The PEN Ten Interview Series

The PEN Ten is on the pulse of literary culture to help you discover your next great read. In this interview series, we ask authors 10 questions about their latest work and art.

Luis Urrea

The PEN Ten with Luis Alberto Urrea

Writers are particularly dangerous...writing strikes the heart and mind so profoundly, in such a way that it can overturn prejudice or hidebound beliefs. More

The PEN Ten with Marcus Wicker

There will always be a special place in my heart for those of us who find ways to express our beliefs and life obsessions absent of politics and megaphones... More

The PEN Ten with Mychal Denzel Smith

What we are compelled to believe is based on our relationship to power…my work navigates truth by understanding it as a struggle to reshape power. More

The PEN Ten with Kamilah Aisha Moon

Facts seem immutable, but they are used to construct reality and serve experience, which varies so widely and seems inextricably tied to what one believes. More

The PEN Ten with Carmen Maria Machado

Government censorship is never acceptable. Private organizations have the right to dictate what sorts of ideas they want to host or sponsor, and should be held accountable for those… More

The PEN Ten with sam sax

I do have more to say about what a good writer is and ought to do, which I think carries many of the same qualities as a good person.… More

Jimin Han

The PEN Ten with Jimin Han

I think about how censorship of writers and other creative artists is one of the first actions of a totalitarian government. It speaks to the power of individual voice... More