Burning is Banning: On the Qur’an
At this very moment, somebody somewhere in the United States is trying, in some way or other—be it by burning, be it by banning—to censor the Qur’an. At this… More
On Banning Barbara Comyns’s Who Was Changed and Who Was Dead
I believe that one of the surest ways to enrage those inclined to censorship is to present a fictional world that requires the reader to provide the fictional world's… More
Sharing Your Truth
Novelist and former PEN staffer Nick Burd kicks off our second annual Banned Books Month with some insight into the banning of his novel, The Vast Fields of Ordinary.… More
2013 Banned Books Month
Staring on Monday, September 23, PEN will begin posting essays from this year’s Banned Books Month, featuring PEN members, supporters, and staff—writers and editors of all backgrounds and genres—who… More
Spotlight on the 2013 PEN Literary Award Winners
The winners of the 2013 PEN Literary Awards were announced last month, bringing greater recognition to a wide range of worthy books and authors. Since the announcement, we've encountered… More
On Translating Antonio Tabbuchi
The book is a pastiche of literary, philosophical, and pop-culture references, all made by a dying man who is at times lucid, at times hallucinating. It’s a thrilling book… More
Five Poems from Derangements of My Contemporaries
For no reason: bitter envy, lingering resentment towards others. / Drunkenly calling on ghosts, spirits. / Grieving sons reciting song lyrics. / Dressing in deep mourning at a cock… More
On Translating Eka Kurniawan
Beauty is a Wound is pointed about the havoc appetite has wreaked upon a place and people of idyllic beauty...Kurniawan implicates his readers, who can’t help but take pleasure… More
Saïd Sayrafiezadeh in Conversation with Sam Lipsyte
PEN Member Saïd Sayrafiezadeh reads from his new collection of short stories, Brief Encounters with the Enemy, followed by a Q&A with fellow PEN Member Sam Lipsyte. More
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