A wave of legislation purporting to advance “parental rights” is actually undermining them. In a new report, Educational Intimidation: How ‘Parents’ Rights’ Legislation Undermines the Freedom to Learn, we document nearly 400 state legislative bills that allow extremists to override the views of the majority, micromanage classrooms, and disempower teachers, librarians, and school administrators. And, one governor who vetoed a bill described it as turning teachers into “pronoun police.”
Art teacher Kathryn Vaughn (above) had to eliminate Frida Kahlo from her art class. A librarian was called a porn peddler in an open meeting. And several educators lost their jobs over “controversial” material. Teachers and librarians explained the climate of fear that results from educational Intimidation laws detailed in PEN America’s new report.
In response to news that 2023 PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award honoree Narges Mohammadi was given an additional year in prison for speaking out about the sexual abuse of female prisoners, we again demanded her immediate and unconditional release. The added time in prison brings her total sentence to 10 years, nine months and 154 lashes. Mohammadi shared a message from behind bars as her husband, Taghi Rahmani (above), accepted the award on her behalf this spring: “Standing up to the misogynist, oppressive, and theocratic Islamic Republic of Iran is standing up for the right to live against a system set up to destroy life.”
The raid and seizure of materials from The Marion County Record in Kansas likely violated federal law and jeopardized the newspaper’s ability to publish. The later withdrawal of the search warrant was “a first step toward accountability in this unconscionable breach of press freedom,” our Shannon Jankowski said. It will not bring back the 98-year-old co-owner who was visibly stressed during the raid and died the next day.
Our fall 2023 Authors’ Evenings series includes Pulitzer Prize winner Hernan Diaz, literary legend Gay Talese, PEN America President Ayad Akhtar, and National Book Award winner Susan Choi. We'll also celebrate 2023 releases by Esmeralda Santiago, Felix Gillette and John Koblin, Ned Blackhawk, Richard Haass, and Christine Coulson, and host special evenings with legendary author James McBride, the Academy Award-winning filmmaker Christopher Nolan in conversation with Kai Bird, Emmy-winning journalist Ruchira Gupta in conversation with Gloria Steinem; and the inimitable Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
The PEN Ten: On the Intentionality Behind Language
With the recent publication of her debut novel Promise, poet and visual artist Rachel Eliza Griffiths adds novelist to her list of artistic achievements. “This book was my attempt to assure young Black girls that there are beautiful, resonant ways to live, to investigate love, and to celebrate themselves.”
PEN America member Catherine Hiller explores the thrill of deep connection between human beings in Cybill Unbound. When Cybill Berenson meets Mel, a sexual shaman who takes her to new heights-and new depths, she feels a new openness to pleasure, and she sees that conventional life is not for her. When a lover calls her his soul-mate, Cybill realizes "it was for moments like this, and not sex, that she had love affairs."
Jeremy Young and Jeffery Sachs voiced concerns over recent assaults on university accreditation, the newest under-the-radar attack on academic freedom. (The Daily Beast)
Liz Woolery warned that an Iowa school district’s “decision to use AI technology to review and remove books is deeply misguided, undercuts free expression, and overlooks the realities of what ChatGPT and similar services are and aren’t capable of.” (MSN)
Sam LaFrance and Jonathan Friedman said Florida’s governor and state officials cannot evade accountability for policies that suppress open discourse and distort classroom discussions. (Sun Sentinel)
WHAT WE'RE READING
Threats, slurs, and menace: Far-right websites target Fulton County grand jurors who indicted Trump (NPR)
Where the Most Writers and Artists Live by State (Washington Post)
“I would burn them.”
- Tennessee state Rep. Jerry Sexton, when asked what he would do with books deemed “inappropriate.”
TRENDING @ PENAMERICA
Author Kelly Yang on the troubling decision by an Indiana library to move YA books to the “adult” section
Yang’s Private Label is one of 1,385 books that the Hamilton East Public Library in Indiana moved from its teen to adult section. In response to a letter from local author John Green, the library's board is set to discuss The Fault in Our Stars at a meeting tomorrow. They have not addressed the other 1,384 books.
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