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.
- Following a major court victory reinstating hundreds of journalists at Voice of America, four veteran VOA journalists and three press freedom organizations, including PEN America, filed a lawsuit that argued the global news agency is being twisted into a propaganda arm of the Trump administration. “Allowing this administration to gut VOA, disrespecting and dismissing the journalists who so often report at great risk to themselves, and twisting the remnants into a propaganda tool for its own agenda has deprived people around the world of accurate, fact-based reporting where and when it is most needed,” said Summer Lopez, co-CEO of PEN America. Learn more here, and check out coverage of the lawsuit in NPR and the Associated Press.
- PEN America’s Prison and Justice Writing Program announced the publication of Other Things Unspoken: 2024 PEN Prison Writing Awards Anthology. The seventh volume in the series, the book features an introduction by PEN Prison Writing Award winner frank kensaku saragosa. “The best thing that happened from winning this award was realizing that there are people who think my work is worth reading. That, more than anything, helped me to focus on creating a writing life after my release,” saragosa writes. Read the full introduction, and learn more about the anthology.
- PEN America condemned press restrictions imposed by the Defense Department just days after a federal judge ruled that the Pentagon’s prior restrictions on news outlets violated the First Amendment. “These new restrictions are not about genuine security concerns but instead are part of the administration’s multi-pronged campaign to sideline credible reporting, even during a time of war,” said Tim Richardson, journalism and disinformation program director. See the full statement.
- PEN America’s 62nd Literary Awards Ceremony is on March 31 — but who selects the winners and how? For a peek inside the process, check out our interview with PEN Poetry in Translation Award judges Miriam Calleja, Alta L. Price, and J. Kates. Join us for the ceremony by purchasing your tickets here.
- The San Antonio Observer quoted Jon Friedman, Sy Syms Managing Director for U.S. Free Expression programs, in an article about a Texas school district banning 1,500 books including memoirs by Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. Read the article, and learn more about the bans.
- Friedman also spoke to a CBS affiliate for an article about a Texas State University professor suing the school for firing him over an off-campus speech he made in 2024 about Palestinian resistance. See the article.
- PEN America called rapper and singer Afroman’s win in a civil liberties case in Ohio “a big win for free expression, reinforcing the vital protection for singers and artists to exercise the right to be creative in their public art.” See the post.
