine democracy as a whole.” Read more in University World News.
- PEN America called the second raid on Palestinian bookstore in the past month a blatant assault on Palestinian literature and culture. Liesl Gerntholtz, director of the PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Center, said, “The relentless harassment and intimidation of the Muna family by Israeli police is gravely concerning and a violation of free expression.” Read the full story here.
- Jeffery Adam Sachs, PEN America’s research consultant, published a blog on how university shared governance has come under attack as a way for politicians to exert control over higher education . Read more here.
- PEN America’s Washington D.C. office managing director, Hadar Harris, appeared on the Edwin Eisendrath radio show on Heartland Signal talking about free speech, DEI, free expression, censorship as they relate to White House orders and policy. Listen here.
- Kristen Shahverdian, PEN America’s program director for campus free speech, spoke to 140 people at the University of Massachusetts Amherst for a “Critical Conversations” fireside chat and presented to 60 faculty members at University of North Carolina, Fayetteville about “Defining and Defending Academic Freedom.”
- Sabrina Baêta, senior program manager for the Freedom to Read, spoke with a number of foreign press outlets about book bans in the United States. Watch on France 24.
- PEN America partnered with the Swedish Consulate to host a panel and celebration for International Women’s Day and the 80th anniversary of the iconic Swedish character Pippi Longstocking written by Astrid Lindgren. The panel featured Laurie Halse Anderson, writer and winner of the 2023 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, Jamia Wilson, writer and publishing executive at Penguin Random House, Johan Palmberg, great grandson of Astrid Lindgren, and Jonathan Friedman, PEN America’s Sy Syms Managing Director of U.S. Free Expression Watch the full panel here. Read the coverage by Publishers Weekly here.
- This week for Shelf Love, our interview series featuring romance authors in collaboration with Authors Against Book Bans, we talked to Adib Khorram, a queer Iranian-American romance writer about why diverse love matters and belongs in books. Read the interview here.
