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 criticized Paramount Global for settling a frivolous lawsuit for $16 million instead of supporting its news division and fighting for a free and independent press. “Paramount’s decision to settle a meritless lawsuit rather than stand behind its journalists at CBS News is a spineless capitulation,” said Tim Richardson, journalism and disinformation program director at PEN America. See the statement. Read more in the Los Angeles Times.
- In an op-ed for the Washington Blade, Elly Brinkley, staff attorney for U.S. Free Expression Programs, described how the Supreme Court’s ruling in Mahmoud v. Taylor will facilitate a devastating rise in book bans and censorship. USA Today and The Associated Press also quoted Brinkley on the dangerous implications of the ruling.
- In an op-ed for HuffPost, Katherine Locke, an author of one of the books at the center of Mahmoud v. Taylor, called for readers to protect inclusive education by showing up to local school board meetings, forming community book clubs, and supporting free expression organizations like PEN America.
- PEN America has curated two new reading lists! Celebrate Disability Pride Month with a novel, memoir, or anthology, and browse our wide-ranging collection of banned U.S. history books this Independence Day.
- After highlighting the recent arrests of a number of writers in Iran during and following its 12-day war with Israel, PEN America urged Iranian authorities to cease their efforts to clamp down on peaceful expression. “We call on the Iranian authorities to allow Iranians to speak and write without fear of arrest or other repercussions, during a time when it is crucial that the world hears their voices,” said Karin Deutsch Karlekar, director of Writers at Risk.
- PEN America called for the immediate release of imprisoned online commentator and journalist Le Huu Minh Tuan. Tuan, who has been in custody since 2020, has developed urgent health issues but has been repeatedly refused proper medical care. “Denying necessary medical treatment to an ailing prisoner is a blatant violation of human rights and international standards for prisoner treatment,” said Liesl Gerntholtz, managing director of PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Center.
- If you missed the 2025 PEN World Voices Festival, read our new blog post about a session devoted to celebrating trans literature and discussing ways of resisting political efforts to silence trans voices.
- PEN America condemned an Algerian appeals court’s decision to uphold the five-year sentence of acclaimed French-Algerian novelist Boualem Sansal, who was charged with an offense commonly used to silence dissent. “The Algerian government’s continued imprisonment of Boualem Sansal—an elderly, ill writer who is being punished for his ideas and expression—is both incomprehensible and unconscionable,” said Karin Deutsch Karlekar, director of PEN America’s Writers at Risk program.
- Lane Michael Stanley, a former attendee of PEN America’s Emerging Voices Workshop Los Angeles and the workshop assistant for the June 2025 cohort, reflected on the unique intimacy and depth the workshop offers its participants.
- For this week’s PEN Ten interview, World Voices Festival Intern Sarah Ahmed spoke with Nishant Batsha about the historical romance that inspired his novel, A Bomb Placed Close to the Heart.
