The PEN Pod: On the Virtual Gala and the Beauty of Human Rights Work with Suzanne Nossel
“There’s something about individual cases of dissidents—these are human stories, faces, and individuals with families and life trajectories. When you can help them, it’s so concrete.” More
Amid Tumultuous Year, PEN America Virtual Gala Celebrates Acts of Courage and Bravery by Those Who Stand Up to Oppression
"I’m heartened to think that this assembly of not always like-minded but always like-hearted writers and thinkers and advocates—that our assembly tonight points to our power.” More
Barack Obama Receives 2020 PEN America Voice of Influence Award, Re-Embraces His Identity as a Writer
“My politics, my public life, and my more interior writing life have never been that far apart," More
Barack Obama and the Freedom to Write
“We want to make a more perfect union, [but] it’s not to say that America will ever be perfect. It is that we can make it more perfect.” More
“James Baldwin Didn’t Have to Go Out and Get Votes.” Obama Reflects on Race, Dialogue, and Disinformation in PEN America Interview
In an interview with PEN America, President Obama reflects on race, dialogue, and disinformation as the country confronts a new political future. More
PEN America to Confer Voice of Influence Award on President Barack Obama
“As an organization of writers, we have always seen President Obama not just as a leader, but as one of us: an author.” More
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