Tina Fey to Receive 2023 PEN/Mike Nichols Writing for Performance Award at 3/2 PEN America Literary Awards in NYC
(NEW YORK)—PEN America today announced that Tina Fey, nine-time Emmy Award winner and one of the greatest comedy writers of her generation, will receive the 2023 PEN/Mike Nichols Writing… More
The Most Banned Picture Books of the 2021-2022 School Year
These are the most banned picture books of the 2021-2022 school year. Several are nonfiction, including histories of civil rights and gay pride. Others are lighthearted fiction about animals… More
Plan to Digitize Mail at NYC’s Rikers Island Prison Would Affect Books, Too
By Moira Marquis Being poor and unable to afford bail in New York can be a death sentence. The vast majority of people who died on Rikers Island prison in… More
PEN America: Bill Passed by NC House Would Chill Right to Protest at a Critical Moment for Democracy
“HB 40 will harm core First Amendment rights and will create the risk that the government could use the law to restrict or deter speech it dislikes,” said Kate… More
Kal Penn to Host 60th Annual PEN America Literary Awards—“the Oscars for Books”— March 2 at New York’s Town Hall
Clarisse Rosaz Shariyf, chief program officer for Literary Programming at PEN America, said, “Kal Penn epitomizes PEN America’s belief in the capacity of writers and artists to instigate social… More
Scholar-Author Imani Perry on Listening Deeply, Turning 50, Writing About Historical Atrocities and Being a Mother
Prize-Winning Author of South to America is featured speaker in finale of Birmingham Reads, PEN Birmingham’s collective reading experience of her book. More
PEN America Calls on Cooper Union to Reopen an Exhibit on the Legacy of Vkhutemas, a Design School Shuttered by Joseph Stalin
Kristen Shahverdian, senior manager of free expression and education, released the following comments: “Cooper Union’s decision to halt the opening of Vkhutemas: Laboratory of the Avant-Garde, 1920–1930 raises serious questions… More
Suspension of Virtual Library App by CA’s Orange Unified School District Is An Overreaction and Sets a Worrisome Precedent
Allison Lee, managing director of PEN America’s Los Angeles office, released the following comments: “The decision to immediately remove access to thousands of books for students due to a few… More
FL Governor DeSantis’ Proposals on Higher Education Pose a Grave Threat to Academic Freedom and Free Speech at Public Colleges and Universities
Jeremy C. Young, senior manager of free expression and education at PEN America, said: “These proposals represent nothing less than an effort to substitute the dictates of elected officials… More