Interviews & Features
PEN America produces a breadth of interviews and features throughout the year.
Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond | The PEN Ten Interview
Relations, like all of my work to date, is invested in expanding the mainstream POV to include the overlooked, ignored or unexpected. More
‘Rainbowland’ Teacher Melissa Tempel Prepares Lawsuit
Melissa Tempel was fired after tweeting that her first-graders weren't allowed to sing 'Rainbowland.' Now she's speaking out. More
Harold Rogers | The PEN Ten Interview
This book is concerned with what the American gaze does, and so I thought it would be interesting to put the American gaze on race in the case of… More
The PEN Ten: An Interview with Maud Ventura (FR + EN)
Indeed, it is a feminist novel. It speaks of codependence, casting dreams and desires aside for another person, erasing yourself in the name of love. More
The PEN Ten: An Interview with Emerson Whitney
I see life through the lens of writing to the extent that I’m not exactly sure what life is if not a book? More
The PEN Ten: An Interview with KB Brookins
I love poetry because it is a genre that embraces imitation and history—the fact that we still write sonnets and teach epics is exciting to me! More
The PEN Ten: An Interview with aracelis girmay
I understand this work to be part of an ongoing practice of the sharing and listening that happens on telephones, in laundry rooms, before the altars, and in the… More
The PEN Ten: An Interview with Nicole Cuffy
I wanted the experience of reading this to be physical in a way; I wanted readers to bring their attention to their own physicality, even if they haven’t danced… More
PEN America’s Writers in the Schools Committee
Through PEN America's Writers in the Schools program, chaired by James Traub, about 20 writers volunteer to work in under-resourced schools in New York City. More
The PEN Ten: An Interview with Amelia Possanza
Archiving is a community act, and we will need many, many generations of future archivists to protect these stories from censorship, to make them immortal. More