Alexandria Irrealis
The Alexandria that Constantine Cavafy knew no longer exists. Nor does the Alexandria that E. M. Forster got to know during the First World War, nor the Alexandria that… More
The Blood of Love
If memory is all that can be kept of the past, how might it be kept alive? And if there is no life we can see beyond this one,… More
Cavafy Before He Was Cavafy
Why do they insist on remembering us as old men? The profile frowning on the plaque or the statue standing regally in the park almost inevitably depict the vanished… More
Cavafy Transformed
Cavafy sometimes rewrote early published poems, and would publish the rewrite, so that we have both versions. The difference between the early work and its later incarnation opens a… More
Chinua Achebe Reads from Things Fall Apart
PEN America joins the literary community in mourning the loss of Chinua Achebe, a major contributor not only to African literature but to world literature as well. Listen to… More
We’ll Miss the Pinter Who Fought Oppression with Words
As we mourn the passing of one of the greatest playwrights of the 20th century, let's not forget that the field of human rights has also lost a great… More
With Fire and Bare Hands
How do we speak to you who is our voice and still now. Too patient to laugh at us but smiling yes yes and the glass in your hand your steepled knee that elegant rag of… More
Nikki Giovanni: Making James Baldwin
This excerpt is part of the Twentieth-Century Masters Tribute to James Baldwin, sponsored by PEN American Center and Lincoln Center, with The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture… More
Michael Arena Reads “Thousands of Executioners at Large” by Natalia Estemirova
Michael Arena reads "Thousands of Executioners at Large" by Natalia Estemirova, published in Novaya Gazeta on Jan. 21, 2009, at the event Bearing Witness in Chechnya: The Legacy of… More
Real People: Dorothy Allison on Steinbeck
You write like a man, I was told. No, I write like a dyke. Except—except sometimes I try to write like John Steinbeck. I try to go from everyday… More
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