Conversation: Mo Willems and Libba Bray
Libba Bray interviews Mo Willems, writer and animator, about his upcoming projects as part of a series of podcast interviews that took place at the 2009 Brooklyn Book Festival. More
International Noir
ROBERT POLITO: Noir is commonly thought of as an American genre, if it’s in fact a genre. The films “noir” was first used to describe back in the 1940s… More
In Search of the Sensual: Hanan al-Shaykh & Salman Rushdie
One of the sad things about the modernist way is that there’s a disconnect with the old tradition. The same thing happened in India. There are old temples with… More
Inappropriate Appropriation
RICK MOODY: I think the pressing question of the PEN World Voices Festival is “Why, exactly, are we bothering?” The United States of America has become a culture that… More
Postcolonial Passages: Assia Djebar & Lyone Trouillot
"Postcolonial Passages," with Assia Djebar and Lyone Trouillot, appears in PEN America 7: World Voices. This talk was presented, in slightly different form, at the 2005 PEN World Voices… More
Power Struggles: Tsitsi Dangarembga & Achmat Dangor
I think one learns early where one’s place in life is meant to be and one has to decide whether to occupy that place or not. Luckily, my parents… More
Reinventing Home
MICHAEL ONDAATJE: In Purple Hibiscus, on the acknowledgments page at the end, there’s a wonderful sense of community—I almost want you to read that because it feels like part… More
Enormous Changes: Ha Jin & Eliot Weinberger
ELIOT WEINBERGER: Your life has had such an amazing trajectory from semi-literate Chinese soldier to distinguished American novelist in such a short amount of time. You joined the army… More
The Politics of Translation: A Discussion
ESTHER ALLEN: Cliff Becker of the National Endowment for the Arts has for several years been talking about our “national translation crisis,” which was reflected in a recent New… More
Dark Realities: What Can’t Be Said in Children’s Books
The PEN Children's Book Committee is a group of professionals who volunteer their time to advance children's literature and protect freedom of expression: the right of children's authors to… More
Alert Us
Are you an artist at risk or know someone who is?
PEN America On 
🧵Today @RamyEssam released the song "Fiskooti Mooti" with lyrics written by imprisoned Egyptian poet Galal El-Behairy. Watch here: https://youtu.be/GMGcbQdKaH0
"Fear is not freedom. Fear is not liberty. Fear is control," says 100-year-old Grace Linn at @MCSDFlorida meeting.
The district's book removals attracted national attention when authors—including @jodipicoult & @JP_Books—took to social media to protest. https://www.tcpalm.com/story/news/education/martin-county-schools/2023/03/22/crowd-protests-book-removals-at-martin-county-school-board-meeting/70028207007/
20-year-old Olesya Krivtsova has fled Russia after she was accused of “justifying terrorism” and “discrediting the Russian armed forces,” placed under house arrest, and forbidden from using the phone or internet following an Instagram post about #Ukraine https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/22/world/europe/russia-ukraine-social-media-crackdown.html