600 Days of Silence
What I most like to talk about with Wilson is music. He has an extensive knowledge about all genres. I enjoy these conversations the most because they lift my… More
Double Secret Probation: The Two-Week Paper Blog
I have 73 weeks left of prison, and if I pass the two-week probation period, I plan to ride it out here, even though the copier frightens me. More
How to Kill Someone
You had no knowledge of receiving homes, group homes, incarceration, life on the streets, or the State as anything other than a beneficent social structure. I know because you… More
The Literal World
"The piece is a meditation both on how we apply the filter of social media to ourselves and others, and how the internet can actually help bridge gaps between… More
Provenance Notes
An excerpt from Lauret Savoy's memoir about history, race, and the American landscape, which was longlisted for the 2016 PEN Open Book Award. More
The Colfax Crew
There's no sexy way to say it. There's no way to sprinkle magic dust over the truth to make it disappear. No matter how much time passes between then… More
Prison Writing Award Winners: 2014–2015
Announcing the winners of PEN’s annual Prison Writing Contest, one of the few outlets of free expression for the country’s incarcerated population. More
The Summer I Lost My Innocence
She was alive. I could see the covers move over her shoulder just a little bit. The morning light creeping through the sheer curtains at an odd angle across… More
Six-Word Memoirs
“Six-Word Memoirs” are short life stories, a personal twist on the form that, according to literary lore, Hemingway started when challenged in a bar to write a… More
Dodging Dictators
We moved the pieces back and forth on the table, but in the end gave up; it proved impossible to find a configuration that expressed the simultaneous desire to… More
Alert Us
To any writer artist who is at risk, or is in need of assistance, including those denied entry into the U.S. as a result of the latest Trump Administration travel ban. 
