Blog

Filter By:

AdvocacyAnalysisBlogCommentaryDramaEssayEventFeatureFictionGraphic NarrativeInterviewMemoirNewsObituaryOpen LetterPoetryPress ReleaseProfile

Browse By Series:

PEN Poetry Series •  Prison WritingThe PEN Ten InterviewsIllustrated PEN • Pen PalsThe PEN World

Browse By Email Subscription:

PEN America NewsEducational Censorship NewsWorks of Justice 

The Chameleon Couch

The One-Handed ConcertoAfter Paul Wittgensteinlost his right hand in the Great War,he begged his friend Ravelfor a concerto of muted tom-toms& peacock feathers underneath the tempo.Something oceanic, with gusto… More

Songwriter Released

Singer-songwriter Lapiro de Mbanga (real name: Pierre Roger Lambo Sandjo) was freed on April 8, 2011, having completed a three-year prison sentence for allegedly instigating anti-government riots. More

Your Republic Is Calling You

7:00 a.m.Speak UpHe opens his eyes. He feels heavy and his breath stinks. Slowly, his brain whirs into activity, and a word gradually reveals itself, like a stranger emerging… More

Last Journalist Released

The last remaining Cuban journalist in prison, Habana Press director Alberto Santiago Du Bouchet Hernández, has now been released. More

What the Dog Saw, And Other Adventures

The PitchmanRon Popeil and the Conquest of the American Kitchen1.The extraordinary story of the Ronco Showtime Rotisserie & BBQ begins with Nathan Morris, the son of the shoemaker and… More

Dissident Writer Liu Xianbin Sentenced

Writer and activist Liu Xianbin was handed down a 10-year prison sentence on March 25, 2011, for "inciting subversion of state power" in connection with his publication of a… More