Mona Awad | The PEN Ten Interview
Really the novel explores how we often focus on the surface in order to avoid pain, or any kind of difficult, deep internal work. More
The Resistance: How George M. Johnson’s Family Stopped a Book Ban
George M. Johnson’s memoir All Boys Aren’t Blue had been banned in more than two dozen school districts when the battle over the book came close to home. More
Ali Velshi on Reading as an Act of Resistance
Ali Velshi speaks to PEN America about how his new podcast, Velshi Banned Book Club, is an "act of resistance" against the epidemic of book banning. More
Thrity Umrigar | The PEN Ten Interview
Because what I’m most interested in is examining the systems and forces that create divides between people, those power dynamics that separate us. More
C Pam Zhang | The PEN Ten Interview
Like language, food is essential and theoretically accessible to almost anyone. The real question is which culinary voices are permitted, celebrated, amplified, valued. More
Dailihana Alfonseca | 2023 PEN/Robert J. Dau Prize Winner
Believe in yourself enough to bet on your journey as a writer and try not to let the pressures of wanting to publish alter the story you are attempting… More
Ren Arcamone | 2023 PEN/Robert J. Dau Prize Winner
In writing “Allen”, I wondered what might happen if the invisible housemate took up even more space inside the relationship. More
Isle McElroy | The PEN Ten Interview
It can feel amazing to be taken care of, to be known, but it can also feel limiting if one is shown things about oneself that are difficult to… More
Mengyin Lin | 2023 PEN/Robert J. Dau Prize Winner
Every person’s reality is different from another’s, even from those who are closest. How do we move forward? How do we think about the future without overlooking the present? More
Sam Sax | The PEN Ten Interview
I think in that same way that every poem teaches you how to read it, every poem you make teaches you how to make it as you’re writing. More
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