2017 PEN America Literary Awards Finalists

PEN America is thrilled to announce the finalists for the 2017 PEN America Literary Awards. These shortlists showcase 50 exceptional literary works chosen by our esteemed judging panels. With the… More

Bless

See, prison in Pennsylvania is a rough stop: no smut, period. More

The Voice of Silence

There were no voices to be heard, no words or fragments of sentences coming from the couple sitting there. Until I realized, with a quick glimpse, that they were… 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

Phoenix

It was my job to kill rats. To tie rats inside a metal and leather machine that held them tight, still. To stick a cigarette in their knife-point… More

In Love, Post-Apocalypse

For a long time, Nathalie’s outline has remained calcified in the bed with her ghost. The weak sun illuminates its contours and every morning I leave the sheets loose… More