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.
- Online and offline abuse is growing more prevalent, but librarians and educators aren’t powerless. Here are three steps they can take to protect themselves.
- PEN America and its Journalist Assistance Network partners condemned the Russian Ministry of Justice for labeling the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) as an “undesirable” organization. This designation — used to ban foreign human rights and civil society organizations from operating in Russia — demonstrates mounting efforts by the Kremlin to suppress press freedom. Read more.
- The Advocate quoted Jon Friedman, Sy Syms managing director of U.S. free expression programs, about the dangers of the FCC imposing content ratings on LGBTQ+ TV programming. “The FCC is trying to take the tactics of censorship from our libraries to our living rooms,” he said. “Proposing a kind of ‘warning label’ for LGBTQ content on TV is a means to silence and seclude LGBTQ stories and characters.” Read the full story.
- People Magazine highlighted some of the nonfiction books, including ones about art, science, and history, banned in public schools nationwide. According to PEN America’s latest report, 29% of unique titles banned in the 2024-2025 school year were nonfiction, up from 14% the year prior. Read the story, and see the report.
- In this week’s PEN Ten interview, Sarah Wang tells us about plastic surgery addiction, the immigrant body, and the complicated mother-daughter duo at the heart of her debut novel. “I put everything that keeps me up at night in this novel,” she said. Check out the interview.
- William Johnson, director of the Florida office, spoke to a local NBC station about the lack of oversight in the process of removing books from Duval County Schools. Read the article.
- In our latest Snapshot of Censorship, Dr. Karen Leader, a professor of Florida Atlantic University, describes how she was censored following her social media posts about Charlie Kirk. “Fear is the tool of tyrants. Democracy cannot survive when citizens can be silenced by mob politics,” she writes. Read more.
- A story by North Jersey about the spike in cancellations of commencement and graduation speakers quoted Kristen Shahverdian, director of campus free speech, on the dangers of policing free expression. “Sometimes speech takes us to new and uncomfortable places, but institutions must model resilience, tolerance and engagement with speech, and resist reversing their choices in the face of discontent and pressure,” she said. Read the full story.
