Around the world, socially engaged artists are being threatened, harassed, and persecuted by authoritarian governments. PEN America’s Artists at Risk Connection (ARC)’s newest report documents the ways artists are fighting against these menacing tactics and urges art and human rights organizations to extend the protections afforded to human rights defenders to artists on the frontlines of social and political movements.
On the seventieth anniversary of its original release, PEN America, our president Ayad Akhtar, and all our living past presidents endorsed the Freedom to Read statement—a document CEO Suzanne Nossel called “as urgent today as the day it was drafted.” The statement was reissued by the American Library Association and the American Association of Publishers, joined now by PEN America and other free expression and literary organizations.
In another challenge to Florida’s “Stop W.O.K.E” act, which stops teachers from discussing topics related to race and other matters of identity, PEN America filed an amicus brief in the case of Pernell v. Lamb, saying the law had drastically altered classroom curriculum, making topics such as the work of Fredrick Douglass, jazz, and more off limits. Kate Ruane described the law as “wholly incompatible with the First Amendment.”
HOW TO BE AN ALLY WHEN YOU WITNESS ONLINE ABUSE
Monday, July 10, 2023 | 3:00 pm – 4:00 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.
Novelist Nell Freudenberger is among more than a dozen volunteers helping New York City public school students write better papers and college essays through PEN America's Writers in the Schools committee. The committee, chaired by journalist and author James Traub, sends writers to help out in under-resourced schools and is about to embark on its signature summer program.
We spoke to authors Nicole Cuffy and Amelia Possanza about their newest works. Cuffy’s debut novel, Dances, features a ballerina who becomes the first Black principal of the New York City Ballet. In Lesbian Love Stories, described as a “memoir-in-archives,” Possanza intertwines her own story with an exploration of the lives of lesbian figures who came before her.
A Full-Circle Moment for Prison and Justice Writing
Last weekend, Moira Marquis of the Prison and Justice Writing Program spoke about uplifting incarcerated writers alongside Sterling Cunio, one of our former Writing For Justice Fellows—a tenure he held while incarcerated. After decades inside, Sterling came home last year, and is now a mentor for our Freewrite self-directed writing groups. His “mentee” called into the panel from prison, making it a full-circle moment.
In a recent issue of Against the Current, PEN America Member Harvey Graff clarifies the complex social issues that have given rise to book banning in the US. In "Against Book Banning & Education Restrictions: Our Moment of Rising Resistance," Graff cites cases of censorship against writers like Ashley Hope Perez and Art Spiegelman.
Victoria Vilk explains how online abuse hinders free expression in an article about the current threat to academic independence. (American Psychological Association)
Nadine Farid Johnson addressed the importance of fighting censorship and combating disinformation in journalism. (Voice of America)
Nadine also spoke about Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi’s attempts to stifle free speech in reflection to his recent White House visit. (Los Angeles Times)
PEN America's research was cited in a Los Angeles County proposal to make e-books available to all. (CBS News)
A.O. Scott referred to PEN America’s book ban advocacy in his column, “Everyone Likes Reading. Why Are We So Afraid of It?” (The New York Times)
WHAT WE'RE READING
How Review-Bombing Can Tank a Book Before It’s Published (The New York Times)
Welcomed by Canada for Defying a Dictator, Syrian Activist Now Considered a Security Risk (CTV News)
Indiana Moms for Liberty Chapter Apologizes After Newsletter Quoted Hitler (The Hill)
The Elonization of Mark Zuckerberg: How the Meta CEO is playing it cool (The Washington Post)
One of America’s Funniest, Gayest Writers Is Finally Becoming Famous (The New Yorker)
The 25 Most Influential Works of Postwar Queer Literature (T Magazine)
“When you’re a creative—when you’re an artist—it’s political.”
- Burmese artist Bart Was Not Here.
TRENDING @ PENAMERICA
“When we ban books, the bullies win.”
This is what bestselling and frequently banned author Elana K. Arnold said in response to the decision by the Huntington Beach, California, City Council to pursue the legal restriction of library books accessible to minors. PEN America Los Angeles director Allison Lee joined Arnold in condemning the effort.
