PEN America: A Journal for Writers and Readers
Published each spring, PEN America: A Journal for Writers and Readers publishes fiction, nonfiction, poetry, conversation, graphic narrative, and more. We champion international authors and provide first-hand insight into the minds of contemporary writers through provocative symposia.
In 2000, PEN America was named one of the Ten Best New Magazines by Library Journal. PEN America has been a finalist for the Utne Independent Press Award for international coverage, and work from recent issues has been selected for Best American Essays, Best American Short Stories, and the Pushcart Prize. Past contributors include Paul Auster, Michael Cunningham, Nikki Giovanni, Marilynne Robinson, Salman Rushdie, Susan Sontag, John Edgar Wideman, and many others.
You can purchase individual issues online, or receive a copy as a benefit of PEN America membership. You can also find the journal in bookstores across the country.
PEN America: A Journal for Writers and Readers very rarely accepts unsolicited writing, but we read year-round. Submissions and questions can be sent to journal[at]pen.org.
Issues
21: Mythologies
Mythologies considers stories that have been transmitted to us by teachers, writers, parents, politicians,…
20: We the People
“not we the white people, not even we the citizens..."
19: Hauntings
Ghosts. Obsessions. Nostalgia. Revisitations. Issue 19 is the artists' echo chamber.
18: In Transit
Literature in motion. Exploring the translated, adapted, uprooted, and relocated—Issue 18 will transport you…
17: PEN Voices
PEN Voices celebrates the extraordinary work done at PEN American Center in the past…
16: Teachers
We go back to school with our favorite writers, and back in time to…
15: Maps
Tracing literary topographies with Colum McCann, Danielle Evans, Adonis, and many more.
14: The Good Books
Writers imagine the world's largest book swap, and we look back at the 1986…
13: Lovers
Who is dear to you? Don DeLillo, Patti Smith, Jonathan Lethem, and more…
12: Correspondences
Writers converse with real and imaginary correspondents, via telegrams, letters, and books.
11: Make Believe
Delving into the multiplicities of faith and imagination, plus the books writers wish they'd…
10: Fear Itself
Facing up to what fear means, through narratives of detention, visions of hell, and…
9: Checkpoints
International writers examine the literal and metaphorical barriers that scar the globe.
8: Making Histories
Etgar Keret, Grace Paley, Eve Ensler and others revisit and re-imagine the past.
7: World Voices
Showcasing the best of PEN's festival, with Margaret Atwood, Salman Rushdie, and…
6: Metamorphoses
Stories of transformation in life, myth, and literature, from Narcissus to Pablo Neruda.
5: Silences
Giving voice to the unspeakable and the unspoken, the censored and the suppressed.
4: Fact/Fiction
A diverse cast of unreliable narrators raises questions about truth and lies in literature.
3: Tribes
Exploring literary movements, tribes, and networks, from Bloomsbury to Harlem to Oulipo.
2: Home & Away
Writers including Julio Cortázar, Amitav Ghosh, and Amy Hempel reflect on staying and going.
1: Classics
Adventures in the library with Virginia Woolf, Jorges Luis Borges, Italo Calvino, and…
Alert Us
Are you an artist at risk or know someone who is?
PEN America On 
For lovers of Layli Long Solider and Claudia Rankine, we recommend books by @Danez_Smif, @TianaClarkPoet, @morganapple, and more: https://t.co/ZjuhZpa8Zs
“Clark offers a study into the simultaneous dissolution and unification that comes with inhabiting a body which is both historical and personal.”
Thank you, @PENamerican, for recommending my book for this incredible reading list chock full of my favorite permission-giving poets! https://t.co/NjEnDDAZ57
Dolly Parton announced that her charity @dollyslibrary, which gives free books to children, will be expanding to a fifth country. https://t.co/3Ur8qg1w4o