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
The PEN Ten: An Interview with Jessamine Chan
“More than anything, I wanted to write the Chinese American heroine I’ve always wanted to read: messy, thorny, flawed, desirous, vulnerable, yet loving.” More
PEN America Announces Finalists for 2022 Literary Awards, February 28 at New York’s Town Hall
PEN America today announced the 2022 PEN America Literary Awards finalists—a list of 54 authors and 11 translators recognized for exceptional works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, biography, essay, science… More
PEN America Urges Wisconsin Legislators to Reject Anti-Protest Bill
PEN America warned that a pending bill could gravely endanger the right to protest. SB 296/AB 279 would define “riot” so broadly that anyone present at a protest where… More
PEN America Welcomes British Court Ruling on Julian Assange Appeal
“Today’s decision in the ongoing Assange case is a reprieve, but the specter remains of prosecution in the U.S. based on an indictment that encompasses conduct regularly and rightfully… More
RIGHTS GROUPS APPEAL TO UN FOR RELEASE OF JAILED IRANIAN WRITERS
The Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights (RWCHR) and PEN America filed a complaint with the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention to hold Iran accountable for a pattern… More
Steep Rise in Gag Orders, Many Sloppily Drafted
Over the last three weeks, 65 bills have been formally introduced in state legislatures across the country, a rate of roughly three bills per day. More
PEN America: Civil Charges Against British Journalist Cadwalladr Are An Effort to Silence Her
Civil defamation charges against the Guardian journalist and author Carol Cadwalladr are an attempt to silence her reporting by weaponizing the judicial system against her, PEN America said today.… More
The PEN Ten: An Interview with Quiara Alegría Hudes
“Writing is self-interrogation. Rigorous contemplation. That, in and of itself, is resistance in this capitalist amnesiac macho nation.” More
Literary Coalition Asks New York Leaders to Prevent Lyrics From Becoming Evidence In Criminal Trials
Today PEN America and the Literary Action Coalition sent a letter signed by 21 key New York City literary organizations to New York State legislators in support of “Rap… More
Open Letter: New York Literary Organizations Support ‘Rap Music on Trial’ Legislation
On behalf of New York City’s literary community and supporters, we express our strong support of the proposed “Rap Music on Trial” legislation. More