PEN America works tirelessly to defend free expression, support persecuted writers, and promote literary culture. Here are some of the latest ways PEN America is speaking out.
- PEN America called the detention of an Australian writer, Alistair Kitchen, a disturbing pattern of border agents scrutinizing visitors for their viewpoints. Jonathan Friedman, PEN America’s Sy Syms managing director, U.S. Free Expression Programs, said, “That is anti-democratic, and it must be halted.” Read our full statement here. Read the coverage in The Guardian here.
- Monroe County in Tennessee purged 574 books from school library shelves including books by Mary Pope Osborne, writer of Magic Tree House series, Bill Watterson, cartoonist of Calvin and Hobbes, Judy Blume, Sarah J. Mass, Kurt Vonnegut and hundreds others. Read about it here.
- PEN America joined a coalition of advocacy groups and authors of books banned in Florida to demand that the Florida Legislature investigate orders for local school districts to remove books without a review process. Read more in the Tallahassee Democrat. Floridians: Send a letter to your legislator.
- For Juneteenth, we spoke to educators in schools and universities about what it means to teach Black History in classrooms today as more and more states pass bills to restrict teaching history and race. Read the full story.
- PEN America published a reading list featuring books from countries the Trump administration has issued a travel ban on. Knowledge has no borders so check out our list here.
- As the U.S. government restores Voice of America’s Persian-language operations in the face of escalating conflict, PEN America urged the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) to reinstate all journalists as they are essential, especially in times of crisis. Read more here.
- PEN America called on Georgia officials to drop charges, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to end any deportation efforts, against journalist Mario Guevara, who was arrested during his live broadcast. Read the statement.
- PEN America called on New York Mayor Eric Adams to drop his threat to ban a Daily News reporter from press briefings. “Banning a reporter for trying to clarify a public statement at a City Hall press briefing is an attack on press freedom,” said Tim Richardson, journalism and disinformation program manager at PEN America. Read our full statement.
- PEN America was mentioned in The Hill in a story about Bill Clinton and James Patterson discussing book bans. Read it here.
- PEN America’s Sarah Dillard spoke to Poet Laureate of Birmingham Salaam Green about her latest poetry collection, The Other Revival. Read the full interview here.
- PEN America’s Aleah Gatto spoke to Ucheche Kalu, a former PEN Emerging Voices fellow who works as a certified financial planner. Kalu will be joining a member-exclusive panel on financial anxiety in uncertain times next month. Register for the panel here and read our full interview here for a sneak-peek.
