New Report: Book Bans Spike by 33% Over Last School Year
“The toll of the book banning movement is getting worse. More kids are losing access to books, more libraries are taking authors off the shelves, and opponents of free… More
Universities Must Prioritize Both Campus Safety and Free Speech as Complementary, Not Competing Imperatives
During the past month, two public universities dealt with campus confrontations involving controversial speakers, student protesters, and apparent members of the Proud Boys, an organization heavily implicated in the… More
New Report: 2,500+ Book Bans Across 32 States During 2021-22 School Year
“While we think of book bans as the work of individual concerned citizens, our report demonstrates that today's wave of bans represents a coordinated campaign to banish books being… More
Nineteen Writers Win Coveted Awards in 2022 Prison Writing Contest
Caits Meissner, director of PEN America's Prison and Justice Writing program, said: "This year's submissions underscore the extraordinary resilience, individuality, and indomitable artistry of writers inside prisons. These indispensable… More
Online Conversation March 16 on Access to Books in Prisons and the Use of E-Readers
With 2 million people in prisons and jails across the country, restricting reading could have profound ramifications for the men and women cycled through the criminal legal system and… More
The PEN Pod: On Protesting Book Bans with the Students of York, PA
“We saw. . . what was happening at our school and we wanted to take immediate action. . . . Because we knew we had to do it.” More
Book Ban in Pennsylvania School District Sets Troubling Precedent for Access to Diverse Literature
Students, teachers, and parents in York, PA have staged protests this month over an ongoing ban in the district of a set of books and other materials related to… More
Journalism and COVID-19: Remembering Eleanor Schano
“She never stopped being what she was: A broadcaster to the core, a journalist who understood the core values she believed in.” More
Journalism and COVID-19: Pennsylvania Newsrooms Affected
The pandemic has devastated an already-struggling news industry. Here are the Pennsylvania newsrooms that have faced cutbacks as a result of the pandemic. More
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