Patrick J. Zhou | 2023 PEN/Robert J. Dau Prize Winner
I’m a firm believer that to get less and fewer hollow answers, we need to ask better questions. Of ourselves and others. Be gracious and curious. More
Jillian Tamaki & Mariko Tamaki | The PEN Ten Interview
Your first big break up, the first loves of your life, are your friends. Those stories are really interesting, meaty stories. More
Faire Holliday | 2023 PEN/Robert J. Dau Prize Winner
I think many of the gray areas that we find ourselves in come from the disconnect between how we think we’re living and how we actually are. More
Clara Mundy | 2023 PEN/Robert J. Dau Prize Winner
I hope that readers consider the subtle ways that power can seep into a person’s life and manipulate their self-image: What parts of ourselves did we only feel ashamed… More
Sonia Feldman | 2023 PEN/Robert J. Dau Prize Winner
Reading gives me the opportunity to think somebody else’s thoughts instead of my own. That’s what I hope my writing might offer to someone else, a respite from the… More
Megan Fernandes | The PEN Ten Interview
My focus was just on the insecurity of being. Everything that happened narratively came from focusing on that feeling as much as possible. More
Stephenjohn Holgate | 2023 PEN/Robert J. Dau Prize Winner
I’m quite interested in the tensions of these things, how we are pulled in many different directions as the different bits of ourselves, musician, worker, lover and so on,… More
Bronwyn Fischer | The PEN Ten Interview
My focus was just on the insecurity of being. Everything that happened narratively came from focusing on that feeling as much as possible. More
Unsealed: On That Old Rock Pile Prison Quilt Project
In this essay, Jeff Elmore explains his process of making paper collage quilts in prison, which he sends to anyone interested in receiving them. More
Introducing The Freewrite Project Zine
PEN America’s Prison and Justice Writing Program presents a zine featuring work from creative writing workshop participants in Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The workshops were framed around curriculum developed… More