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.
- PEN America and more than 100 grassroots and national organizations called on Congress to reject a bill that would in effect mandate book censorship in the nation’s public schools. “HR 7661 threatens to suppress access to important books for students — a clear attempt to further erode the freedom to read in this country,” said Kasey Meehan, director of Freedom to Read. “That Congress would task itself with deciding what books belong in schools is absurd and yet another example of government overreach tormenting public schools and libraries.” Read the statement in opposition to HR 7761 and send your own letter to Congress.
- PEN America applauded Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s decision not to sign a bill outlining how public school lessons on January 6 can be taught. State Policy and Government Affairs Senior Manager Laura Benitez said, “We encourage the Legislature to consider the original bill’s unintended consequences and continue their efforts to combat disinformation by adopting the alternative path offered by the governor.” Read more.
- Professor of philosophy Dr. Martin Peterson, who was prohibited from teaching Plato’s Symposium at Texas A&M, wrote about his decision to resign from the university in a new “snapshot of censorship.”. “Texas students deserve better than the half truths they receive when professors are not allowed to speak freely on their expertise,” he wrote. See the full blog post.
- For the past three years, PEN America Florida has shown up to legislative sessions with a clear goal: to push back against censorship in our schools, colleges, and universities. This year, we focused on three dangerous bills — and prevented all of them from passing into law. Read more about the good news and catch up on literary events in the state here.
- An Inside Higher Ed article about Texas Tech University’s plans to shutter programs related to gender and sexual identity, which will also prohibit students from pursuing “degree-culminating” projects on the same topics, quotes Amy Reid, program director for Freedom to Learn. She called the new policy a “sledgehammer.” Read more.
- In honor of the paperback publication of scholar Jason Stanley’s book Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future, he joined journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones for a talk at St. Ann and the Holy Trinity Church. Catch up on it here.
- At our 62nd annual Literary Awards Ceremony, PEN America spoke with Cannupa Hanska Luger about his reaction to winning the $75,000 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award, his perspective on the state of free expression in the United States as an Indigenous writer, and the unrealized power of make-believe. Read the interview.
- Before and after the ceremony, we also asked writers what they can do that AI can’t. Here are six of our favorite answers.
- Inside Higher Ed spoke to Reid for an article about an anti-DEI provision in the Kansas budget bill, now signed into law by the governor. “The passage and signing of this provision as part of Kansas’s budget bill is, sadly, proof of the dangerous normalization of educational censorship, even in a state with a Democratic governor,” Reid said. Read more.
- Journalist Ron Charles gave PEN America a shoutout in his newest Substack. Check it out.
