Suspending Access to Library App Epic! Disregards Students First Amendment Rights, Says PEN America
Suspending access to 40,000 books without adherence to appropriate process, and with utter disregard for the First Amendment rights of the tens of thousands of students impacted, is a… More
Banned in the USA: Rising School Book Bans Threaten Free Expression and Students’ First Amendment Rights (April 2022)
PEN America has collated an Index of School Book Bans, offering a snapshot of the trend of decisions to ban books in school libraries and classrooms in the United… More
Report: 1,586 School Book Bans and Restrictions in 86 School Districts Across 26 States
Book bans have targeted 1,145 unique book titles by 874 different authors, 198 illustrators, and 9 translators, impacting the literary, scholarly, and creative work of 1,081 people altogether. Texas… More
2022 PEN World Voices Festival Will Bring International Writers and Thinkers to NYC May 11-14 For a Unique Intellectual Assemblage Amid Conflict
As powers across the world ride roughshod over facts in order to legitimize aggression and work their international will, PEN World Voices will aim to elevate truth and narrative… More
PEN America Joins Legal Effort Defending the Right to Protest in Oklahoma
“HB 1674 is not just an anti-protest law; it is an anti-democratic law,” said Nadine Farid Johnson, PEN America’s Washington director. “If enacted, its vague allusions to “conspirators” and… More
Educational Gag Orders Seek to Enforce Compulsory Patriotism
Three New Bills Become Law in Florida, Mississippi, and South Dakota Monthly Roundup, March This post is part of a series from PEN America tracking the progress of educational gag orders… More
PEN America Launches Utah Chapter
PEN America Launches its Eighth U.S. Chapter in Utah on March 29 to bring together authors and allies to advance the organization’s mission to defend free expression and celebrate… More
In Response to Reported Disruption of Yale Law School Civil Liberties Forum, PEN America Says Dissent Should not Cross a Line to Censor Speakers
Cases like these implicate speech rights on the part of invited guests as well as the rights of protesting students. Both are entitled an opportunity to get their ideas… More
These 4 Florida Bills Censor Classroom Subjects and Ideas
These bills have been the subject of much public commentary, including an unfortunate amount of misinformation. To cut through the confusion, PEN America explains below the salient features of… More