Blog
Filter By:
Advocacy • Analysis • Blog • Commentary • Drama • Essay • Event • Feature • Fiction • Graphic Narrative • Interview • Memoir • News • Obituary • Open Letter • Poetry • Press Release • Profile
Browse By Series:
PEN Poetry Series • Prison Writing • The PEN Ten Interviews • Illustrated PEN • Pen Pals • The PEN World
Browse By Email Subscription:
PEN America News • Educational Censorship News • Works of Justice
Confessions of a Jack-Off Artist
Confessions of a Jack-Off Artist2007 First Place FictionI had to get a feel for it at first. To others it’s second nature: some used to have a freaky old… More
A Family’s Ties
*This story is dedicated to Mrs. Vera Prather. Without her loving support this story may never have been told.My parents had a secret. And as secrets go, they shared… More
Fried Mushrooms
My mother is the kind of woman/ who buys fried mushrooms/ with her last five dollars/ on the way home/ from a listless day waiting/ for nothing/ at the… More
Release Date
On shaky knees Carson takes the first step onto the front walk. For six long years the address before him had been only numbers and letters. Now, in the… More
Days of Our Lives
Military Contractors and financial companies led shares higher yesterday . . .As bombs beat blood out of Palestinian RefugeesIn response to the latest suicide blood oathIn the name of… More
The Seventh Sense
A death cloud hovered over the prison. My Seventh Sense was still dormant. Chico walked around the yard against the flow of traffic—the first omen of doom, and I… More
Normando Hernández González Honored by PEN
PEN American Center, the largest center of the international literary organization dedicated to defending freedom of expression around the globe, awarded Cuban writer and independent journalist Normando Hernández González… More
Iranian Independent Publishing Community Gets Fifth Annual Jeri Laber Award
Members of the independent publishing community in Iran, facing increased harassment and persecution under the current regime, have been named by the Association of American Publishers’ International Freedom to… More
Campaign for Reader Privacy Welcomes Testimony by “Gagged” Librarian
Following dramatic testimony today from a Connecticut librarian who successfully challenged an abusive FBI National Security Letter (NSL), organizations representing booksellers, librarians, publishers and writers called on Congress to… More