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
The PEN Ten with Matt Bell
"The best books probably weren't written for presidents. The most important books will probably always be written for people who are afraid of what the presidency might become." More
The PEN Ten with Don Mee Choi
"My politico-aesthetic stance and practice as a poet and translator is 'illegal' and will likely remain so. I will let you know if and when an arrest ever happens." More