The PEN Ten: An Interview with Franny Choi
Only good long-form writing can hold you in contact with someone else’s interiority, their motivations, their makeup, for hours or days or weeks. More
The PEN Ten: An Interview with Saket Soni
Only good long-form writing can hold you in contact with someone else’s interiority, their motivations, their makeup, for hours or days or weeks. More
The PEN Ten: An Interview with Oindrila Mukherjee
No matter where you live or where you grew up or where you were issued a passport, in the end we all experience the same emotions. My wish for… More
The PEN Ten: An Interview with Jamila Minnicks
Writers document and correct the record, both past and present. Language is a powerful choice of weapon because it preserves our history and frames our resistance. More
The PEN Ten: An Interview with Deena Mohamed
To me, the function of speculative fiction and magical realism, the joy of inserting fantasy in mundane urban reality, is to consider the implications of how it might function… More
The PEN Ten: An Interview with Rešoketšwe Manenzhe
I think art, in general, is important for society, to nurture the softer aspects of what makes us human. More
The PEN Ten: An Interview with Kimberly Nguyen
I believe that fiction is a mask, and the truth lurks somewhere underneath. More
The PEN Ten: An Interview with Kavita Das
I’ve encountered people who are unhappy and uncomfortable with the revelations in my work but they are usually interested in maintaining the status quo and so therefore are not… More
The PEN Ten: An Interview with Kristín Ómarsdóttir
I was inspired by our contemporary times and the growing possibility of this world's end. The story is told from some distance, from the future. It tells of events… More
The PEN Ten: An Interview with Cynthia Dewi Oka
To question something is to refuse its inevitability; to me that is one way we exercise our humanity in the face of inhumane conditions. More
Alert Us
Are you an artist at risk or know someone who is?
PEN America On 
On Feb 14, 6-7 pm, Brooklyn Public Library @BKLYNlibrary will be screening "The Satanic Verses: 30 Years On", a documentary about the controversy surrounding @SalmanRushdie's 1988 novel and the freedom of speech debate it sparked. Sign up: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/calendar/litfilm-2023-satanic-central-library-dweck-20230214
In "When the Smoke Cleared: Attica Prison Poems and Journal" (@DukePress, 2022), Celes Tisdale collects poems by students in who participated in the poetry workshop he ran at Attica prison in the wake of the 1971 prison riots https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/the-poetry-of-a-prison-uprising #BlackHistoryMonth
Are you ready to take action against book bans in your community? Join us Tuesday 1/31 at 7:30pm EST to learn what new trends and targets are emerging in books bans and what tactics to expect from right-wing extremists groups going forward. http://go.redwine.blue/yu1