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 termed it “a dark day for the freedom to read” in Utah after the state Board of Education released a list of 13 books it banned from public schools in compliance with a new law, HB 29. The list includes six works by Sarah J. Maas as well as others by Judy Blume and Margaret Atwood. You can sign a petition to stop book bans and amend the law from Let Utah Read, a coalition of Utah community members, educators, parents, librarians, and advocacy organizations, including PEN America.
- PEN America criticized the arrest of video journalist Samuel Seligson on felony hate crime charges after he documented the vandalized home of the Brooklyn Museum’s director. “Reporting is not a crime,” said Viktorya Vilk, Digital Safety program director at PEN America. “The work of journalists is protected by the First Amendment and can require proximity to criminal activity.”
- In the most recent installment of the Facts Forward Q&A series, U.S. Free Expressions Programs manager Henry Hicks IV speaks with two journalists, Joseph Darius Jaafari and Jake Hylton, who co-founded an outlet with an emphasis on LGBTQ+ stories and community journalism. The pair say their approach to reporting has slowed the spread of disinformation.
- Freedom to Learn program director Jeremy Young wrote about the closure of Center for Inclusion and Belonging at Utah Tech University, where he previously taught for four years, for Inside Higher Ed.
- PEN America intern Julia Goldberg explained how Algerian boxer Imane Khelif became the subject of a misinformation campaign as she has faced a barrage of online attacks fueled by unsubstantiated claims about her gender.
- C. Fausto Cabrera and Zeke Caligiuri spoke with PEN America’s Works of Justice podcast about bringing writing programs into Minnesota prisons and editing America Precariat while incarcerated.
- PEN America’s Works of Justice series features four selections from The Book of Judith: Opening Hearts Through Poetry, an anthology in remembrance of teaching artist Judith Tannenbaum.
- In another Works of Justice feature, Curtis Dawkins reflects on how he wrote his debut collection of stories, The Graybar Hotel (Scribner, 2017), while incarcerated.
