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
I Want So Desperately to be Finished with Desire
everyone drags all their past / lovers into bed // all their past beds / & public toilets & foil pipes / & park benches & cutlasses / &… More
The PEN Ten with Burhan Sönmez
"We don’t have to think of limiting our freedom. Instead, we need to find ways to cross the borderlines of restrictions and, when it happens, be ready to pay… 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