Interviews & Features
PEN America produces a breadth of interviews and features throughout the year.
The PEN Ten: An Interview with Mark Doty
“Poetry constructs communities across space and time by showing us our common ground. And it reminds us that words are more than just little packages of information.” More
The PEN Pod: On The Importance of Centering Marginalized Narratives with Jaquira Díaz
“I would hope that they would find in my story that my story was not unique, that so many of us go through this suffering in silence.” More
The PEN Pod: Putting Tech Under the Microscope with Ainissa Ramirez
“Since so many things are being put underneath the microscope, I hope that technology, too, will be put there.” More
The PEN Pod: Honoring Literary Excellence with Ruben Quesada and Clarisse Rosaz Shariyf
PEN America’s Clarisse Rosaz Shariyf joins poet and Literary Awards committee member Ruben Quesada for a conversation about how awards can help diversify and advance the American literary canon. More
The PEN Pod: Tough Questions with Suzanne Nossel
“We can see plainly that free speech is under grave threat in this country, and from multiple sides.” More
The PEN Pod: What It Means to Be Essential with Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
“Right now, we see. . . how human beings need to be afforded the full range of emotions, and how that is a right that we have, and people… More
The PEN Ten: An Interview with Zaina Arafat
“So much of my writing is informed by my identity as a queer woman of color and a desire to combat that invisibility and erasure.” More
The PEN Pod: On the Conversations that Help Us Heal with Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
“The Mountains Sing serves, I hope, as a memorial for the victims of the Great Hunger, to honor their suffering.” More
The PEN Pod: Tough Questions About a Critical Week with Suzanne Nossel
“It’s a very unsettling moment. . . we share a sense of alarm at the naked racism and brutality that people, and particularly Black Americans, have experienced.” More
The PEN Pod: Honoring PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Winner Xu Zhiyong with Teng Biao
“The people fighting for freedom of expression in China actually are fighting for the people’s health and lives—not only in China, but also the whole world.” More