Interviews & Features
PEN America produces a breadth of interviews and features throughout the year.
The PEN Ten: An Interview with Steven Reigns
“I identify as a gay man. The experience of growing up as an outsider positioned me to be an observer. I think everything I do is informed by my… More
The PEN Ten: An Interview with Marisel Vera
“We, Puerto Ricans, must claim the historical truth of our ancestors and our homeland that we can learn about through stories.” More
The PEN Pod: Telling the Stories of New Orleans with Maurice Carlos Ruffin
“In New Orleans, sometimes they call people who are involved in storytelling or in music or the arts—they call them culture bearers. We bear the culture. We carry the… More
The PEN Pod: Looking Back at the War on Terror with Spencer Ackerman
“What’s on display in Afghanistan is the results of 20 years of war. It’s not a departure from 20 years of war. . . . It is not something… More
The PEN Ten: An Interview with Kia Corthron
“For artists working in fiction, we have more protection as our work is addressing what has been exposed. . . . The greater peril is self-censorship, which often starts… More
The PEN Ten: An Interview with Morgan Parker
“I tend to approach truth in my work as a figment, a construction. A lot of that is because it relies on the stringency of linear time, chasing a… More
The PEN Ten: An Interview with Mirin Fader
“Though [the Antetokounmpo brothers] didn’t have much money, they had each other. They were, in a sense, each other’s refuge.” More
The PEN Pod: Navigating the Debacle in Afghanistan with Ayad Akhtar and George Packer
“Everyone who essentially used the opportunity of the last two decades to try to build a decent, better society for themselves and for Afghanistan are now under threat.” More
‘It was like watching someone take their last breaths,’ says Afghan American Writer Nadia Hashimi
Afghan American author Nadia Hashimi reflects on the fall of Afghanistan, the future of women’s rights in the country, and how readers and writers can support one another. More
The PEN Pod: On PEN Belarus, Book Bans, and Vaccine Misinformation with Suzanne Nossel
“Book bans are alive and well, and that they move with the culture. They tend to crop up as a battleground in connection with culture wars.” More
Support for the freedom to read with exclusive designs by Todd Parr, Mike Curato, Art Spiegelman, and more!
