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 named Summer Lopez and Clarisse Rosaz Shariyf as permanent co-Chief Executive Officers. The pair, who each bring a decade of experience at PEN America, have spearheaded the organization’s defense of free expression and celebration of literature as interim leaders for the past 16 months. Read more here, and check out coverage of their appointment in The New York Times, the AP, and Editor and Publisher.
- PEN America led a delegation of renowned writers to Texas A&M, where the Board of Regents recently revised policies that led to the planned shuttering of the Women’s & Gender Studies program, the censorship of Plato, and the cancellation of other courses. “Your campus has become a lab for censorship, a kind of national laboratory of censorship. You shouldn’t want that for your own school,” author George Packer said at PEN America’s panel. Learn what else the writers had to say here, check out coverage of our advocacy in KBTX, University World News, and Texas A&M’s student newspaper, The Battalion.
- Along with 36 organizational partners, PEN America also wrote to the Texas A&M Board of Regents to urge them to rescind the revisions to the policies. Read PEN America’s letter here.
- PEN America attended the annual Let Utah Read event at the State Capitol, where Utahns gathered to speak out against attacks on literary freedom. Read more here, and Utah residents can take action by telling state legislators they oppose book bans here.
- The Free Narges Coalition condemned the additional prison sentences handed down to human rights defender, writer, and journalist Narges Mohammadi and called for her immediate release. “The situation of Iran’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate under detention is not an isolated example, but an indicator of the vulnerability and risks faced by those detained for their defense of human rights or expression,” the committee said. Read more.
- PEN America called the sentencing of media mogul Jimmy Lai to 20 years in prison in Hong Kong a “catastrophic blow to free speech.” “Jimmy Lai is 78 and this egregious abuse of justice is essentially a death sentence for one of the most prominent pro-democracy campaigners in Hong Kong,” said Liesl Gerntholtz, managing director of the PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Center. Read more.
- As journalists covering protests face violence from law enforcement, PEN America and the Journalist Assistance Network joined together to compile a list of safety resources. Take a look.
- In a new blog post, Amanda Wells, program coordinator for digital safety and free expression, explains how bystanders and allies can support targets of online abuse. Check out the tips here.
- Amy Reid, program director for Freedom to Learn, spoke to CollegeWatch about PEN America’s report on the expanding web of censorship in U.S. colleges and universities. Read the interview here, and read the report here.
- In this week’s PEN Ten interview, Naeem Murr discussed the paradoxical title of his fourth book, Every Exit Brings You Home, and the questions it raises about love, belonging, and sacrifice. Read the interview.
