Michael Arceneaux | The PEN Ten Interview
I’m very clear about what I want to say and how I want to say it when I try to sell a book. You either believe in it or… More
Deborah Jackson Taffa | The PEN Ten Interview
I could only share my family’s trauma if I told it in context, reminding readers that my elders struggled, not because of a moral failure on their part, but… More
Kevin Huizenga | The PEN Ten Interview
I like to be productive, and sometimes being productive means taking an idea you thought up in a previous story, and expanding on it, or turning it around to… More
Remica Bingham-Risher | The PEN Ten Interview
Some of the breakthrough moments came when I decided I would be reckoning not only with my ancestress’s trauma, but also their joy, and how they raised us to… More
Maura Cheeks | The PEN Ten Interview
I was thinking about what would have to be true for someone in power to take a stand for reparations and push it through. More
Kacen Callender | The PEN Ten Interview
I wanted to offer the idea that power is naturally inside of all of us, and that we can feel empowered and worthy and loved even when rejected by… More
Vanessa Chan | The PEN Ten Interview
I don’t believe you can go through a publishing journey alone, especially as a writer of color. More
Andrés N. Ordorica | The PEN Ten Interview
Guarding generational stories and wisdom is important especially when so many stories are now being policed. More
Hisham Matar | The PEN Ten Interview
I am fascinated by how time is both linear and circular, by how any given moment often contains within it remnants of the past and our aspirations for the… More
Jennifer Finney Boylan on PEN America, the Crisis for Free Expression and the Power of Storytelling
I think that in some ways the most important thing to understand about each other’s humanity is imagination. And if you want to open a door to the imagination,… More