fist holding a pencil with the text, protect free expression

Join PEN America, alongside members of the publishing industry and book lovers from around the world to unite in a celebration of the act of storytelling at BookExpo and BookCon.

If  you plan to join us at BookExpo and BookCon next week be sure to stop by PEN America’s booth (#1828) to renew your membership with a special discount, meet PEN staff, and receive updates on our ongoing literary and advocacy work. We’ll also have some exciting new SWAG and back issues of the PEN Journal and the Glossolalia Translation Journal.

BookCon places the reader at the centre of the festival through facilitating interactions between authors, publishers, literary figures and the creators of content that influence all that we read, hear and see. With a calendar featuring a wealth of events, including panel discussions, screenings, lectures and special podcasts, BookCon is a unique celebration of book culture and one not to be missed.

Amidst the host of events, on Thursday June 1st at 12.30pm, PEN America and Book Expo will co-host a panel discussion entitled “PEN America Presents the First Amendment Resistance” with Zoë Quinn, Patrisse Cullors, John Podhoretz and Scott Turow. The panel will be moderated by Brooke Gladstone, the co-host of WNYC’s On the Media. This diverse range of voices will explore the complicated relationship between the publishing industry and the First Amendment and will ask what responsibilities do publishers have as regards books that profess unpopular or controversial opinions? Is it wrong to provide a platform for someone who has been criticized for political views outside the acceptable norm? And is there an acceptable norm—or is this a conceit of an elitist, left-leaning publishing industry?