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
The PEN Ten with Rachel Eliza Griffiths
"The responsibility of the writer is a hydra-headed practice of witnessing and action. That means accountability—to a greater world and to, especially, my own spiritual ecosystem." More
The PEN Ten with Brandon Caro
"In order for the world to function, we have to accept a certain level of falseness. It’s the responsibility of the writer to expose that falseness." More
The PEN Ten with Ben H. Winters
"Fiction is built out of the day-to-day stuff of life, words and people and events, but it’s different and it’s meant to be different. So our collective purpose is… More
The PEN Ten with Ian Buruma
As far as writing is concerned I am obsessed by clarity, which can be a weakness. Great art must leave room for ambiguity, even mystery. More
The PEN Ten with Ross Gay
"My responsibility now feels to be, among two thousand other things, to explore what is lovely and necessary and to be adored and cared for and held up." More
The PEN Ten with Mona Eltahawy
"I believe it's the writer's job to tell society what it pretends it doesn't know." More
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The PEN Ten with Mohsin Hamid
"There is no responsibility of the writer that is different from the responsibility of the human being." More
The PEN Ten with Jynne Martin
"I live in a time and place where poetry is rarely read, much less taken as a provocation. I will reserve the term "daring" for writers in other parts… More
The PEN Ten with Lauren Cerand
In this week’s PEN Ten, our content director, Antonio Aiello, interviews Lauren Cerand, New York City book publicist and co-founder and curator of the PEN Ten interview series. More
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PEN America On 
"A man with a knife cannot silence a man with a pen," New York @GovKathyHochul says following @SalmanRushdie attack https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/jamestown/politics/2022/08/14/-a-man-with-a-knife-cannot-silence-a-man-with-a-pen---hochul-says-following-rushdie-attack?cid=share_twitter #SalmanRushdie
Threats and acts of violence directed toward any author in retaliation for their words imperil free speech for us all. Hoping for safety, wellbeing and freedom from harassment for @jk_rowling https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/14/business/jk-rowling-salman-rushdie-threat.html
Did you know? #PENAmerica offers professional memberships for published or produced writers, editors, translators, dramatists, screenwriters & other writing professionals.
We also offer Reader Membership for anyone who advocates for the #FreedomToWrite: https://pen.org/membership/
