Fatima Shaik: ”Books Like These Are Meant to be Troubling”
On Tuesday, December 6, the Accomack County Public Schools Board, in eastern Virginia, voted to return the books To Kill a Mockingbird and Huckleberry Finn to county classrooms. The… More
PEN America report analyzes challenges for diverse youth literature
PEN America's report on challenges facing diversity in children's and young adult literature is published in time for Banned Books Week. More
Remembering Vera B. Williams: A Tribute
Friends, writers, and illustrators pay tribute to the longtime former chair of PEN's CYAB Committee and much beloved children's book writer and illustrator. More
Ban, Restriction, Whatever!: On Ted Dawe’s Into the River
Long time children's and young adult librarian, judge for children's book awards, Trustee of the Storylines Children’s Literature Charitable Trust of New Zealand, and literary agent Frances Plumpton discusses… More
The Common Core in Action
Writer, blogger, and middle school teacher K. Imani Tennyson kicks off the school year with how a creative curriculum can be incorporated into the Common Core teaching standards for… More
Katrina: 10 Years Later
In this second of two blog posts commemorating the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Fatima Shaik reflects on the work of PEN's Children's and Young Adult Book Committee in… More
“Writing Is Spirit”: A Synchronous Meeting with Calligrapher Ömer Basdag
CYAB Committee member Meghan Nuttall Sayres on the Turkish calligrapher Ömer Basdag and the ancient art of handwriting. More
Diversity Within Diversity: 2015 ALA Youth Media Awards “Change the Landscape” of Recognition in Children’s Literature
The flurry of each announcement at the American Library Association’s Youth Media Awards in February quickly snowballed into perhaps the most diverse awards list in the history of children’s… More
Your Students … Or Your Customers?
“In other words, know your customer,” she says. Customer. This word is the last straw. I can't keep my hand down any longer. As if it’s not enough that… More
The Other America: Black Lives and the Police State
With the deaths of so many black Americans at the hands of both police officers and white vigilantes who have escaped punishment, we are coming to see that two… More
Alert Us
Are you an artist at risk or know someone who is?
PEN America On 
ICYMI: We spoke with Quiara Alegría Hudes, author of MY BROKEN LANGUAGE, about which writers she's most excited by right now, what prompted her to write MY BROKEN LANGUAGE, and more: https://pen.org/the-pen-ten-quiara-alegria-hudes. #PENTen
I imagine there are still likely to be scores of UF professors who will sidestep getting involved in any form of public testimony, just b/c the politics, risk, intimidation factors here are so high. The damage may already be done in FL. #academicfreedom https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/21/us/florida-professors-free-speech.html
THE SENTENCES THAT CREATE US: Crafting a Writer’s Life in Prison just launched on @HaymarketBooks with @PENAmerica! A comprehensive resource told through compelling first-person essays by @dwaynebetts @MitchSJackson + @Piper, among many others. http://pen.org/sentencesthatcreateus
