The White Problem
In Go Tell It on the Mountain, the young protagonist, John Grimes, stands on a hill in Central Park: “He felt like a long-awaited conqueror, at whose feet flowers… More
On Solid Ground
When I first met the wide smile of James Baldwin face to face, I just burst into tears. In less than a heartbeat, he opened his arms as wide… More
Family Secrets
One of the conditions of being a writer is that all those authors you have loved and learned from, and by necessity have taught yourself to forget, the better… More
The Architecture of Thought: Lydia Davis on Proust
Proust felt that a long sentence contained a whole, complex thought. The shape of the sentence was the shape of the thought, and every word was necessary to the… More
Recognitions
I had read no Proust at the time. I was much struck by the freedom from constraint and expectation I suddenly enjoyed. Thereafter, I could complicate my sentences and… More
Bad Behavior
Prose fiction was born Protestant. It is a child of the Enlightenment, and though it has some exotic forebears—romance most nearly, drama and poetry further back—it could only have… More
Portable Cultures, Global Identities: Panel Discussion
I knew my friends were right: in school I had learned about my ancestors’ bravery, about how they fought the slave trade successfully. But I hated this history. I… More
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PEN America On 
UPDATE. Now being unbanned...
Following our outcry @PENamerica, the Alpine school district in UT will *no longer* be removing 52 books outright, but "temporarily restricting" them, so that parents can opt their kids into being allowed to read them if they so choose. #FReadom /1 https://twitter.com/PENamerica/status/1554209510134525952
The Vandegrift High School #BannedBookClub is one of many teen-led efforts nationwide.
“Teachers are afraid of losing their jobs,” @jonfreadom said. “Principals only have so much that they can do in the face of school boards. But students can protest. Students can speak out.”
How do books end up banned in schools? It’s not the rational process you might think it is, explains #PENAmerica’s book bans expert @jonfreadom (Jonathan Friedman). In one #Florida school district, a warning label has been stuck on a book about babies. #censorship #freadom #1A
