Interviews & Features
PEN America produces a breadth of interviews and features throughout the year.
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
The PEN Ten: An Interview with Megha Majumdar
“Stories help us imagine what it is like to be another person—to strive as they do, to cope as they do, to celebrate as they do—and that’s a vital… More
The PEN Pod: Examining Our Crises of Democracy with Karen Attiah
“A public health disaster—an epidemic—is also a political crisis. . . I see both things [the pandemic and racial injustice] as two different viruses that are plaguing our society.” More
The PEN Pod: On the Ground in Minneapolis with Julio-César Chávez
“There are risks that we [as journalists] know and accept when we undertake these assignments. . . But there’s protesters that are going through the same things.” More
The PEN Pod: Writing as Witness with Wayétu Moore
“Representation is important—not just what’s on the page, but who’s holding the pen.” More
The PEN Pod: Tough Questions with Suzanne Nossel
“The idea that rather than having social media companies serve as our content police, we’re going to have the government do it—it’s prohibited by the First Amendment.” More
The PEN Ten: An Interview with Nathalie Handal
“A poem is the music of mystery, and until we embrace mystery, we can’t fully be.” More
The PEN Pod: Looking to the Past to Imagine a Better Future with Helen Zia
“Every Asian American in the United States and people with Asian faces all over the world are experiencing this global pandemic of racism and hatred.” More