The PEN Ten with Saleem Haddad
"When I write in English, I try to make sure that my writing holds a mirror up to the West as much as it does to the Arab world.… More
The PEN Ten with Marlon James
"Writers do have a collective purpose, and that’s to write. I think we writers have managed to convince ourselves that that's not enough. Why is that? Writing can actually… More
The PEN Ten with John Murillo
"It was after the Rodney King verdicts were announced in April of 1992. I remember feeling simultaneously pleased and disappointed with myself that my first response was to want… More
The PEN Ten with Jennifer Clement
"I’m always in search of how the divine and profane coexist and how the powerless find ways to exercise power." More
The PEN Ten with Hayan Charara
"When it comes to the censorship of Arab or Muslim lives, the 'unacceptable parts' are usually not of books or movies but of entire realities." More
The PEN Ten with Janet Peery
I would caution us to refrain from spending too much time in articulating [writers'] collective purpose for fear of leaching the blood out of the “uncontrollable mystery on the… More
The PEN Ten with Sarah Weinman
"I’ve said often that crime fiction in particular is an excellent vehicle for social commentary, because so much of what happens in society has some tie, or root,… More
The PEN Ten with Philip Metres
"I think we Americans have to flip the question and ask, in what ways are we ourselves in a condition of carceral submission, surveilled and made docile? How much… More
The PEN Ten with Lauren Beukes
"I joke that some people go to see psychologists, but I get my issues out on the page and make it my readers’ problem." More
The PEN Ten with Chaya Babu
"I think the responsibility of the writer is to interrogate their reality and the reality of what they see and then write that. I do believe there is collective… More