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 celebrated literary excellence honoring writers and books across 13 categories at its 61st Literary Awards Ceremony held at The Town Hall in New York City on May 8, 2025. Tamron Hall, opening the ceremony, said, “The fight for free expression never ceases. It is always, as we know, under attack.” Read our full list of winners and watch the ceremony here and our press release here. See the coverage on the Brian Lerner show and Publishers Weekly.
- South Carolina replaced Utah as the state with the most book bans this week, with 22 books banned across all its public schools. Read our press release here.
- The Trump administration terminated a vast swath of grants that were a part of the National Endowment for the Arts, gutting institutions in the cultural sector. PEN America’s NEA funding toward its World Voices Festival was also terminated as the festival was in progress last Friday. PEN America’s Co-CEO Summer Lopez said, “The arts nourish and sustain us; the Trump administration is starving them to death. We stand in solidarity with our colleagues across the cultural sector in opposition to these cuts and call on members of Congress to ensure the preservation of the NEA and cultural agencies.” Read our full press release here.
- PEN America condemned the cancellation of a Summer Stage Pride benefit concert with Kehlani by the City Parks Foundation after pressure from a member of Congress and the Mayor’s office. Read our press release here. PEN America’s Jonathan Friedman was also quoted in reports by The New York Times and CBS News.
- Jonathan Friedman was also quoted in the New York Times about both the Trump administration and Harvard’s quest for “viewpoint diversity.” Read the story here. He was also quoted in a story about book bans in the Fairhope library in Alabama. Read the story here.
- PEN America’s Clare Carter wrote about the problems in the emerging trend of legislators advising universities to cut budget for academic programs that give students studying them a negative return on investment. “These ‘Return on Investment’ arguments are a Red Herring—censorship dressed up as fiscal responsibility,” argues Carter. Read the full article here.
- Brett G. Johnson, associate professor at the University of Iowa School of Journalism and Mass Communication, wrote about the rising threats and pressure to teaching and practicing journalism. The Trump administration’s assault on the First Amendment is an untenable threat to the very core of American democracy. And for those of us who teach the fundamentals of free expression for a living, it’s personal,” writes Johnson. Read the full article here.
- Last week the Trump administration called for the funding to NPR and PBS to cease, including indirect funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. In an article A. J. Connelly details the effects of such funding terminations and how this will affect rural America the hardest especially during times of crises and disasters. Read the full piece here.
- At PEN America’s World Voices Festival held last week, writers Gina Chung and Aaliya Bilal came together to discuss their short story collections which offer rich portraits of American life. Read more about the event here.
- The closing night of the World Voices Festival was also a special one, coinciding with World Press Freedom Day on May 3. A panel moderated by interim co-CEO, Summer Lopez, brought together journalists from across the world working under authoritarian regimes and featured Rana Ayyub from India, Patricia Evengelista from the Philippines, and George Packer from the United States and staff writer at The Atlantic. Read more about the event here.
- German public radio interviewed Jennifer Egan and interim co-CEO Clarisse Rosaz Shariyf ahead of the opening night of the World Voices Festival. Listen here.
- For this week’s PEN Ten, Aleah Gatto talked to Caro De Robertis about So Many Stars: An Oral History of Trans, Nonbinary, Genderqueer, and Two-Spirit People of Color a rich collection of interviews of elders about transition, activism, and celebration. Read the full interview here.
