2017 New Members New Books

“If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution.” — Emma Goldman
  
Three days after PEN America’s Writers Resist rally on the steps of the main branch of the New York Public Library, we’ll come together as a community to celebrate our strength, unity, creativity, and dance moves.

Join Isaac Fitzgerald, Angela Flournoy, Amy Goodman, Chris Jackson, Brendan Kiely, Alice Sola Kim, Jason Reynolds. and PEN America Members on Wednesday, January 18, from 6:30 – 9:00 at the Sean Kelly Gallery, 475 Tenth Avenue, NYC for a celebration of our new members, their new books, and solidarity in 2017.

Music by DJ Herbert Holler
Drinks and snacks will be served

Members with new books out in 2016 can send one copy to be displayed at the party to PEN America’s office.

Please RSVP by January 11 here.

Isaac Fitzgerald has been a firefighter, worked on a boat, and been given a sword by a king, thereby accomplishing three out of five of his childhood goals. He is the editor of BuzzFeed Books and co-author of Pen & Ink: Tattoos and the Stories Behind Them and Knives & Ink: Chefs and the Stories Behind Their Tattoos (with Recipes). More at www.isaacfitzgerald.net.

Angela Flournoy is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and the University of Southern California. She has taught writing at the University of Iowa and Trinity Washington University, and has worked for the D.C. Public Library. Raised in Southern California, she spent time throughout her childhood at her grandparents’ home on Detroit’s East Side. More at www.angelaflournoy.com.

Amy Goodman is the host and executive producer of Democracy Now!, a national, daily, independent, award-winning news program airing on over 1,400 public television and radio stations worldwide. More at www.democracynow.org/about/staff 

Chris Jackson is the Vice President, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of One World, a just relaunched imprint of Random House. Previously, Jackson was an Executive Editor at Spiegel & Grau from its founding in 2006, where he edited prize-winning and bestselling authors including Trevor Noah, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Bryan Stevenson, Eddie Huang, Jill Leovy, Matt Taibbi, Victor LaValle, Mat Johnson, and Jay Z. His forthcoming One World authors include Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Alex Wagner, Jean Guerrero, Quiara Hudes, Molly Crabapple, Marwan Hisham, and Eric Holder. His own writing has appeared in TheAtlantic.com, The Paris Review, and Callaloo among other places. Jackson is a native of New York, where he currently resides.

Brendan Kiely is the New York Times bestselling author of The Last True Love Story, All American Boys (with Jason Reynolds), and The Gospel of Winter. His work has been translated in ten languages, received a Coretta Scott King Author Honor Award, the Walter Dean Myers Award, the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award, and was selected as one of the American Library Association’s Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults. Originally from the Boston area, he now lives with his wife in Greenwich Village. More at brendankiely.com

Alice Sola Kim is a winner of the 2016 Whiting Award. Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in places such as Tin House, The Village Voice, McSweeney’s, BuzzFeed Reader, and The Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy. She has received grants and scholarships from the MacDowell Colony, Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, and the Elizabeth George Foundation. More at alicesolakim.com

Jason Reynolds is crazy. About stories. After earning a BA in English from The University of Maryland, College Park, he moved to Brooklyn, New York. Jason Reynolds is the author of critically acclaimed When I Was the Greatest, for which he was the recipient of the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent, Boy in the Black Suit, and All American Boys, cowritten with Brendan Kiely. You can find his ramblings at JasonWritesBooks.com.