Save the dates May 10-13
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April 5, 2023
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** Mark Your Calendars: The PEN America World Voices Festival
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We announced a mind-boggling lineup for our 2023 World Voices Festival, led by festival chair Ayad Akhtar and guest chairs Marlon James and Ottessa Moshfegh. Ta-Nehisi Coates will deliver the Arthur Miller lecture which will be livestreamed. Speakers include John Irving, Roxane Gay, Reza Aslan, Min Jin Lee, Sarah Polley, Amor Towles, Padma Lakshmi, Masha Gessen, Jelani Cobb, Ben Okri, Han Kang, Imani Perry and so many more. The festival takes place on May 10-13 both in Manhattan's Greenwich Village and Los Angeles with selected events available online.
Reserve Your Seats ([link removed])
PEN DEFENDS
Defending Free Expression Before Congress
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Our CEO Suzanne Nossel and Washington director Nadine Farid Johnson each testified before Congress about free expression in schools as the sole witnesses called by Democrats. Nadine testified on the issue of “parents’ rights” and Suzanne spoke on campus speech, saying “This escalating battle for control over free expression in education should worry us all.”
Suzanne’s testimony on campus speech >> ([link removed])
Nadine’s testimony on censorship >> ([link removed])
10 Surprising Things Banned in U.S. Schools
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It’s not just books being banned in schools across the country. The song Rainbowland by Dolly Parton and Miley Cyrus, the Muppets classic, The Rainbow Connection, The Addams Family musical, a movie about Ruby Bridges, and Michelangelo’s David are among the surprising things that have been controversial, or banned, in 2023.
See the list >> ([link removed])
Take Action: Tell Congress Not to Ban TikTok
PEN America recently released a letter signed by more than a dozen other civil liberties, digital rights, and anti-censorship organizations opposing federal legislation and proposals that seek to impose a wholesale ban on social media platform TikTok in the United States. Read the joint letter >> ([link removed])
Send a Letter to your Members of Congress ([link removed])
PEN READS
"We’re Not Here to Sell You Books"
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Ann Patchett reminded us of the importance of bookstores in our communities when she reached out after the school shooting in Nashville to welcome everyone to visit hers. “If you don’t know what to do today and you don’t know where to go, come here and be with us and hold a dog and just know that we care.”
See the touching video >> ([link removed])
PEN Ten: An Interview with Gina Chung
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PEN Ten interviews this month featured poets Sunu Chandy and Rushi Vyas as well as novelist Gina Chung, who isn’t just the author of the hotly anticipated debut Sea Change, she’s part of the PEN America family and the person who used to send these newsletters.
PEN Ten with Gina Chung >> ([link removed])
PEN Ten with Sunu Chandy >> ([link removed])
PEN Ten with Rushi Vyas >> ([link removed])
PEN UNITES
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HOW TO BE AN ALLY WHEN YOU WITNESS ONLINE ABUSE
Thursday, April 6, 2023 | 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm ET
Tuesday, May 16, 2023 | 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm ET
Virtual Events
In this free, one-hour, interactive training, we’ll give you the tools you need to intervene safely and effectively in online abuse using Right To Be’s ([link removed]) 5Ds of bystander intervention.
REGISTER - April 6 @ 1 PM ET ([link removed])
REGISTER - May 16 @ 4 PM ET ([link removed])
PEN SPEAKS
* Does posthumous editing go too far? Suzanne Nossel was quoted in a New York Times article about revisions to works by Agatha Christie, Roald Dahl, Ian Fleming and more. (New York Times ([link removed]) )
* PEN America trustee Masha Gessen spoke to David Remnick about what we talk about when we talk about transgender rights. (New Yorker ([link removed]) )
WHAT WE'RE READING
* “Closed by Order of the Governor”: Teachers in the Crossfire of Florida’s War on Public Education (Mother Jones ([link removed]) )
* Millennials Aren’t Killing ‘Objective’ News — The Market Is (New York Magazine ([link removed]) )
* The Librarians Are Not OK (Chronicle of Higher Education ([link removed]) )
* Evan Gershkovich Loved Russia, the Country That Turned on Him (The Wall Street Journal ([link removed]) )
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“The more we shield people from understanding the world around them, the worse off we will be.”
** – Nadine Farid Johnson, testifying before Congress on censorship in schools ([link removed])
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TRENDING @ PENAMERICA
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A group of Duval County students spoke with their local news station to complain about book bans in their Jacksonville school. These astute fourth graders questioned why grown ups would take books out of classrooms and stymie their efforts to become better readers. One bemoaned that, "...all the award winning books were removed."
Watch the video >> ([link removed])
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