My Banned Books
Before the decade ended, I was asked to return a payment of $50.00 to an educational publisher. My poem about dinosaurs had to be removed from a language arts… More
An Era of Censorship Comes to a Close in Myanmar
In a sign that real change is finally coming to Myanmar, the censorship office is closing, and writers are free to write. More
Case Histories: Amiri Baraka
Born as LeRoi Jones, Amiri Baraka is an American poet, essayist, fiction author, and music critic. Following the assassination of Malcom X, Baraka became a “black cultural nationalist”and wrote… More
1933 PEN Congress Speech
I regret that the German delegates are not present. Many people advised me not to speak today. But the author is solely bound to the spirit. He who believes… More
Case Histories
Lydia Cacho, born in Mexico City in 1963, is an author, journalist, and women’s rights activist. Following the publication of her first book, Los Demonios del Edén, she was… More
“The Ivory Tower, or The Soap Box?”: The Place of Propaganda in Literature
Perhaps because I belong to a race about whom the written word has been very stereotyped, discussion by me of “ivory tower” and “soap-box” is largely academic. So fixed… More
“How Can Culture Survive in Exile?”
We may be allowed to take it as an encouraging symptom that you are asking us “How can culture survive in exile?” instead of raising the more skeptical question… More
The 1930s: In Defense of Expelled and Detained Writers
1930Fascism and PENThe rise of National Socialism in Germany and Fascism in Spain present challenges to one of PEN’s founding tenets: that individual PEN centers and the organization as… More
Planted in Concrete
I stood and stared at the vent on the wall above the toilet in my cell, holding a ripped piece of my sheet in my hand. I knew the… More
The Last Visit from the Girl in the Willow Tree
She took a hammer and busted a chunk of her summer just to come see me when my life was on the line, behind glass in jailhouse oranges. More
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