PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction
To the author of a distinguished book of general nonfiction possessing notable literary merit and critical perspective that illuminates important contemporary issues... More
PEN/E.O. Wilson Prize for Literary Science Writing
For an exceptional book on the subject of physical or biological sciences... More
On Difficult Conversations
As I look at the gulf between these bases of support, I’ve been thinking about “difficult conversation”—what that means, how it happens, and what we hope can come… More
Narrative Through Community
Our communities are being polarized and manipulated with competing notions of the truth…How do we address these divisions of outright truth and lie? Research provides a necessary starting point. More
This Is Not a Good News Story
What gets coded as what, and how, seems an almost week-to-week question posed in our media and discourse…There are tangible consequences to the language and narratives we use. More
Toward New Symbols and Platforms
Interrogating our national symbols is necessary to disrupting and dismantling power, but so is erecting new symbols and stories, or rather amplifying and holding space for stories that have… More
The Invisible Work Around You
Those of us who are documented have a responsibility to put ourselves on the line, while still centering the stories and voices of those who are most at risk. More
After Charlottesville
Claire Messud, Saïd Sayrafiezadeh, Rion Amilcar Scott, and Robert Pinsky reflect on the hatred boiling over in our country. More
Rereading & Rewriting Crime
We can respond to this crisis as a literary community by centering and seriously considering the work that casts prison, prisoners, and the prison state/industry in new light. More
A Literary Activist’s Guide to the PEN America Digital Archive
I find archives strangely comforting…they are reminders of what’s recurred and changed, reminders that others were grappling similarly in the past and theirs are the shoulders we stand on. More
Alert Us
To any writer artist who is at risk, or is in need of assistance, including those denied entry into the U.S. as a result of the latest Trump Administration travel ban. 
