The PEN Pod: Telling the Stories of New Orleans with Maurice Carlos Ruffin
“In New Orleans, sometimes they call people who are involved in storytelling or in music or the arts—they call them culture bearers. We bear the culture. We carry the… More
The PEN Pod: Looking Back at the War on Terror with Spencer Ackerman
“What’s on display in Afghanistan is the results of 20 years of war. It’s not a departure from 20 years of war. . . . It is not something… More
The Legacy of 9/11: A Reading List
Adam Wilson, author of Sensation Machines, provides books that explore the lasting ways in which 9/11 shaped the cultural attitudes of an entire generation of Americans. More
The PEN Ten: An Interview with Mirin Fader
“Though [the Antetokounmpo brothers] didn’t have much money, they had each other. They were, in a sense, each other’s refuge.” More
The PEN Pod: Navigating the Debacle in Afghanistan with Ayad Akhtar and George Packer
“Everyone who essentially used the opportunity of the last two decades to try to build a decent, better society for themselves and for Afghanistan are now under threat.” More
The PEN Pod: The Path Forward with Theodore Johnson
“I don’t know that we can ever erase [structural racism] completely. But we can certainly reduce its impact. . . and I think national solidarity is our best hope… 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 Spyware Scandals, Olympic Protests, and Tackling Disinformation
“We have said a number of times in a number of contexts that athletes don’t lose their right to free expression when they put on their uniform.” More
PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel Testifies on Censorship and Free Speech Issues in China
“The regime’s determination to hunt down dissenters wherever they are instills a sense of fear from which there is no escape, even far beyond Saudi borders.” More