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 Call

I descended the mosque steps calmly after the prayer, talking to a friend of mine. The school year had started a few weeks earlier, the university students arriving from… More

The Book Of

the book of dip netting beaks, the book of mud probing beaks, the book of kissing as a form of knife sharpening, the book of lovers & the book of beloveds, the book… More

Uighur Writer and PEN Member Released

PEN welcomes the release of Uighur writer, academic and Uighur PEN Center member Ilham Tohti, on August 22, 2009. He spent over six weeks in detention, and remains under… More

Calling the Characters

Calling the CharactersIs this the right house? Shabbier than last timebut when was that? Two weeks ago? Two months?Have they forgotten me? The door’s unlocked,left open for me or… More

August Picnic

It was a cloudy overcast morning and from my window I could see a clump of boats riding gently at their moorings. Below my window surrounded by angles of… More

Lockdown

On July 20th, 1985, a sunny Saturday afternoon in New Hampshire’s High Summer, with most of the inmates at the State Prison drawn by the perfect weather out into… More

The Great American Sedative

The way I hear it, the doctor advised his patient, “Having trouble getting to sleep? Take two aspirins, turn on a baseball game, and call me in the morning.”Good… More