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 a $1.4 million grant from the Mellon Foundation to fortify its work fortifying the freedom to read, with a heightened focus on supporting public libraries and librarians. Read the announcement.
- PEN America said the killing of five Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza by the Israeli military raises grave concerns and could amount to a war crime. Read the full statement here and coverage in Al Jazeera here, and The Independent here.
- PEN America expressed alarm over the Trump administration’s sweeping reviews of Smithsonian exhibits. “The ideas and presentation of history cannot be subject to the whims of a single leader or administration,” said Hadar Harris, managing director of the Washington, DC office. Read the full statement here, and coverage in The New York Times here.
- PEN America interviewed 11 undergraduate students from universities around the country on the importance of free expression and the freedom to learn in higher education, courtesy of a generous grant from the Kresge Foundation. Hear what students have to say here.
- For this week’s PEN Ten, writer Eliana Alves Cruz and her translator Benjamin Brooks, spoke to Freedom to Learn Interim Program Director, Amy Reid, about their latest book Solitaria. Read the full interview here.
- PEN America’s Program Director for Freedom to Read, Kasey Meehan, was interviewed by WPLG Local 10 for ‘This Week in South Florida’ about the rise in book bans in Florida. Watch the segment here.
- PEN America’s Freedom to Learn Interim Program Director, Amy Reid, was quoted in a story by Insider Higher Ed about Texas lawmakers chilling speech in campus classrooms. Read the story here.
