The PEN Ten with Shani Mootoo
There are certain kinds of ideas and images that are hurtful, that I wish never existed, but censorship does not make them go away. It sends them underground. More
The PEN Ten with Garth Greenwell
A diverse and democratic society depends upon robust protections of free speech. Those protections require our vigilant commitment. More
The PEN Ten with Idra Novey
Translating the words of the writers I most admire has always felt more daring to me than coming up with words of my own. It is such a complex… More
The PEN Ten with Aleksandar Hemon
The role of the people in any democracy is to drive their leaders crazy with demands. Ask not what you can do for your country, but what it must… More
The PEN Ten with Rion Amilcar Scott
The only responsibility of a writer is to zealously chase his or her obsessions to every weird logical and illogical end. More
The PEN Ten with Marge Piercy
Even very dangerous books are worth reading, if only to know my enemy. I don’t think anybody has the right to censor another person’s ideas. More
The PEN Ten with Lidia Yuknavitch
I am against censorship. Freedom of expression is worth dying for, worth fighting for. But I am troubled by the relationship between our words and our deeds. More
The PEN Ten with Melissa Febos
We wield a lot of power, even when we don’t recognize it. Sometimes I think we’d rather not recognize it. We can’t afford to indulge that particular laziness anymore. More
The PEN Ten with Cameron Awkward-Rich
I do think, now, that making space for ourselves in indifferent, hostile worlds is the most daring thing we can do. More
The PEN Ten with Alex Berenson
Nonfiction writers—reporters of all stripes, historians, biographers—have to start and end with the truth as their lodestar. The truth is a painful master. It blinks and hides, disappears entirely,… More
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