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 released a second analysis of Project 2025 outlining 3 key threats and dangers to free speech and expression. From calls for banning TikTok to targeting concepts and language in federal rules and suggesting laws that would affect public broadcasting, the white paper lays out the Orwellian ideas outlined in the policy blueprint for the next conservative White House. Hadar Harris, PEN America’s Washington managing director, said, “The implications of these actions would be grave for the free expression of Americans, as well as for people around the globe.”
- PEN America joins libraries, readers and writers nationwide on Saturday, 10/19, Freedom to Read Day of Action, to unite against book bans and demonstrate a shared commitment to the freedom to read and the joy of reading. The free expression organization is participating in events at public libraries in New York City, Brooklyn, Boston, and Washington, DC.
- PEN America along with Authors Against Book Bans, American Indian Library Association, and Village Books, have raised alarm over reclassifying Colonization and the Wampanoag Story by Linda Coombs from children’s nonfiction to fiction in Montgomery County, Texas. In a letter, the groups responded by saying, it “communicates distrust of material that reflects the truths of our American history. It diminishes the legitimacy of Coombs’s perspective as a member of the Wampanoag Tribe and Indigenous educators who recommend its use.”
- In a new blog post, Katie Blankenship and Sophia Brown from PEN America’s Florida office wrote about how for the third straight year, the School Board in Miami-Dade County, Florida, voted to reject the recognition of queer contributions for LGBTQ+ History Month. “Making our voices heard, through voting and civic engagement in local and state governments, is critical to pushing back against authoritarian and discriminatory tendencies, which not only impact the daily lives of Floridians, but serve as a blueprint for the rest of the country,” they wrote.
- Following the endorsement of the Magna Charta Universitatum, PEN America, in collaboration with the Magna Charta Observatory, will co-sponsor an international convening at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center in Washington, DC, from 10 AM to 12 PM ET on October 23, 2024. The event, titled Universities, Governments, and Democracy: International Challenges, Lessons Learned, and Future Strategy, will bring together academic leaders from across the globe to discuss the urgent challenges facing universities in the United States and across the world.
- In this week’s PEN Ten interview, Juan Carlos Reyes discussed his latest book Three Alarm Fire (Hinton Publishing, 2024) with PEN America’s Literary Awards Intern Maria Loo. They touched on redefining the concept of place, navigating cultural tension and the unconventional use of commas.
- In a new Facts Forward interview, BBC’s climate change disinformation reporter, Marco Silva, talked to PEN America’s journalism and disinformation program consultant, Mina Haq. Along with discussing emerging narratives often fueled by conspiracy theories in this beat, he also shared how he navigates debunking myths and helpful tips all journalists working with in influx of mis- and disinformation can use.
- PEN America noted some of the most pertinent political disinformation threats to arise from the increased use of Generative AI. From identifying deep fakes and cheap fakes to encrypted messaging apps and foreign interface operations, the capabilities of AI is nuanced and wide-ranging. Based on a panel held last month, the blog post touched on some of the most important disinformation trends to look out for in the approaching election cycle.
