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Arbitrary Arrests of Six Artists and Activists in Cuba Strike at Silencing Dissent and Curtailing Artistic Freedom
“The arbitrary arrests of multiple young members of Cuba’s artistic community are part of a broader systematic effort to silence dissent and to curtail artistic freedom in the island,”… More
Educational Censorship Continues: The 2023 Legislative Sessions So Far
The early returns from the 2023 legislative sessions suggest that lawmakers’ fervor to censor and ban content from educational institutions has not abated. Far from it. More
The Speaking Archive: Words from the House of the Dead
Valentina Flores finds a 1971 anthology by incarcerated writers at Interference Archive, a community-based organization in Brooklyn, New York City. More
What’s Mildred Taylor Got to Do With It?: Race, Prison Book Bans, and the Power in Storytelling
In this essay on prison book bans, Moira Marquis uses "The 1619 Project" to explain how limiting access to Black history and culture is deleterious to people who are… More
Introducing “Unsealed:” Inside the Letters of PEN America’s Prison and Justice Writing Program
Jess Abolafia on the challenges of communication through prison walls via physical, handwritten mail. More
Celebrating Reza Khandan Mahabadi’s Release From Prison in Iran, PEN America Calls for Release of Other Iranian Writers Wrongly Jailed
Reza Khandan Mahabadi is a leading member of the Iranian Writers Association (IWA), prolific author and researcher, who was given a six-year prison term in 2019 and has been… More
Tina Fey to Receive 2023 PEN/Mike Nichols Writing for Performance Award at 3/2 PEN America Literary Awards in NYC
(NEW YORK)—PEN America today announced that Tina Fey, nine-time Emmy Award winner and one of the greatest comedy writers of her generation, will receive the 2023 PEN/Mike Nichols Writing… More
The Most Banned Picture Books of the 2021-2022 School Year
These are the most banned picture books of the 2021-2022 school year. Several are nonfiction, including histories of civil rights and gay pride. Others are lighthearted fiction about animals… More
PEN America Condemns Prison Summons Issued to Reza Khandan, Husband to Prominent Iranian Human Rights Lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh
(NEW YORK)—In response to the news that Reza Khandan--the husband of prominent human rights lawyer, writer, and PEN America 2011 Freedom to Write honoree Nasrin Sotoudeh--has been summoned to prison… More
Plan to Digitize Mail at NYC’s Rikers Island Prison Would Affect Books, Too
By Moira Marquis Being poor and unable to afford bail in New York can be a death sentence. The vast majority of people who died on Rikers Island prison in… More