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The Burglary
Electoral politics were manipulated to defeat candidates the director did not like. Even mild dissent, in the eyes of the FBI, could make an American worthy of being spied… More
Testimonials by Co-Hosts of 2014 PEN New Members/New Books Party
The concept of free expression is very near and dear in my heart. My parents came from China, and growing up we were taught that we could never take… More
The PEN Ten with Nathaniel Bellows
Art, as a pursuit, has a place and purpose in the “public” sphere. There are few other known forces in the world that can provide such comfort, solace, provocation,… More
Red Love: The Story of an East German Family
I’m the bourgeois in our family. That’s chiefly because my parents were never bourgeois. When I was ten, my father walked round with his hair alternately dyed green or… More
Into the Go-Slow
Cars flew by. The boy and the man both waved. The man cupped his hands to his mouth and yelled something that got lost to the wind. Cars passed… More
Lily La Tigresse: A Melodrama
Sometimes I see less significant people too—girlfriends, high school teachers, men I once went to bed with. A few days ago, for example, I clearly saw Bruria Zimmel, who… More
Time Together
I was hardly proud that my son had somehow pulled off the incredible feat of impregnating some random girl while still tethered to me umbilically. Obviously. I mean, my… More
Music Doesn’t Want Me
For my work and worship I was rewarded / With secondhand inspirations / But they felt new to me, / Mysterious and timely. More