Interviews & Features
PEN America produces a breadth of interviews and features throughout the year.
The PEN Pod: On Vaccine Misinformation, the Capitol Insurrection, and Crackdowns on Journalists in Russia
“It’s extremely important to get [the Capitol insurrection] down as a first draft of history that cannot be wished away or ignored.” More
The PEN Ten: An Interview with Matthew Specktor
“Everything is lost, eventually. Everything. Writing remains the only way I know to preserve the world as it vanishes all around us.” More
The PEN Pod: On Spyware Scandals, Olympic Protests, and Tackling Disinformation
“We have said a number of times in a number of contexts that athletes don’t lose their right to free expression when they put on their uniform.” More
The PEN Pod: Diving into the Pegasus Leak with Matt Bailey
“How do we ever get to a place where we feel sure that we have privacy and security of our data on our phones, of our conversations?” More
The PEN Pod: Resilience, Struggle, and the Fight for Freedom in Belarus with Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya
“I’m sure that Belarus will be a success story. We will win [against] autocracy. We will bring our country to democratic changes.” More
The PEN Pod: On Authoritarian Regimes and Public Pressure Campaigns with Summer Lopez
“These governments are trying to send a clear message that you’re not safe or free, no matter where you go, to dissidents.” More
The PEN Pod: On the Fight to #BringDannyHome with Amy Kurzweil
“We have to talk about this because we feel that the thing that helps the most is just keeping Danny’s story alive.” More
The PEN Ten: An Interview with the 2021-2022 PEN America Writing for Justice Fellows
“You must be willing to get your pen dirty. Write with passion. Befriend an incarcerated person, learn how society formed that person, feel the connection you share with that… More
LGBTQ+ Advocate Frank Mugisha Discusses the State of Free Expression in Uganda
PEN America worked with a local partner to interview Frank Mugisha regarding the state of free expression for the Ugandan LGBTQ+ community. More
The PEN Ten: An Interview with Sunjeev Sahota
“Watching imagined people struggling through life in the imagined arena of a novel somehow allows me to live my life in a better, more self-aware way.” More