China and Iran Are Worst Abusers, Jailers of Writers
Our latest Freedom to Write Index found that last year, 311 writers and public intellectuals were locked up in prisons across the world by authoritarian governments, with China jailing the largest number, 90 writers, and Iran close behind with 57. The crackdown on anti-government protests in Iran meant it jailed almost three times the number of writers in 2022 from the previous year.
As part of our scrutiny of the alarming spike in book bans this school year, we spoke to Maia Kobabe and Mike Curato, the authors of the two most banned books last fall, Gender Queer and Flamer. Curato told us what gets lost in the conversation is that his book is about suicide prevention, telling kids, “You deserve to be here.”
Since 2021, 306 educational gag order bills have been introduced in 45 different states. In our latest tracking update, we identified a troubling new trend: a shift from bills that ban lists of so-called “divisive concepts” in classroom instruction toward a new class of bills that specifically restrict the content of curricula, including majors, minors, and general education.
TA-NEHISI COATES @ 2023 WORLD VOICES FESTIVAL
Thursday, May 11 | 8 PM ET
Livestream
In the World Voices Festival's keynote Arthur Miller lecture, MacArthur fellow Ta-Nehisi Coates will discuss this moment of attempts to erase African American history and Black intellectual thought in the context of the broader attacks on free speech and free expression. He will explore the historically cyclical nature of these backlashes, the power structures fortified by the assault on the free exchange of ideas and thoughts, and identify the stakes of the curtailment of free expression.
HOW TO BE AN ALLY WHEN YOU WITNESS ONLINE ABUSE
Tuesday, May 16, 2023 | 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm ET
Monday, June 12, 2023 | 2:00 pm – 3:00 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.
More than 50 years after the P.E.N. American Center hosted the first international conference on literary translation, PEN America’s Translation Committee, a membership group, published a new “manifesto” that frames literary translation as a creative art form that connects cultures across borders and languages with the unique potential to illuminate the effects of globalization and to impact injustices and power disparities worldwide.
This week’s Member Spotlight features Who Does That Bitch Think She Is?: Doris Fish and the Rise of Drag by Craig Seligman. In the 1970s, queer people were openly despised, and drag queens scared the public. Yet this was the era when Doris Fish (born Philip Mills in 1952) painted and padded his way to stardom. From the rise of drag shows to the obsession with camp to the conservative backlash and the onset of AIDS, Seligman adds needed color and insight to this era in LGBTQ+ history, revealing the origins and evolution of drag.
Allison Lee moderated a panel with banned authors Angie Thomas and George M. Johnson and Sacramento Public Library Director Peter Coyl at the Los Angeles Festival of Books. (C-SPAN)
For World Press Freedom Day, Suzanne Nossel joined a screening and panel discussion of 20 Days in Mariupol, the searing account by journalists who documented the suffering of the besieged Ukrainian city. (Twitter)
Our Kate Ruane was quoted on the demise of local journalism and how it impacts communities. (NowThis)
The Washington Post reported on our latest book ban update in its column on what it called, "The Republicans’ crusade against literature." (Washington Post)
WHAT WE'RE READING
Four Ways to Think About the Hollywood Writers’ Strike. (The Atlantic)
"Get Cancer": How Election Lies Morphed Into a Plague of Hate in Arizona (The Guardian)
The Shortlist for the Women’s Prize for Fiction Includes Former Winner of the PEN/Bellwether Prize Barbara Kingsolver (The Guardian)
“Even if a book does not seem useful or valuable to one reader, it might be deeply valuable to another. That’s why we need lots of types of books and lots of types of stories. I don’t think my book is for everyone. But I think for the people who need it, it could be a lifeline.”
-Maia Kobabe, author of Gender Queer, the most banned book in U.S. schools
TRENDING @ PENAMERICA
In reaction to a national broadcaster interviewing the very extremists who are behind the push to ban books in Florida and elsewhere, author Angie Thomas (The Hate U Give) speaks at a PEN America panel on banned books at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books about why journalists need to speak to more than a small group of white parents about the issue.
New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik creates a new type of profile: a year’s worth of conversations with Steve Martin in which Gopnik pulls back the curtain on Martin’s illustrious career. In SO MANY STEVES: Afternoons with Steve Martin,beloved entertainer Steve Martin is more candid than he’s ever been about his creative life. This engrossing audio-biography was born from a series of conversations recorded over many afternoons at Steve’s home with his friend and neighbor, writer Adam Gopnik. Learn more >>
