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 announced it will hold its World Voices Festival on April 29–May 2, bringing together more than 140 writers from 40+ countries to New York and Los Angeles amid mounting barriers to international exchange and escalating attacks on free expression. Read more about the festival and get your tickets today!
- PEN America urged the House of Representatives to reject a bill restricting funds for public school programming and literature containing so-called “sexually-oriented material,” which includes material with trans representation. “The House Education Committee’s decision to pass HR 7661 out of committee is an affront to local control of schools and another attempt to censor education by D.C. politicians,” said Ian Schwab, director of government affairs and strategy. Read the full statement.
- PEN America interviewed Ibram X. Kendi about his newest book, Chain of Ideas: The Origins of Our Authoritarian Age, which examines the political theory that Kendi believes is fueling authoritarianism across the globe. “After writing Chain of Ideas… I’ve become much more optimistic, because now we can formulate a counter-response,” he told us. Learn about the insidious theory and how Kendi wants us to fight back against it. (And if you still want to learn more, register for our upcoming conversations with Kendi.)
- Author of The 1619 Project Nikole Hannah-Jones, Sy Syms Managing Director for U.S. Free Expression Programs Jonathan Friedman, and student activist Cameron Samuels participated in a panel about the imperiled state of academic freedom at UT Austin. They criticized the university’s move to eliminate seven ethnic and gender studies departments, consolidating them into two more general departments. Here’s what they said.
- PEN America expressed alarm over the Department of Defense’s new directive inserting itself into the editorial process of Stars and Stripes. “Service members and military families rely on Stars and Stripes for independent reporting, not for material shaped or dictated by the very officials the paper is supposed to hold accountable,” said Tim Richardson, journalism and disinformation program director. Read more.
- PEN America is hosting its 2026 Literary Awards Ceremony on March 31, but how might the awards and prizes affect the talented writers who will win them? Find out in our blog post about the Open Book Award, which the renowned writers Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Claudia Rankine, Richard Blanco and Joy Harjo have all taken home in past years. And get your tickets, if you haven’t already.
- In an op-ed for USA Today, Amy Reid, program director for Freedom to Learn, and Jeffrey Sachs, senior analyst, argue that the former Republican lawmakers running Florida’s universities are silently reshaping them from the inside. Check it out.
- Hundreds gathered in February to protest literary censorship at Let Utah Read’s annual Read-In. Despite the bleak reality of book banning in Utah, which has imposed a statewide “no read” list that’s now 28 books long, the event lifted up Utahns’ spirits by emphasizing the power of unity, empathy, and perseverance. Read more.
- In an Inside Higher Ed article about a Utah bill that would allow students to opt out of coursework that conflicts with their “religious or conscience” beliefs, Laura Benitez, state manager for U.S. free expression programs, provided analysis about its inevitable censorious impacts. “We consider this bill to be an infringement on academic freedom, having sincere, significant consequences on professors’ ability to make decisions about what they can teach and assign in the classroom,” she said. Read the article.
