News & Analysis
The latest news and analysis from PEN America’s research and advocacy.
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Press Releases • Commentary
PEN America Speaks: How We Defended and Celebrated Free Expression The Week of November 27
PEN America works tirelessly to defend free expression, support persecuted writers, and promote literary culture. Here are some of the latest ways PEN America is speaking out. More
PEN America Joins Seven Other Groups to Support Lawsuit to Overturn Texas Book Ban Law as Unconstitutional
Kasey Meehan, Freedom to Read program director at PEN America, said: “We stand with Texas students in rejecting HB 900. This law, which forces private companies and public school… More
Purge of LGBTQ+ Children’s Books from a Kansas Public Library is “Deeply Disturbing”
“This blatantly discriminatory action has deprived the residents of St. Marys of ready access to a wide range of literature, and it forced the library director into an impossible… More
New Reports: California and Florida Push the Nation in Opposing Directions on Free Expression
Katie Blankenship, a former ACLU of Florida litigator who this month became PEN America’s inaugural director in the state, said: “Gov. DeSantis and the legislature have launched a legislative… More
PEN America Speaks: How We Defended and Celebrated Free Expression The Week of November 20
PEN America works tirelessly to defend free expression, support persecuted writers, and promote literary culture. Here are some of the latest ways PEN America is speaking out. More
PEN America Joins with Other Groups in Condemning Cancellation of Play at Santa Monica College
PEN America is joined by the Dramatists Guild, the Dramatists Legal Defense Fund, and the National Coalition Against Censorship in condemning the cancelation of a play at Santa Monica… More
PEN America Endorses Appeal for New UN Special Rapporteur on Democracy
The statement, led by Democracy without Borders, warned on Monday that “democracy is threatened and authoritarianism is on the rise.” It stresses the urgency for the UN to actively… More
PEN America Files Amicus Brief in Case Against Texas Law Requiring Ratings for Sexual Content on Books Sold to Public Schools
(NEW YORK)—PEN America has filed an amicus brief in the Fifth Circuit in the case of Book People v. Wong, challenging Texas’s HB 900, which requires booksellers to “rate”… More
Cancelled Film on Israel Deprives a NY Campus of Important Conversation Amid Crisis
“The decision to cancel this film is totally antithetical to the principles of free expression and academic freedom to which Hunter College must adhere. At this moment of heightened… More
PEN America Speaks: How We Defended and Celebrated Free Expression The Week of November 13
PEN America works tirelessly to defend free expression, support persecuted writers, and promote literary culture. Here are some of the latest ways PEN America is speaking out. More