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
Just Another Death
I sit on my bunk as the minutes tick by. The count should have cleared over half an hour ago. Something’s up. In a place where timing and routine… More
Knowing a Place
You can’t love a place unless you know itreally know it like you were born theremoved there young had time to explorewalk the streets talk to the peopleNew… More
To Be Beaten On Your Birthday Means You’re Loved
I was kicked out of the dormitories, moved back to the cellblock I had lived on before living on the dorms. All my worldly possessions—all of which fit into… More
Static Night
Apartment 25A stepped back from Jake as he stepped up from the parking lot. The too-crisp edges of the cheap apartment door flexed as if laughing. Next to it,… More
Forest Clayton
The FanOn my mother’s dresserSits an old brittle photographThat flirts with the fan thatWas bought to soothe pain.Shadows hide behind her curtains;They sneak peeks to see if sheWill ever… More
The Seeds of Jasper Hate
A walloping THUMP startled me. It felt like a sledge hammer crashing against the wall my bunk was bolted to. I fumbled my book and leapt to my feet,… More
A Family’s Ties
*This story is dedicated to Mrs. Vera Prather. Without her loving support this story may never have been told.My parents had a secret. And as secrets go, they shared… More
Confessions of a Jack-Off Artist
Confessions of a Jack-Off Artist2007 First Place FictionI had to get a feel for it at first. To others it’s second nature: some used to have a freaky old… More
Fried Mushrooms
My mother is the kind of woman/ who buys fried mushrooms/ with her last five dollars/ on the way home/ from a listless day waiting/ for nothing/ at the… More
Release Date
On shaky knees Carson takes the first step onto the front walk. For six long years the address before him had been only numbers and letters. Now, in the… More
Support for the freedom to read with exclusive designs by Todd Parr, Mike Curato, Art Spiegelman, and more!
