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.
The PEN Ten with Troy Wiggins
"We all have a preoccupation with mortality because time is such a limited currency for us. Alongside that, I have to reckon with the reality that as a Black… More
The PEN Ten with Heid E. and Louise Erdrich
It seems to me that being a public intellectual is crucial these days. Even if it is out fashion, we all have to fight for the freedom of conscience… More
The PEN Ten with Phenderson Clark
"I have been on the opposite end of a police officer’s drawn weapon on at least three separate occasions in three different American cities. I can still recall… More
The PEN Ten with Olivia Cole
"If we have a responsibility as writers—and I’m not sure we do—ours is to see ourselves as clearly as we think we see the world, to, in the pursuit… More
The PEN Ten with Morgan Jerkins
"Love. I know it's cheesy but I am obsessed with love and how it shapes a reality between two individuals, a reality that others sometimes cannot fully perceive but… More
The PEN Ten with Gabrielle Lucille Fuentes
"Censorship is not being allowed to speak your language, it is having your mother tongue beaten out of you, it is being told your experiences are worthless because they… More
The PEN Ten with Rebecca Carroll
"The collective purpose of writers might be keep us all sane, generous and accountable." More
The PEN Ten with Peter Ho Davies
"What I try to resist is the self-censorship that stops us even trying to write something. That to my mind closes down the possibility too soon. The decision point… More
The PEN Ten with Oddný Eir
"The writer is responsible for what he writes. I'm old fashioned and think that the writer is responsible for making us more responsible and keeping words alive so we… More
The PEN Ten with Ishion Hutchinson
"You are naturally paying tribute to the dead and the living, because a poem is the vehicle of reciprocal tension between what came before and what is present." More