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].
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Human Rights Advocate Liesl Gerntholtz Joins PEN America as Inaugural Director of the PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Center
PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel said: "We are delighted to have Liesl Gerntholtz join PEN America to spearhead our global work to defend writers and confront mounting threats to… More
PEN America 2021 Freedom to Write Index: Myanmar Joins China and Saudi Arabia as World’s Top Jailers of Writers
During 2021, Myanmar accounted for the single-largest increase of writers and public intellectuals newly jailed for exercising free expression, due to the military junta’s crackdown on influential voices. More
PEN America Statement on the Death of Reza Baraheni: A Legacy of “Courage and Defiance”
PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel said: "The international writing community has lost a giant of free expression and human rights with the death of former PEN Canada president, author,… More
PEN America Calls Kidnapping of Ukrainian Writer Volodymyr Vakulenko “Horrifying”
“The kidnapping of Volodymyr Vakulenko and his son Vitalii is simply horrific,” said Polina Sadovskaya, director of Eurasia Programs at PEN America. “It is crucial that the investigation into… More
Suspending Access to Library App Epic! Disregards Students First Amendment Rights, Says PEN America
Suspending access to 40,000 books without adherence to appropriate process, and with utter disregard for the First Amendment rights of the tens of thousands of students impacted, is a… More
Report: 1,586 School Book Bans and Restrictions in 86 School Districts Across 26 States
Book bans have targeted 1,145 unique book titles by 874 different authors, 198 illustrators, and 9 translators, impacting the literary, scholarly, and creative work of 1,081 people altogether. Texas… More
2022 PEN World Voices Festival Will Bring International Writers and Thinkers to NYC May 11-14 For a Unique Intellectual Assemblage Amid Conflict
As powers across the world ride roughshod over facts in order to legitimize aggression and work their international will, PEN World Voices will aim to elevate truth and narrative… More
Putin Continues Destruction of Independent Media by Declaring Eight Media Figures ‘Foreign Agents’
"Those Russian journalists who have persisted in speaking the truth and uncovering the crimes of the Putin regime--no matter the cost--deserve the support and solidarity of the international community." More
PEN America Responds to the Deaths of Filmmaker Mantas Kvedaravicius and Photojournalist Maksim Levin in Ukraine
"Kvedaravicus and Levin will be remembered for their remarkable courage and for the vital contributions they have made to exposing the devastating, ongoing impact of Russian aggression against Ukraine.… More
PEN America and PEN International Condemn Six-Year Prison Sentence for Cuban Musician Abel Lescay for His Participation in Peaceful Mass Protests Last July
“Abel Lescay is a brave and talented musician who should never have been in jail in the first place. We are horrified by the news that he has received… More