Press Releases
PEN America experts are available for interviews with the press. Please direct inquiries to Suzanne Trimel, Senior Advisor, Communications and Media, at [email protected].
At a time of unprecedented attacks against the free press, PEN America Members are taking action. Join us today.
65 Leading Writers Call on Trump to Halt Visa Ban
Sixty of the most prominent names in literature have sent a joint letter with PEN America to President Donald Trump today, urging him not to impose a new immigration… More
PEN World Voices Festival: Gender and Power
New York, NY (February 16, 2017) –The thirteenth annual PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature will focus its lens on today’s fractious relationship between gender and power. Taking… More
Fears for Chinese Poet Liu Xia’s Life After Troubling Phone Call to Friend
Reports that Chinese poet Liu Xia, who is spending her seventh year under house without charge, has made rare and risky contact with a fellow writer to lament her… More
PEN America to Honor Stephen Sondheim with Literary Service Award, Presented by Meryl Streep, at Annual Literary Gala
Stephen Sondheim will receive the PEN/Allen Foundation Literary Service Award, presented by actress Meryl Streep, at PEN America's Literary Gala on April 25. John Sargent, CEO of MacMillan Books,… More
South Korean Artists’ Blacklist a Threat to Artistic Expression
Recent allegations of the existence of a government-created “blacklist” of artists seen as critical of the Park Geun-hye administration, if true, would represent an institutionalized threat against artistic expression… More
Trump Administration’s Threat to Impose Ideological Test for Immigrants Evokes Dark Chapter in U.S. History, says PEN America
Excluding people from the United States purely on the basis of what they think and believe is unconstitutional and would evoke a dark chapter in our history More
Arrest of Journalists Intimidates Press at Crucial Moment for Reporting on Mass Protest
The arrests of several journalists covering protests in Washington, D.C., on felony riot charges is an alarming encroachment on the right of the press to document public demonstrations, PEN… More
Trump Administration Muzzles Federal Employees, Undermines Government Transparency
Orders from President Trump issued to several federal agencies to cease all communications with Congress, the press, and the public issued to several federal agencies are incompatible with… More
China: New VPN Regulations an Attempt to Narrow Last Lifeline to a Free Internet
China’s move to outlaw the use of virtual private networks (VPNs) represents another step toward the regime’s attempts to obtain complete control over access to information in China, PEN… More
Fordham University’s Refusal to Permit SJP Group Does a Disservice to Free Expression, Open Campus Debate
NEW YORK—Fordham University’s refusal to allow students to start a chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) infringes upon the principles of free expression and association that all… More
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