PEN Presses for Visa for Palestinian Poet

Yesterday, we got word through our Translation Committee that Palestinian poet Ghassan Zaqtan, whose collection Like a Straw Bird It Follows Me is being released by Yale University Press… More

PEN Goes to the UN

For the past three weeks, I’ve been trudging up to the UN to engage with the Human Rights Committee. The main building of the Secretariat remains under construction so… More

PEN Goes to the UN

[caption id="attachment_10630" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="Members of the UN Human Rights Committee"][/caption] For the past three weeks, I've been trudging up to the UN to engage with the Human Rights Committee.… More

Chapbooks for Everyone!

Last week was New York’s 2012 Poetry Chapbook Festival. New Yorkers could buy chapbooks straight from the people who make them, see a ton of great poets read their… More

Frontiers

I was always angry with the Moroccan intellectuals. It seemed that they were all hijacked by power, by the government, by the king. And I found it inspiring to… More

PEN Appeal: Ahmet ??k and Nedim ?ener

March 27, 2012 Minister of Justice Mr. Sadullah Ergin 06669 Kizilay Ankara Turkey Fax: 00 90 312 419 3370 Your Excellency, On behalf of the 3,000 members of PEN American Center, an international organization of writers… More

PEN Appeal: Bü?ra Ersanl?; and Rag?p Zarakolu

March 27, 2012 Minister of Justice Mr. Sadullah Ergin 06669 Kizilay Ankara Turkey Fax: 00 90 312 419 3370 Your Excellency, On behalf of the 3,000 members of PEN American Center, an international organization of writers… More

Neighbors

I used to live in Istanbul on a street called Kazangu. In Turkish the word means “someone who makes cauldrons,” although there was no one around who quite fit… More

Abstract Space

Nina envisions curly-haired Lorna, with her skinny arms covered with freckles spread out in a perfect T, expertly navigating her way in the blinding space in which Uranus and… More

PEN Appeal: Dia’a al-Abdullah

March 26, 2012 Ambassador Imad Moustapha Embassy of Syria 2215 Wyoming Ave. NW Washington, DC 20008 Fax: (202) 265-4585 Dear Ambassador Moustapha, On behalf of the 3,000 members of PEN American Center, an international organization of… More