Goodbye From this River: Romeo Oriogun Remembers Binyavanga Wainaina
"You gave me a language that is brazen, that is without shame, that is human... Binj, goodbye from this river. May every shore you touch give you what you… More
“Leaving The Light On”: An Essay by 2019 Emerging Voices Fellow Dare Williams
"Your stories, your essays, and your poems need you to tell them. Because we need to hear them." More
The PEN Ten with the 2019 Emerging Voices
"I think the most daring thing I have put into words is that I love writing. I love it so much that I don’t care if I suck, or… More
Why We Need Stories: A PEN Ten Interview with Sophia Shalmiyev
"The kind of writing I believe we need more of is jagged, way stranger, and structurally embodying the thinker, the visionary, the hermit, and the loudmouth." More
Celebrating Pride Month 2019: A Roundup
In celebration of Pride Month, PEN America has curated a selection of the best poetry, interviews, readings, and more by LGBTQIA+ writers. More
“I Started to Write the Way I Needed To”: An Essay by 2019 Emerging Voices Fellow T.K. Lê
"There is no time left to be small. This year, I took a risk: I called myself a writer, and I started to write the way I needed to." More
“We Cannot Help but Feel Sorrow”: On Commemorating the Tiananmen Square Massacre
It is illegal to discuss the Tiananmen Square Massacre in China, which is why it is important that people of conscience around the globe remember this day. More
Resurrection Rock
it’s true we called them pigs // said we hated them / feared them // said fuck them / when they weren’t around // I guess that was the… More
The PEN Ten: An Interview with Poet Brenda Shaughnessy
"Just like all politics are identity politics, and just like the personal is political—all poems are love poems, all poems are political poems." More
Two Poems by Ariana Reines
Also / True was that I had not been fucked correctly // In what was starting to feel like a long / Time. I used the apps but did… More
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One year ago, Saudi women were granted the right to drive, and thousands are now doing so. However, many of the women who campaigned for change--including @PENamerican's 2019 #FreedomToWrite awardees--remain jailed and on trial. https://t.co/BoFlAMeFYv #StandWithSaudiFeminists
[email protected] is looking for storytellers eager to launch their writing career. Learn more about the #EmergingVoices fellowship at https://t.co/Ps3V8KdRxl @pen_ev.
The Supreme Court sided with businesses and the U.S. government Monday in a ruling about the public's access to information, telling a South Dakota newspaper it can't get the data it was seeking https://t.co/07fWYmiuQG via @nbcwashington