The PEN Ten: An Interview with Michelle Gallen
“The most important thing a writer can do is to live mindfully with curiosity and kindness, to participate in life, and to listen to—and observe—as many people as you… More
The PEN Ten: An Interview with Kiese Laymon
“I’m shamefully inspired by the reality of death—earning death, as Baldwin phrased it. . . So, when I don’t want to write and read, I remind myself that we… More
The PEN Pod: On Saudi Arabia’s Crimes and a Potential Trump Memoir with Suzanne Nossel
“We’ve convened an extraordinary group. . . to widen the aperture, force the world to reckon with Saudi Arabia’s really egregious record.” More
The PEN Ten: An Interview with Cynan Jones
“My ideas generally come from the landscape, then orbit each other in different states of readiness. When an idea finds form, it demands to be written.” More
The PEN Pod: Avenues for Magic with Emily X.R. Pan and Nova Ren Suma
““We wanted to acknowledge and share some of the beauty and the power that YA fiction has, especially in the form of the short story.” More
Break Out: An Interview with Kaveh Akbar
A conversation with Kaveh Akbar, who will be performing Terry Hedin’s “El Reno” in our “Break Out” awards celebration, about the privilege and responsibility of performing another person’s work. More
The PEN Pod: Exploring White Feminism and Ways to Combat It with Ruby Hamad
“We need something more than a movement that can’t be introspective enough to admit its own limitations. . . Maybe what we need is a holistic way of thinking.” More
The PEN Pod: On Voter Fraud and Trump Influencing Authoritarians with Suzanne Nossel
“There are authoritarians in virtually every region who are on a mission to suppress the voice of critical media in their own countries, and seeing the United States do… More
The PEN Ten: An Interview with Danielle Evans
“Characterization and narrative tension come from the tension between a character’s inner life and their exterior life, and I’m acutely aware—because being a Black woman compels me to pay… More
The PEN Pod: Combating Ideological Exclusion with Julia Rose Kraut
“What’s really the focus though is this tremendous absolute power and discretion held by the executive, and that doesn’t go away.” More
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PEN America On 
Jailed Vietnamese democracy advocate Tran Huynh Duy Thuc has launched a new hunger strike, his second in the last two months, demanding that his 16-year sentence for subversion be reduced in line with a law enacted after he was sentenced. https://bit.ly/3g2zqTE
Jimmy Lai, the founder of Hong Kong’s biggest pro-democracy newspaper, was denied bail on fraud charges on Thursday and ordered jailed until April by a court. https://nyti.ms/2JMGdo8