Norwegian PEN: Overcoming Free Expression Challenges Globally
I would say there is a tendency to write in an autobiographical manner. This is an old tradition, from a stream of bohemian literature in the 1890s. Proponents would… More
St. Petersburg PEN: “This City is Ours!”
The main challenge that St. Petersburg PEN faces is that the Russian authorities have currently set themselves the task of "provincializing Petersburg.". . . More
PEN Québec: A New Generation on a Familiar Quest for Literary Identity
There’s always a quest for identity. Whichever way you look at it, I feel that every writer in Québec is somehow drawn to this question. More
Incognegro
In the early 20th century White went undercover, posing as a white man in the deep south to investigate lynchings. More
PEN Estonia: Raising Popularity of Women’s Writing
The women writers are gaining ground. Books by women and girls are popular and writing is popular with women. We have many wonderful ones but let me introduce two… More
Three Strikes
I dropped from the skies or from heaven—whatever was closer at the moment—at the doors of the Kremlin library to research, and the clerk, an army major with a… More
The Transparency Project
She watched her heart beating again and again like an unanswered question, like a phone in her chest that would not stop ringing. More
from Alt Vices
When I feel a human-sized void, is it instinctual that I fill it with a human? More
The Quantum Theory of Suffering or Why I Look at the Moon
I only know this small piece of quantum theory: a thing does not exist until it is looked at or measured. That is, the moon does not exist until… More
Mother and Daughter
But then there are daughters who become mothers, confusing the story because as mothers they remain, by definition, also daughters. How do they know which they are? More
Alert Us
Are you an artist at risk or know someone who is?
PEN America On 
President Trump's betrayal of the memory of murdered Saudi journalist and denial of the CIA's conclusions underscores the urgency of our November 2nd letter, signed by @merylstreep and others, to demand a U.N. probe into the killing. https://t.co/CQ1dEFVnCk
"Mai Khoi’s performance made me want to broaden that definition ["dissident"] to include one who has been let down by an established system; wounded by a broken promise or by a loss of faith."
@Monique_Truong on watching Mai Khoi perform. https://t.co/43077jLy2Q
"It puts truth-seekers and journalists who dare challenge the Saudi regime and other intolerant governments in grave danger, no matter where they live."
@KarenAttiah on President Trump's statement about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. https://t.co/M4486QP6SM