On James Baldwin’s Go Tell it on the Mountain
Whatever fear strikes any reader of Baldwin’s book awaits right in that opening paragraph: an unseemly portrait of faith. It is not literary sex, or violence, or the conflation… More
Animal Farm: Banned by the Soviets, Promoted by the CIA
Though the book cannot and should not be divorced from the Russian Revolution, Orwell sees beyond the specifics of that revolution, and even beyond revolution itself, to tell what… More
Reservation Sunsets and ‘Salem’s Lot
Maybe the banning advocate truly is the 13 year old, terrified that his secret life is out, that some novelist had looked into his private world and reported from… More
On Beauty: Banning Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye
The narrative that Pecola absorbs from the world around her is simple. It tells her that to be beautiful is to be white. It shapes her identity at the… More
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PEN America On 
REGISTER NOW: Join PEN America and our partners for a June 16 discussion on free expression and human rights in Iran, with a special focus on international policymaking and the upcoming Iranian elections. Free and open to the public. https://bit.ly/3wgWUvF
In celebration of #PrideMonth, revisit our #PENTen with Robert Jones Jr. (@SonofBaldwin), author of THE PROPHETS, for his advice to young writers, coming to terms with embracing the writer's identity, and needing to write every first draft by hand. https://bit.ly/35iLj3D
