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Oscar Hokeah Binds Together the Threads of Native American Experience in His Debut Novel Calling for a Blanket Dance
Hokeah Was One of Two Writers of Native Heritage to Receive Book Prizes at the 2023 PEN America Literary Awards Ceremony By Suzanne Trimel (NEW YORK)— Oscar Hokeah writes fiction grounded… More
Book Bans Are a Fact of Life for Incarcerated People. They Shouldn’t Be. We Can All Fight Back
Tell the New York City Board to Corrections Not to Restrict Book Deliveries to Prisoners By Moira Marquis In Texas, Kwaneta* is denied a copy of Good Housekeeping magazine because mailroom… More
Proposed New Laws Targeting TX Public Colleges Would Create a “Climate of Fear and Self-Censorship”
“Taken together, SB 16, 17, and 18 would make Texas public higher education inhospitable for free expression,” said Jeremy C. Young, senior manager of free expression and education at… More
These books are banned in Martin County, Florida
Last week, Martin County, Florida, released a list of dozens of books it had removed from school libraries, including 20 books by Jodi Picoult, nine books from James Patterson's… More
Florida Book Bans Are No Hoax: Here Are The Facts
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis set out to "expose the book ban hoax" about Florida classrooms. His claims are false. More
Author Morgan Talty Welcomes New Son and PEN America Literary Award
Author Morgan Talty won the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for a debut short story collection days after his wife gave birth to their first child. More
Egyptian Poet Galal El-Behairy—Jailed for Five Years for Writing a Song—Joins Hunger Strike Over Inhumane Conditions
“Galal El-Behairy’s continuing imprisonment and the revolving door of charges he faces--for writing a song--are an outrage, especially given that he has already completed a sentence on spurious charges.… More
Sharp Criticism of Decision Designating Journalists Group in Belarus “Extremist”
The designation underscores the Belarusian authorities’ escalating attacks on independent journalism and free expression since Aleksander Lukashenka’s 2020 reelection, internationally regarded as “fraudulent.” More
The PEN Ten: An Interview with Monica Youn
The poem doesn’t live for me until it reaches the mind of the reader, as if the poem is a musical composition and the reader is both the musician… More
PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel Responds to Remarks by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that Book Bans Are a ‘Hoax’
If we take Gov. Ron DeSantis at his word that he is simply aiming to protect students from porn and sexualized texts, then the approaches and methods being legislated… More