Pham Doan Trang, Imprisoned Vietnamese Writer and Dissident, To Receive PEN America’s Freedom to Write Award at NYC Gala May 16
PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel said: “Pham Doan Trang has galvanized the Vietnamese people through her writings on democracy, human rights, environmental degradation, and women’s empowerment. The Vietnamese government… More
New Report Prescribes Peer Support to Help Journalists Targeted by Online Abuse
“Online abuse disproportionately impacts journalists who are people of color, women, LBGTQ+, and members of religious or ethnic minorities,” said Jeje Mohamed, coauthor of the report and PEN America’s… More
New PEN America Analysis Points to Cracks in Florida’s Censorship Campaign
Katie Blankenship, director of PEN America’s Florida office, said: “By continuing to pass bills that are a knife to the heart of our Constitutional protections, Florida lawmakers are not… More
Free Speech and Other Organizations Urge Florida Lawmakers to Oppose Bill Banning Youth from Social Media
We know social media sites can present significant risks to minors, but the state’s response to such risks should be tailored to minimize harm, not passing measures that violate… More
Coalition of 20 Groups Press Lawmakers to Reject Florida Teacher Training Bill
“This bill is as dystopian as the original Stop WOKE Act, and would undermine teacher training across key classroom topics, from history and literature to social studies and current… More
PEN America: “Gravely Alarmed” by Destruction and Damage to Hundreds of Culture and Educational Sites in Gaza
“Schools, libraries, mosques, churches, and cultural centers are not just buildings; they are sanctuaries of knowledge, bastions of cultural identity, and beacons of intellectual and artistic freedom. Libraries in… More
PEN America Endorses “Fight Book Bans Act” Introduced in Congress To Help School Districts with Financial Burden of Book Bans
Laura Schroeder, Congressional affairs lead for PEN America, said: “Banning books in schools is not only unpopular; it’s expensive. As school districts around the country divert resources to address… More
PEN America Endorses Appeal for New UN Special Rapporteur on Democracy
The statement, led by Democracy without Borders, warned on Monday that “democracy is threatened and authoritarianism is on the rise.” It stresses the urgency for the UN to actively… More
The Topics Teachers Are Too Afraid to Teach
Frederick Douglass, women’s suffrage, jazz and the blues, Batman, reproductive biology, philosophy. In states with restrictive educational policies, teachers and professors have questioned if they are allowed to teach… More
With Massive Book Banning in Prisons, PEN America Presents “Return to Sender: Prison as Censorship,” a NYC Exhibition Sept. 14-Oct. 28
Moira Marquis, an advocate in PEN America’s Prison and Justice Writing program, said: “More books are banned in prisons than anywhere else in the country and censorship is rising… More