The M Word Stories: Rebecca Hankins

It’s been my goal to make people understand that Islam is extremely vast and diverse and, especially as an African-American Muslim woman, that our representation is important and that… More

The M Word Stories: Hussein Rashid

In America, people are always finding ways to try to silence things they don’t understand. Right now, it’s religion; before, it was race. More

The M Word Stories: ‎Bayan Abubakr‎

The number one weirdest question I get is do I shower with my hijab, and that's obviously reflective of the fact that I'm both Muslim and a woman. More

Wajahat Ali headshot

The M Word Stories: Wajahat Ali

If you aren’t writing your own story your story is always being written for you by others…It's imperative that people of good will and talent pick up the pen. More

Hilton Als on James Baldwin

I had wanted to dislike him more than I do in order to have some distance from his influence, but it is an influence I have absorbed. More

Nikki Giovanni: Making James Baldwin

Never deny what your heart knows is the truth. Never turn your back on what your mind knows is right. Never refuse to hear the cry of the angry… More

Carl Hancock Rux Reads James Baldwin

To celebrate James Baldwin's birthday, here's a 2001 recording of poet, playwright, and novelist Carl Hancock Rux reading Baldwin's work at PEN America's Twentieth-Century Masters Tribute event. More

Christopher Hitchens On George Orwell

In this 2002 recording from the PEN America Digital Archive, Christopher Hitchens offers a critical analysis of Orwell's works from his own intellectual perspective. More