Introducing ‘Love Lay Dormant’: A 2021 Prison Writing NaNoWriMo Zine
Our Greater Constellations zine springs from the inspired poetic work created by members of our PEN America Prison Writing community during National Poetry Writing Month. More
Groundbreaking Essay Anthology on Writing Behind Bars Published
Today marks the publication of The Sentences that Create Us: Crafting a Writer’s Life in Prison (Haymarket Books), gathering stories and writing guidance from some of today’s most exciting… More
Prison and Justice Writing
PEN America’s Prison and Justice Writing program amplifies the work of thousands of writers who are creating while incarcerated in the United States. More
The PEN Ten: An Interview with the 2021 PEN Prison Writing Award Winners
“Am I a writer imprisoned, or has imprisonment made me a writer? Parallel universes aside, imprisonment. . . does contain all the essential ingredients of a writer’s life.” More
The Sentences That Create Us
A road map for incarcerated people and their allies to have a thriving writing life behind bars—and shared beyond the walls—that draws on the unique insights of more than… More
Because Your Liberation is Bound up with Mine: Introducing the 2021 PEN America L’Engle-Rahman Prize for Mentorship Recipients
Teachers & Writers Magazine introduces the winners of the 2021 PEN America L’Engle-Rahman Prize for Mentorship. More
Visiting the Blues: 2021 Prison Writing Awards Anthology
Visiting the Blues is an incredible collection of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and drama written during one of the toughest moments in our over-incarcerated nation’s history. More
Facing the Page: PEN America’s Prison Writing Program Takes on NaNoWriMo 2021
In our third year of collaboration with NaNoWriMo, we are supporting 15 incarcerated writers taking on the daunting challenge: to write 50,000 words of a novel in just 30… More