Suzanne Trimel

Senior Advisor, Communications and Media

Suzanne Trimel rejoined PEN America as a senior communications and media advisor in 2022 after a 2019 consultancy in communications and development. She has extensive experience working with organizations to drive ideas into the public conversation on priorities ranging from education and global human rights to health and the environment.

A journalist for a decade in New York and Washington, she served as vice president for public affairs at Barnard College and earlier, associate director of public affairs at Columbia University from the late 1990s to 2008. She then joined Amnesty International as U.S. media director where her work focused on human rights and social justice in the U.S. and abroad. In recent years, she has worked as director of communications at Outright Action International and as a consultant on branding, public relations and media and as a writer with the Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition, the International Budget Partnership, and the Hearing Health Foundation.


Articles by Suzanne Trimel

Banned BooksEducational CensorshipU.S. Free Expression
Tuesday September 17

Author Rex Ogle, Joined by Library Advocates, to Speak at PEN Utah Banned Book Week Event 9/23

(SALT LAKE CITY)– At the start of Banned Books Week, PEN Utah on Mon., Sept. 23 will host award-winning children’s book author, Rex Ogle, EveryLibrary Associate Director Peter Bromberg, and Utah Library Association Advocacy Co-Chair Rebekah Cummings for a discussion about censorship laws. Since HB29 passed the Legislature and was signed into law, 13 books, Read more…

Banned BooksU.S. Free Expression
Tuesday September 17

Paper Weavings Created from Banned Books to be Displayed 9/22-11/24 at Magic City Books, Tulsa

(TULSA)— In a unique collaboration, PEN America, Magic City Books, and New York City-based artist and activist Ellis Angel will present The Censor’s Cut: Weavings for Intellectual Freedom, an art installation of paper weavings created from 16 banned books. The exhibition at Magic City Books opens Sept. 22 at the start of national Banned Books Week Read more…

Prison and Justice Writing
Friday March 15

New Book Examines Why Reading Matters in America’s Prisons and How Ordinary Citizens Can Make a Difference

The book is a collection of inspiring stories from the prison book movement and a guide for people who want to swell its ranks.