Blog
Filter By:
Advocacy • Analysis • Blog • Commentary • Drama • Essay • Event • Feature • Fiction • Graphic Narrative • Interview • Memoir • News • Obituary • Open Letter • Poetry • Press Release • Profile
Browse By Series:
PEN Poetry Series • Prison Writing • The PEN Ten Interviews • Illustrated PEN • Pen Pals • The PEN World
Browse By Email Subscription:
PEN America News • Educational Censorship News • Works of Justice
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
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
Prominent Artist and Critic Ai Weiwei Detained; Fears for Safety
Artist and prominent government critic Ai Weiwei was arrested at Beijing airport on April 3, 2011, and remains in detention. 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
PEN Appeal: Liu Xianbin
April 8, 2011 His Excellency Hu Jintao President of the People’s Republic of China State Council Beijing 100032 P.R. China Wu Aiying Buzhang Minister of Justice Sifabu 10 Chaoyangmen Nandajie Chaoyangqu Beijingshi 100020 People’s Republic of China Your Excellencies, On behalf of the… More
Silver Sparrow
My father, James Witherspoon, is a bigamist. He was already married ten years when he first clamped eyes on my mother. In 1968, she was working at the gift-wrap… More
Interview: Arch Tait
PEN: What are some of the challenges of taking a best-selling, well-known work from its native language and translating it for a foreign audience?It’s less a challenge than a… More
The New Jim Crow
Jarvious Cotton cannot vote. Like his father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and great-great-grandfather, he has been denied the right to participate in our electoral democracy. Cotton’s family tree tells the story… More
Support for the freedom to read with exclusive designs by Todd Parr, Mike Curato, Art Spiegelman, and more!
