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
The First O.J. Book
I got the idea for an O.J. Simpson book long before all the others came out. The inspiration came in a flash at three in the morning as I… More
Lepidoptera or Butterflies
Lepidopteraor ButterfliesThere is a blue chair in a room with 60 menIt bears the gravity of a black hole,an inward burning star, drawingall light, all matter toward it.Names flutter… More
A Strangely Fruitful, Frustrating Experience
It is the end of another January. I find myself locked away, facing the most unforgiving punishment any human being could possibly face: the “death penalty.” Consequently, I have… More
A Fresh End
It is important to find the right place for an ending. Places we pass through are easily forgotten; whether the right place at the right time or not, we… More
Thoughts When The Cell Door Closes
The cell door shuts with a bang that echoes throughout my shoe box of a cell. The clanging door feeds my ears an all too familiar sound. With a… More
Locker Key
He devoutly watchedfrom the wooden bleachersas his son click, click, clickedhis way around the icein double blades.Layers of clothes prevent the boy’sarms and legs from bendingmaking him stutter stepmore… More
No More With the Neighbors
The year is 1964, things are quiet in our little farming town in upstate Illinois. I am six years old and just starting to learn about the world outside,… More
Six Basement
I was 12 months into my bit in reform school and had caught some kind of awful disease. I had sores all over, with puffy scabs on them. They… More
Support for the freedom to read with exclusive designs by Todd Parr, Mike Curato, Art Spiegelman, and more!
