Banned in the USA: Rising School Book Bans Threaten Free Expression and Students’ First Amendment Rights (April 2022)
PEN America has collated an Index of School Book Bans, offering a snapshot of the trend of decisions to ban books in school libraries and classrooms in the United… More
Educational Gag Orders Seek to Enforce Compulsory Patriotism
Three New Bills Become Law in Florida, Mississippi, and South Dakota Monthly Roundup, March This post is part of a series from PEN America tracking the progress of educational gag orders… More
Addiction, Subjectivity, and Selfhood: Introducing David Sanchez’s First Novel, “All Day is a Long Time”
Prison and Justice Writing Fellow Emma Stammen speaks with writer David Sanchez about his debut novel, "All Day is a Long Time." More
PEN/Penn Your Language My Ear Russian Poetry Translation Project
The PEN/Penn Your Language My Ear project builds cultural bridges and helps heal mutually distorted perceptions through the power of poetry and translation. More
Educational Gag Orders Target Speech about LGBTQ+ Identities With New Prohibitions and Punishments
The effort to censor anti-LGBTQ identities in the classroom is expanding rapidly. More
In Higher Education, New Educational Gag Orders Would Exert Unprecedented Control Over College Teaching
In 2022, educational gag orders are being aimed squarely at colleges and universities to exert ideological control over what is being taught and read in classrooms. More
Steep Rise in Gag Orders, Many Sloppily Drafted
Over the last three weeks, 65 bills have been formally introduced in state legislatures across the country, a rate of roughly three bills per day. More
Literary Coalition Asks New York Leaders to Prevent Lyrics From Becoming Evidence In Criminal Trials
Today PEN America and the Literary Action Coalition sent a letter signed by 21 key New York City literary organizations to New York State legislators in support of “Rap… More
New Stop W.O.K.E. Act Fits Disturbing Pattern in Education Culture War
Governor DeSantis’s Stop W.O.K.E. Act, while undoubtedly aggressive, is no aberration. On the contrary, it is increasingly—and disturbingly—business as usual. More
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At my meeting with @SuzanneNossel & team I invited @PENamerica to tell the world more about russian culture crimes in 🇺🇦, to make its contribution to the popularization of 🇺🇦 book publishing, culture, artists and boycott russian culture and propaganda abroad.
Fri, Dec 2, 7:00 PM–8:30 PM EST. Join PEN America at the @BKLYNlibrary, for Break Out 2022 to celebrate the launch of the 2022 PEN America Prison Writing Awards anthology, Variations on an Undisclosed Location, read by an incredible roster of readers:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/break-out-celebrating-the-2022-pen-america-prison-writing-award-winners-tickets-433513068257
We are thrilled to see @TiyaMilesTAM, the 2022 PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction winner, as recipient of the 2022 #CundillHistoryPrize. A huge congratulations!