Interviews & Features
PEN America produces a breadth of interviews and features throughout the year.
The PEN Ten with Tina Chang
"We are each placed here to carry out something quite distinctive, quite separate. That individuality of purpose makes for friction that is very much alive." More
The PEN Ten with Trish Salah
"Censorship is inevitable, part of psychic life and engaging with other people. The censorship of political speech is deplorable and to be resisted, but also is often not recognized… More
The PEN Ten with Óscar Martínez
"I’ve written words that could murder people. I’ve written about people who, by giving their testimony, could have gotten murdered. I’ve written words about people who, because of what… More
The PEN Ten with Abdellah Taïa
"I have always functioned alone. I believe in a single voice changing the world. I don't place much trust in groups." More
Ukrainian PEN: Flourishing Expression in the Face of Repression and Dichotomy
In the fifth installment of the PEN World Series, we speak to Ukrainian PEN about the free expression challenges and literary traditions of Ukraine. More
The PEN Ten with Guillermo Gómez-Peña
"Artists and writers have envisioned parallel universes in which our contemporaries can engage in meaningful forms of freedom and creativity. In this sense, true democracy can only exist in… More
Four Questions for Katrina Dodson, Winner of the 2016 PEN Translation Prize
I’ve thought often about how translation requires extreme humility, to be able to recede into the shadows and let one’s style be subsumed by another’s. Translators work hard not… More
Four Questions for Sawako Nakayasu, Winner of the 2016 PEN Award for Poetry in Translation
"The Sagawa book presented a special challenge, which was that the Modernist sensibility and language, especially in this particular Japanese context, was unlike anything I had ever seen, and… More
The PEN Ten with Burhan Sönmez
"We don’t have to think of limiting our freedom. Instead, we need to find ways to cross the borderlines of restrictions and, when it happens, be ready to pay… More
Interview with the Finalists of 2016 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction
To get a better idea of the writers behind the books, we sent each of the finalists four questions addressing inspiration, routine, and craft. More
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