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Are We Really So Fearful?
DURHAM, N.C.—It still haunts me, the first time—it was in Chile, in October of 1973—that I met someone who had been tortured. To save my life, I had sought… More
PEN sounds alarm on threats against press in the U.S.
Troubled by recent attacks on newspapers and reporters for breaking stories on controversial antiterrorism programs, more than 1,100 PEN Members and supporters have signed a petition expressing concern over… More
Author Elif Shafak Acquitted in Turkey
Author Elif Shafak was acquitted of charges of “insult” at a hearing held today in the Beyoglu Court of First Instance in Istanbul, bringing to a close one of… More
PEN announces new Festival director after worldwide search
PEN American Center, the 3,100-Member-strong association of writers, editors, and translators working to advance literature, defend free expression, and promote international literary fellowship, announced today that Caro Llewellyn of… More
Places of the Heart
New York TimesIt took two years for me to be able walk to the end of my block and not feel a visceral shock each time I looked down… More
Program to celebrate First Amendment champions
Eight individuals who have taken risky, at times harrowing stands on behalf of the First Amendment in recent months will discuss their experiences at an upcoming program on September… More
from Directions to the Beach of the Dead
Mexican Almuerzo in New Englandfor M.G.Word is praise for Marina, up past 3:00 a.m. the night before her flight,preparing and packing the platos tradicionales she’s now heating up inthe… More
From Real Karaoke People
Summer evenings around a picnic table metropolis’d with food and condiments, the man’s fingers sweep the moon from his wife’s black mane, humming of lovers in an oarless boat on the East Sea… More
Dancing in the Dark
Act One(1873-1903)It is February 1903 and at present he is impersonating Shylock Homestead in the musical In Dahomey, but only after dark. He shambles about as though unsure what… More
From The Man With My Face
The Father and the DaughterThere once was a girl who looked so much like herfather that no one in the town could tell them apart.Despite their difference in age… More