A Letter from Our CEO: How We’re Reinventing PEN America
“At this exceptionally difficult time for all of us, I wanted to share how we at PEN America are responding to the COVID-19 crisis that has impacted every facet… More
Read Oleg Sentsov’s Acceptance Letter from the Solidarity of Arts Festival
"It's easy to be a revolutionary when revolution has already won. And much more difficult when the oppressor is still strong and the chances to win are small." More
Important News About PEN America’s Future
After months of discussion and planning, we are thrilled to announce that PEN America in New York and PEN Center USA in Los Angeles have decided to join forces… More
“I’m on the Move”: Oleg Sentsov Sends Letter from Prison
Filmmaker Oleg Sentsov managed to send a letter from prison to Russian human rights defender Zoya Svetova. Here, PEN America translates the letter into English for the first time. More
President Obama: Press Vietnam to Release Imprisoned Activists
PEN America joins a coalition of organizations calling on President Obama to press for the release of imprisoned activists in Vietnam. More
Letter to My Dear Friend by Shabnam Nadiya
One year ago, Bangladeshi-American writer Avijit Roy was violently murdered on his way home from a book fair with his wife. The writer Shabnam Nadiya, who was a childhood… More
End Efforts to Compel Apple to Crack iPhone
The company should not be put in a position where protecting the rights of its customers requires it to defy the law. More
Open Letter to Michael Lynton, Sony Pictures Entertainment Chairman and CEO re: The Interview
If the decision to pull The Interview from all platforms stands, it will represent a lasting blow for free expression, emboldening would-be censors the world over. Impoverishing creative freedom,… More
Letters from Ukraine
The piece originally appeared on Poetry International's website on March 7, 2014. Letters from UkraineThis week, Russian troops invaded Crimea. Putin claims this invasion is an effort to protect the Russian-language population of… More
Letter from Kiev: What Can Ukraine Expect from the West Now?
In light of the ongoing crisis in Kiev, where dozens of people have died in clashes between protesters and security forces, PEN reached out to our colleagues in Ukraine… More
Alert Us
Are you an artist at risk or know someone who is?
PEN America On 
Good news about the fate of arrested Chinese dissidents is rare. His own smile in this picture well reflects how we feel about word that Professor Xu Zhangrun, jailed for an essay critical of Xi Jinping, has been released from detention. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/12/world/asia/xu-zhangrun-china-xi.html?referringSource=articleShare
Find inspiration with PEN/Faulkner award winner @JamesHannaham's installment of the PEN to Paper video series as he stirs the imagination to craft detailed, authentic characters! https://bit.ly/2Zh5ElS
Tune into Bela Shayevich's Just Press Play playlist from @penworldvoices - a curated collection of Soviet darkwave music, the "sounds of perestroika." Listen here: https://bit.ly/3f6cgui. #penworldvoices