A woman with long brown hair, wearing a dark blazer over a dark shirt, smiles at the camera against a plain light background.

Mira Seyal

Manager, Foundation Relations and Grants

Mira Seyal is Manager of Foundation Relations and Grants at PEN America, where she stewards and expands foundation relationships in support of PEN America’s work. She leads a portfolio of grants, ensuring strong alignment with PEN America’s mission to celebrate creative expression and defend the liberties that make it possible.

Previously, Mira was the Marketing and Development Coordinator at Free to Thrive, a San Diego–based nonprofit supporting human trafficking survivors in vacating their criminal records. There she contributed to donor relations, grant writing, and fundraising strategy—work that deepened her interest in creative and impactful development approaches.  

 Mira holds an M.A. in Human Rights from Columbia University and a B.A. in Political Science and Sociology from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.  


Articles by Mira Seyal

A bald man with a slight smile is shown next to the book cover of Every Exit Brings You Home by Naeem Murr, which features a view from an airplane window with a person lying on the wing at sunset.
Writing as Craft
Thursday February 12

With ‘Every Exit Brings You Home,’ Naeem Murr Draws On His Palestinian Heritage to Ask Universal Questions 

The twin pillars of fiction are truth and intimacy, and the conflict in the Holy Land travesties both.