Rachel Powers

Program Coordinator, PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Center

Rachel Powers is the PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Center program coordinator at PEN America. Powers has interned at Gotham Writers’ Workshop, Planned Parenthood, the U.S. House of Representatives, the Women’s Environment and Development Organization, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. She is deeply involved in community organizing and mutual aid. Powers has a BA with honors in Creative Writing and Government from Colby College. She is a fiction writer from the Catskills and currently lives in Brooklyn.


Articles by Rachel Powers

Friday October 6

Narges Mohammadi, The Iranian Writer Speaking Out From Behind Bars

Narges Mohammadi has been a target of Iranian authorities for more than 30 years. She was arrested twice at meetings of a political student group.

Writing as Craft
Tuesday September 12

Sola Mahfouz & Malaina Kapoor | The PEN Ten Interview

In Afghanistan, laughter is as much a part of life as sorrow and pain. People crack jokes while hiding from bombs in basements, finding humor in their grim reality.

Thursday June 8

The PEN Ten: An Interview with Stella Nyanzi

My multiple identities empower me to fashion my writing into an effective weapon fighting against injustices meted out by holders of abusive power onto underprivileged groups in society.

More Articles by Rachel Powers

Thursday May 11

The PEN Ten: An Interview with Dareen Tatour