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How to Prevent the Spread of Disinformation About Russia’s War on Ukraine: A Tip Sheet
How can students mobilize and respond to book bans? This guide will help you fight back against book bans and build a stronger community of readers and advocates in… More
The Crisis of Local News: Journalists and Members of Congress Look for Answers
By Suzanne Trimel (New York, N.Y.)-- Local news has been in crisis for close to two decades now but solutions have largely eluded an industry that just a generation ago… More
PEN America: All Efforts Must be Made to Protect Journalists Covering the War in Ukraine
These courageous reporters are putting their lives on the line to tell the world the horrific truth of this war. The risks of war reporting are always high,… More
Online Conversation March 16 on Access to Books in Prisons and the Use of E-Readers
With 2 million people in prisons and jails across the country, restricting reading could have profound ramifications for the men and women cycled through the criminal legal system and… More
Florida Bill Would Let Parents and Citizens Challenge Any Book Used in Schools
"HB 1467 has been touted as a measure to increase school transparency," said Jonathan Friedman, director of PEN America's Free Expression and Education program, "but the real aim is… More
Acclaimed Author Zadie Smith Will Receive the PEN/Audible Literary Service Award May 23
Smith’s fiction meticulously charts characters’ social surroundings and entangled if disparate existences, offering deep insight into their circumstances. She questions and pushes against imposed boundaries of race and class,… More
The PEN Ten: An Interview with Elena Medel, Translated by Lizzie Davis
"Creo que la escritura nos permite comunicarnos de otra forma, con otro tempo y con otras actitudes; incluso con otro gesto casi físico." More
2021 Freedom to Write Honoree Keyvan Bajan Is Released from Prison in Iran After Nearly One And a Half Years
Iran is among the world’s most restrictive countries for freedom of expression. In 2020, PEN America found that Iran imprisoned the fourth-highest number of writers and public intellectuals in… More
Mississippi Principal Fired for Reading a Book to Second Graders Should be Reinstated
The letter to the Hinds County School District said the firing of Assistant Principal Toby Price from Gary Road Elementary School on March 4 was “an extreme disciplinary action,… More
Q and A with Assistant Principal Toby Price, Fired by MS School After Reading “I Need a New Butt” to 2nd Graders
Toby Price, an assistant principal in the Hinds County (MS) School District, was fired on March 4 after reading a book to a group of 2nd graders over Zoom.… More