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Introduction to 2011 PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories
Every year, after the long process ends of choosing the twenty PEN/O. Henry Prize stories from the many submitted, friends ask me what trends were revealed by all that… More
Your Time Has Come
* * *Light from the ferry’s windowmixed along the floor.Alone, we wait to be delivered.* * *Two new sparrows,the tourists don’t knowthey’re new.* * *Too tired to writeand this… More
PEN Appeal: Pedro Argüelles Morán
March 18, 2011 Raúl Castro Ruz Presidente c/o Cuban Interests Section 2639 16th St, NW Washington, DC 20009 Fax: (202) 797-8521 General Abelardo Coloma Ibarra Ministro del Interior y Prisiones c/o Cuban Interests Section 2639 16th St, NW Washington, DC… More
Somebody Please Tell Me Who I Am
1The knife came out of nowhere.Ben Bright sprang back. His arm knocked the weapon into the shadows and nearly clocked his best friend, Niko Petropoulos.“Nervous, are we?” Niko said.Ben… More
Top PEN Prize to Honor Nasrin Sotoudeh, Jailed Iranian Lawyer, Writer, Activist
PEN American Center today named Nasrin Sotoudeh, a writer, lawyer, and leader of the women’s and children’s rights movement in Iran, as the recipient of its 2011 PEN/Barbara Goldsmith… More
The Red Room: Stories of Trauma in Contemporary Korea
Two little girls with short hair that’s cut straight across the back sit in the yard, heads touching, peering intently at the ground. They’re trying to catch ants. If… More
War and Peace
In Fall 2000, I was beginning my second year of teaching in South Los Angeles. I was pumped up. Even though I am a White girl who grew up… More
Rob Spillman: Eye of the Outsider
James M. Cain’s Mildred Pierce, set in Southern California at the time when the roaring ’20s was turning into the low, depressed growl of the ’30s, captures an era… More
Twice Born
A journey of hope, leftover words among the many that remain at day’s end. I saw them on a jar beside the drugstore cash register. There was a slot… More
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