PEN America Chapter: Utah

Erika George is the Samuel D. Thurman Professor of Law and directs the Tanner Humanities Center at the University of Utah. She is an American Bar Foundation Fellow, a member of the American Law Institute, and she serves on the Advisory Board of the American Bar Association Center for Human Rights. She is the author of Incorporating Rights and previously worked for Human Rights Watch on equity, education, and expression issues.

Paisley Rekdal is the author of ten books of poetry and prose, including Nightingale and Appropriate: A Provocation. Her work has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Fulbright Foundation among others. She was guest editor for Best American Poetry 2020 and served as Utah’s poet laureate from 2017-2022.