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PEN at UNESCO Freedom of Expression Conference – Day 1
I just ended an eventful and controversial day at the UNESCO conference on free expression in Marrakech, Morocco, where I was invited to speak about PEN's new Declaration on… More
On Translating Pavel Srut
The emergence of these poems after a decade of silence attests to the endurance of the imagination and Pavel’s liberation from his self-imposed exile in the metaphorical ghetto. They… More
Worm-Eaten Time: Poems from a Life under Normalization
The same language, only/the words have changed. Instead of the bee/that got caught in your hair last summer,/you comb out the matted, shriveled tangle//With its unintelligible message. More
Remember Tal
Two years ago today, Tal al-Mallouhi, a student, poet, and blogger who was detained in Damascus in late December 2009, was sentenced to five years in prison for “divulging… More
Three Questions with Shane McCrae
Self-obsession is an inevitable by-product of capitalism. And capitalism has become—mistakenly, I think—inextricably tangled up with most folks’ sense of what “the American way” is (but it’s hard not… More
PEN’s Declaration on Digital Freedom goes to Marrakech
After a 24-hour journey, I've arrived in Marrakech, Morocco to participate in UNESCO's Freedom of Connection, Freedom of Expression conference (Liberté de connexion, liberté d'expression), which will examine the… More
Nursing the Master’s Children
I felt my milk going out // relieved / And sick like / As if the Master if he ever had had / fed me from his own plate More
When the King Saved God
Abraham Lincoln lay dying in a room full of educated and literate men, in the age of the wireless telegraph, and not far from the offices of several newspapers,… More
PEN Calls for Protection for Threatened Azerbaijani Writer
PEN today expressed serious concern for the safety of prominent Azerbaijani writer Akram Aylisli, who is the target of an increasingly hostile campaign in which a lawmaker has promised… More