Rereading & Rewriting Crime
We can respond to this crisis as a literary community by centering and seriously considering the work that casts prison, prisoners, and the prison state/industry in new light. More
The PEN Ten with Malka Older
Writers mirror their societies, reflecting back and interpreting what they see with enough distance and distortion for recognition and insights and evolution to occur. More
Three Poems by Zachary Pace
Thousands of trees—each an individual (also belonging / to a genus, family, order, class, division, kingdom)— / surrounded you & me earlier today as we discussed / the insidious,… More
Carl Hancock Rux Reads James Baldwin
To celebrate James Baldwin's birthday, here's a 2001 recording of poet, playwright, and novelist Carl Hancock Rux reading Baldwin's work at PEN America's Twentieth-Century Masters Tribute event. More
Christopher Hitchens On George Orwell
In this 2002 recording from the PEN America Digital Archive, Christopher Hitchens offers a critical analysis of Orwell's works from his own intellectual perspective. More
A Literary Activist’s Guide to the PEN America Digital Archive
I find archives strangely comforting…they are reminders of what’s recurred and changed, reminders that others were grappling similarly in the past and theirs are the shoulders we stand on. More
The PEN Ten with Dani Shapiro
Writers—by the very nature of what we do—are forced to slow down, and perhaps in so doing, we form a counterweight to the culture of instantaneous reaction. More
The M Word Stories: Shannon Chakraborty
We are a part of human society like everyone else. We make up a quarter of the population. We have a wonderful history that expands over continents and languages. More
Two Poems by Billy Cancel
we debuted the apple / blossom 2-step around bug house square didn’t / know if it was brazil or christmas spoke a language of / deconstruction… More
Sekou Sundiata and Charles Lynch on Influences
Poets Sekou Sundiata and Charles Lynch discuss early memories, adolescent anxieties, and the denouement associated with the future of the city. More
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