An Interview with Prison Library Support Network
PLSN coordinators Manuela Aronofsky and Mia Bruner discuss the process of receiving and answering reference letters from prison. More
Lacino Hamilton on Intentionality and the Language of Justice
Lacino Hamilton, author of "In Spite of the Consequences: Prison Letters on Exoneration, Abolition, and Freedom," speaks with PEN America's "Works of Justice" podcast about the intentionality of language… More
Unsealed: In Spite of Prison Walls
In e-messages sent from a Michigan prison, writer Leo Carmona describes the value of finding and losing community between facility transfers. More
Jennifer Baker on Restorative Justice in Young Adult Fiction
Jennifer Baker, author of "Forgive Me Not," speaks with PEN America's "Works of Justice" podcast about how she wrote restorative justice into her young adult novel. More
Unsealed: On That Old Rock Pile Prison Quilt Project
In this essay, Jeff Elmore explains his process of making paper collage quilts in prison, which he sends to anyone interested in receiving them. More
PEN America Speaks: How We Defended and Celebrated Free Expression The Week of August 14
PEN America works tirelessly to defend free expression, support persecuted writers, and promote literary culture. Here are some of the latest ways PEN America is speaking out. More
Introducing The Freewrite Project Zine
PEN America’s Prison and Justice Writing Program presents a zine featuring work from creative writing workshop participants in Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The workshops were framed around curriculum developed… More
Turning Sentences Around
In this Works of Justice exclusive, Robert Lee Williams reflects on how PEN America's "The Sentences That Create Us: Crafting a Writer's Life in Prison" (Haymarket Books, 2022) helped… More
On Prison Art and Music
PEN America Prison and Justice Writing Program Manager Robbie Pollock highlights three projects centered on making music from prison: Heartbeat Opera, Die Jim Crow Records, and a recent book… More
Support for the freedom to read with exclusive designs by Todd Parr, Mike Curato, Art Spiegelman, and more!
