Tears of Blood
Tiffanee likes when I tell her stories; she says it allows her mind to escape the prison of poverty, letting her thoughts run free from this five-by-five-foot tunnel. Far… More
Symmetry Gates
Under the very best of circumstances, it’s hard to get a solid night’s sleep in prison. For one thing, your mattress is only half an inch thick. Then there’s… More
The Summer I Lost My Innocence
She was alive. I could see the covers move over her shoulder just a little bit. The morning light creeping through the sheer curtains at an odd angle across… More
Labels Break Me
He grows and he grows and still dreams of space. But along come friends to show him how to get there. A little plastic bag no bigger then his… More
Operation Ajax
This week, an excerpt from the graphic novel Operation Ajax about the 1953 CIA coup in Iran that remade the Middle East. More
Scorched-Earth
I still dream about those women, you know, but they are faceless. They come to me shrouded, reaching, their hands and fingers searching for mine, wanting to touch my… More
Belarusian PEN Center: The Struggle for Writers’ Independence
Introducing our new series showcasing the work of the over 140 centers that form PEN International. This month we speak to the Belarusian PEN Center on free expression challenges… More
Four Poems by Duriel E. Harris
"Harris's liberatory poetics move between text on the page, visual meanings, and sound meanings. It is in the last category where the poems chosen this month live, where they… More
The PEN Ten with Rachel Eliza Griffiths
"The responsibility of the writer is a hydra-headed practice of witnessing and action. That means accountability—to a greater world and to, especially, my own spiritual ecosystem." More