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High School and College Students Can Learn how to Become Free Expression Advocates and Combat Book Bans at PEN America’s Online Trainings This Fall
PEN America’s flagship Free Expression Advocacy Institute returns this fall as a free, online, eight-week, educational and training program where high school and college students get certified in mastering… More
2023 PEN America Prison Writing Contest Winners Announced
Robert Pollock, program manager for the Prison and Justice Writing program, said: “The extraordinary quality of the writing and their subject matter are evident in the judges’ choices. That… More
Media Advisory: PEN America Experts on Book Bans Available, Ahead of Senate Hearing 9/12
PEN America has been at the forefront of documenting and defending against the unprecedented rise of school book bans nationwide. Texas, Florida and Missouri lead with the most books… More
Jo Saleska | 2023 PEN/Robert J. Dau Prize Winner
Are not we all just fleshy, rebellious little sculptures that move about the world, evoke emotion, make impact? More
PEN America Speaks: How We Defended and Celebrated Free Expression The Week of September 4
PEN America works tirelessly to defend free expression, support persecuted writers, and promote literary culture. Here are some of the latest ways PEN America is speaking out. More
Patrick J. Zhou | 2023 PEN/Robert J. Dau Prize Winner
I’m a firm believer that to get less and fewer hollow answers, we need to ask better questions. Of ourselves and others. Be gracious and curious. More
In Censoring Poet, Egyptian Government Bending Every Rule to Silence a Song
Galal El-Behairy’s ordeal over the past five years is a testament both to his strength and the Egyptian government’s ultimate weakness. More
Faire Holliday | 2023 PEN/Robert J. Dau Prize Winner
I think many of the gray areas that we find ourselves in come from the disconnect between how we think we’re living and how we actually are. More
PEN America: Elon Musk Trying to Silence Critics, with Threat to Sue Anti-Defamation League
Kate Ruane, Sy Syms director, U.S. Free Expression Programs at PEN America, said: “Self-appointed ‘free speech-defender', Elon Musk, is seeking to silence one of his strongest and most effective… More
With Massive Book Banning in Prisons, PEN America Presents “Return to Sender: Prison as Censorship,” a NYC Exhibition Sept. 14-Oct. 28
Moira Marquis, an advocate in PEN America’s Prison and Justice Writing program, said: “More books are banned in prisons than anywhere else in the country and censorship is rising… More