The PEN Ten: An Interview with Arinze Ifeakandu
It was clear to me how deeply I loved Nigeria, which made my anger and heartbreak at the dysfunction even more incandescent. More
The PEN Ten: An Interview with Christopher Gonzalez
“I’m always drawn to writing by other queer authors of color, whether they’re writing about joy or anger or quiet narratives or love or sex. . . . More… More
The PEN Ten: An Interview with Truong Tran
“This has gone on for far too long. I have been silent. I have been silenced. These answers, like the book, are the breaking of silence.” More
The PEN Ten: An Interview with Lisa Hiton
“So often, I read work that is beautifully forgettable. As an example: Pristine couplets have their place, but amid thousands of poems, they tire. Is the couplet arbitrary or… More
The PEN Pod: Queering an Epic Tale with DREAMing Out Loud’s Arjun Dhawan
“In terms of migrant literature, the migrant voice, there’s something bubbling that needs to be said, that needs to be heard, that’s unbiased. A story that you’ve never heard.” More
The PEN Pod: On Identity Politics, Queer Selfhood, and Libraries with Lisa Hiton and Dylan Zavagno
“Queer poetics right now, at least as the poems that we have are beginning to tell us, say a lot about revolution, image, form—form being an equivalent to the… More
Words and Actions: A Pride Month Reading List from ONE Archives Foundation
This Pride Month, PEN America Los Angeles invited the ONE Archives Foundation to create a reading list as an extension of their exhibition, Pride Publics: Words and Actions. More
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Moscow, Idaho: "University employees who are found to violate (#Idaho's) new gag rule, either by 'promoting' abortion, or by dispensing contraception, risk felony convictions, prison time, fines, firing and permanent bans from all state employment." https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/oct/03/university-of-idaho-abortion-emergency-contraception
Great piece by @MBourjaily @educationweek on how teachers who can speak up, should speak up. References our America's Censored Classrooms report @PENamerica. https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/opinion-some-politicians-count-on-teachers-staying-silent-we-cant-afford-to/2022/10
A milestone today in US free speech & LGBTQ history. 👇 "Howl" by Allen Ginsberg ruled not obscene and effectively un-banned. The poem in full: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/49303/howl https://twitter.com/Ginsbergpoem/status/1576948354218885120