Four Questions for Katrina Dodson, Winner of the 2016 PEN Translation Prize
I’ve thought often about how translation requires extreme humility, to be able to recede into the shadows and let one’s style be subsumed by another’s. Translators work hard not… More
Four Questions for Sawako Nakayasu, Winner of the 2016 PEN Award for Poetry in Translation
"The Sagawa book presented a special challenge, which was that the Modernist sensibility and language, especially in this particular Japanese context, was unlike anything I had ever seen, and… More
Mayumi and the Sea of Happiness
He sounded older, twenty at least. I was afraid if we spoke again he would sound older still, that by month’s end he would have surpassed me, his… More
The Sympathizer
The month in question was April, the cruelest month. It was the month in which a war that had run on for a very long time would lose its… More
A Contract Overseas
With Andoy unemployed and my mother scraping to feed us, I couldn't go straight to college, even with a scholarship. We both spent the next twelve months mopping floors More
Mr. and Mrs. Doctor
“What is this talk of happy?” Aunty asked without turning. Then, gently, she added, “You have been in America too long, Mrs. Doctor.” More
The Turner House
What kind of adulthood was this? Cha-Cha wondered.…He had the feeling that he would always be this person, seesawing between adult and child, as long as he stayed in… More
Interview with the Finalists of 2016 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction
To get a better idea of the writers behind the books, we sent each of the finalists four questions addressing inspiration, routine, and craft. More
Trace: Memory, History, Race, and the American Landscape
Lauret Savoy is a finalist for the 2016 PEN Open Book Award. This excerpt from her book of interconnected essays traces memory, geology, and human history. More