Lisa Tolin

Lisa Tolin is the Editorial Director at PEN America, where she has expanded editorial production, launched video, and  increased engagement on social media. Previously, Lisa was Head of Special Projects for TODAY Digital at NBC News, where she launched new content verticals and newsletters, oversaw SEO content strategy, and spearheaded new projects to turn the digital presence of the “Today” show into a leading lifestyle brand. She previously served as Supervising Editor for the Health, Wellness and Parents verticals at NBCNews.com and TODAY.com.

Lisa spent more than a decade at The Associated Press, managing departments in lifestyles and entertainment news after providing leadership to a team that launched asap, a vertical focused on the millennial audience, and working as supervising national editor and supervisor on the national news desk. 

Lisa’s debut picture book, How to Be a Rock Star, illustrated by Daniel Duncan, published in August 2022 with G.P. Putnam’s Sons. Her next, Can You Imagine? The Life and Art of Yoko Ono, publishes in 2025 with Atheneum.

RECENT ARTICLES

‘The Color Purple’ and 30 Other Banned and Challenged Books You Should Be Watching

Interview: Roxane Gay Has Some Opinions

Laurie Halse Anderson: Speaking for the Voiceless

Art Spiegelman on Banning ‘Maus’

Teachers and Librarians Describe a Climate of Fear

Ta-Nehisi Coates at the World Voices Festival

World Voices Festival: Marlon James

World Voices Festival: Ottessa Moshfegh

Banned in the USA Spotlight: Maia Kobabe

Derrick Barnes Calls Canceling School Visits Cowardly

Oklahoma Teacher Is Still Fighting Book Bans, Now from Brooklyn

Paula Vogel on Cancellation of ‘Indecent’

Elizabeth Strout on Writing: ‘Just Keep Going’

Writing that Changes Lives: PEN America’s Writers in the Schools Committee

MORE FROM LISA

Articles by Lisa on Pen.org