Dailihana Alfonseca | 2023 PEN/Robert J. Dau Prize Winner
Believe in yourself enough to bet on your journey as a writer and try not to let the pressures of wanting to publish alter the story you are attempting… More
Ren Arcamone | 2023 PEN/Robert J. Dau Prize Winner
In writing “Allen”, I wondered what might happen if the invisible housemate took up even more space inside the relationship. More
Mengyin Lin | 2023 PEN/Robert J. Dau Prize Winner
Every person’s reality is different from another’s, even from those who are closest. How do we move forward? How do we think about the future without overlooking the present? More
Lisa Wartenberg | 2023 PEN/Robert J. Dau Prize Winner
I was interested in the stories young girls are told, and how wildly violent these can be –– reflecting, of course, the atrocities of the larger landscape. More
Verity McKay | 2023 PEN/Robert J. Dau Prize Winner
A woman pushed to the brink by the pressures of every day life in the wake of carrying around an awful secret for far too long. The awful secret… More
Annabelle Ulaka | 2023 PEN/Robert J. Dau Prize Winner
After completing a story, I show it to people who tell me what the words mean. These people are the readers. More
Jo Saleska | 2023 PEN/Robert J. Dau Prize Winner
Are not we all just fleshy, rebellious little sculptures that move about the world, evoke emotion, make impact? More
Patrick J. Zhou | 2023 PEN/Robert J. Dau Prize Winner
I’m a firm believer that to get less and fewer hollow answers, we need to ask better questions. Of ourselves and others. Be gracious and curious. More
Faire Holliday | 2023 PEN/Robert J. Dau Prize Winner
I think many of the gray areas that we find ourselves in come from the disconnect between how we think we’re living and how we actually are. More
Clara Mundy | 2023 PEN/Robert J. Dau Prize Winner
I hope that readers consider the subtle ways that power can seep into a person’s life and manipulate their self-image: What parts of ourselves did we only feel ashamed… More