The number of individual book bans across the country increased by 28 percent during the first half of the 2022-23 school year compared to the prior six months, according to PEN America's latest report. It documents how censorious legislation in states across the country has been a driving force behind new restrictions on access to books in public schools. Jonathan Friedman told the New York Times, “People need to understand that it’s not a single book being removed in a single school district, it’s a set of ideas that are under threat just about everywhere.”
TV Rain reporter Anna Nemzer never returned to her home in Moscow after Russia invaded Ukraine. Now she’s part of a team working with PEN America to preserve more than two decades of work by journalists whose newspapers, websites, magazines and television stations operated independently of the government – and no longer exist.
We are celebrating World Press Freedom Day (May 1) through a global lens. Our organization is spotlighting a cadre of international journalists, editors, and publishers who speak truth to power and expertly navigate a continuously shifting media landscape.
Former College Presidents Join Forces to Protect Educational Freedom
Our new Champions of Higher Education initiative brings together 118 former college and university presidents and system heads from 36 states committed to advocating against educational gag orders and other political and legislative threats to free expression and institutional autonomy in higher education. Learn more >>
PEN UNITES
A VIRTUAL FILM SCREENING AND CONVERSATION INSPIRED BY A NEW DOCUMENTARY ABOUT JUDY BLUME
Monday, April 24, 2023 | 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm ET
Virtual Event
Join PEN America and our partners from Unite Against Books Bans for a national conversation on Right to Read Day that will include a screening of the new Prime Video documentary, Judy Blume Forever.
HOW TO BE AN ALLY WHEN YOU WITNESS ONLINE ABUSE
Tuesday, May 16, 2023 | 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm ET
Virtual Event
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 5Ds of bystander intervention.
PEN America’s Literary Grants are re-opening for submission! We're excited to embark on another year of recognizing oral history, young adult literature, and translation, and are proud to offer our support to these impactful projects.
Our member spotlight features Delicates, a book of entrancing poems co-translated by PEN America members Nancy Naomi Carlson and Esperanza Hope Snyder. Originally written by Cuban poet Wendy Guerrera, this collection takes the island’s colonial history as a subject and expands it into other contexts like the dynamics of erotic relationships.
A rural Texas county just blinked on library closures. Pressure worked. “People are waking up to the fact that state and local governments are running rampant,” Jonathan Friedman told The Washington Post. (Washington Post)
Suzanne Nossel spoke to USA Today about the wave of state laws restricting drag performances. “If we normalize banning drag shows, along with recent controls over classroom instruction, those tactics become part of the tool box that government then uses in other situations. Push back now.” (NorthJersey.com)
James Tager wrote about a bill to strip funding for all Missouri libraries in retaliation for the librarians’ lawsuit opposing a book banning mandate. “The budget proposal is about political power – with children as pawns.” (Missouri Independent)
Florida’s New College is under siege by politicians who want to destroy the public college's identity and remake it in the image of a private religious college. In an address on campus, PEN America's Jeremy C. Young said, "Maybe I’m a blind optimist, but I don’t think this is where higher education in America dies." (WFSU)
WHAT WE'RE READING
The Abortion Medication Ruling Threatens Free Speech Online. (Wired)
Students, Authors Fight Censorship in PA Schools (Daily American)
The Dominion Settlement Won’t Stop the Swill (Politico)
Amplification or Suppression? Author Maggie Tokuda-Hall Calls Out Edits Proposed by Scholastic (Publishers Weekly)
“One of my things of greatest pride is to have co-founded the PEN World Voices Festival, which in its origin really was a way of introducing American readers to the rest of the world, to make the literary experience of Americans less parochial, perhaps. And it’s succeeded beyond our wildest dreams.”
TikTok is free speech. Join PEN America in protecting free speech by asking your Members of Congress to oppose heavy handed and broad efforts to ban TikTok.
Wild and Precious is a celebration of Mary Oliver, narrated by Sophia Bush, featuring poems by Oliver plus a tapestry of complementary voices reflecting on her legacy. Wild and Precious features over 30 poems (including “The Summer Day,” “When Death Comes,” and “In Blackwater Woods”) alongside abiding admiration for Oliver’s craft and sheds new light on one of the greatest poets and writers in modern history. Learn more >>
