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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
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
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
Day of Oprichnik
Always the same dream:I’m walking across an endless field, a Russian field. Ahead, beyond the receding horizon, I spy a white stallion; I walk toward him, I sense that… 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
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