(Jim Cooke/Los Angeles Times; photos via Getty Images)
How Two States Are Driving the Agenda on Free Expression
Ahead of the debate between California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, we looked at how their two bellwether states are establishing laws and policies that may have an impact on the ability of all Americans to express themselves freely. Both states are now legislative laboratories where new policies are being tested out, and their legislation is inspiring similar proposals around the country. PEN America has undertaken an analysis of their free expression policies in a pair of reports, The Florida Effect and The California Effect, to discover what we can expect as a nation, especially as we approach the 2024 general election.
In a little more than a week, Iranian activist and writer Narges Mohammadi -- who was honored with PEN America's PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award in May--will receive the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo. Narges is still jailed in Evin prison, and has been denied essential medical care because she refused to wear the mandatory hijab out of solidarity with young Iranian women who lost their lives. Join us and writers including Arundhati Roy, Jonathan Franzen, Margaret Atwood, and Mary Karr in a joint letter calling for Narges to be allowed to travel to reunite with her family and to receive the Nobel prize in person. Become part of our multi-faceted campaign to press for her release.
This week’s Member Spotlight features Conversations with Birds by PEN America Member Priyanka Kumar. Tracing her movements across the American West, this stirring collection of essays brings the avian world richly to life. Kumar's perspective is not that of a list keeper, counting and cataloging species. Rather, from the mango-colored western tanager that rescues her from a bout of altitude sickness in Sequoia National Park to ancient sandhill cranes in the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, for Kumar, birds “become a portal to a more vivid, enchanted world.”
Monday, December 11, 2023 | 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm ET
Scholastic- 130 Mercer Street New York, NY 10012 Also join via livestream
Join us on for this year’s PEN America Annual General Meeting, Conversation Amid Crisis: Sustaining Dialogue in Divided Times, as we interrogate the challenge of keeping civic discourse alive amid deep schisms. This panel discussion will examine not the conflict in the Middle East per se, but rather its ripple effects on the cultural, academic, and literary ecosystem back home. Through this conversation, we will endeavor to cultivate a space where writers and thinkers can navigate fraught topics by demonstrating a willingness to listen, engage, learn, and even narrow differences if possible.
Speaking Up of Staying Silent: Rethinking Institutional Speech
Thursday, Dec. 7 | 2:00 pm ET
Online
In the wake of the Israel-Hamas conflict many institutions grappled with whether to make public statements about their institutional values. Many statements (or lack of statements) were poorly received, or leaders were pushed to make a second, or even a third restatement on the events – leading many leaders to rethink the merits of using their voice. Join a panel hosted by the UC National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement and PEN America and moderated by Lara Schwartz. Panelists include leaders Neijma Celestine-Donnor, John Silvanus Wilson, and Tom Ginsburg.
Laurie Halse Anderson’s celebrated young adult novel Speak tells the story of Melinda, a high school student who stops speaking after a sexual assault. Speak was a National Book Award finalist. It was also an immediate target for censors. Anderson spoke to PEN America about censorship and the danger of trying to protect kids from reading stories that reflect their realities.
To celebrate Native American Heritage Month, we turned to Oscar Hokeah, winner of the prestigious 2023 PEN/Hemingway Award for Calling for a Blanket Dance, and Morgan Talty, winner of the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for his debut short story collection, Night of the Living Rez. Spend some time this month reading stories from indigenous voices.
Suzanne Nossel wrote about a free speech fix for divided campuses. (The Wall Street Journal)
Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha was released in Gaza, likely because of public pressure, including from The New Yorker and PEN America. (The New York Times)
Jonathan Friedman called USC's decision to bar a professor from teaching over anti-Hamas statements "a shocking overreaction." (Los Angeles Times)
Shannon Jankowski criticized Elon Musk's lawsuit against Media Matters for America's reporting that big name advertisers appeared next to antisemitic content on X. (Wired)
WHAT WE'RE READING
When Your Own Book Gets Caught Up in the Censorship Wars (The New Yorker)
Imprisoned Nobel Winner Narges Mohammadi Speaks With Angelina Jolie (Time)
"The majority of Iranian society opposes compulsory hijab, yet the government kills, imprisons, and deprives women of employment and social rights for not conforming with that compulsion."
- Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi
TRENDING @ PENAMERICA
Our Banned Book Giveaway with P!nk!
We teamed up with Grammy-winning pop star P!nk to give away 2,000 banned books at her Miami-area concerts and spread the word about book bans, especially in Florida, which accounted for more than 40% of book bans in the 2022-2023 school year.
PEN America- New York:
588 Broadway, New York, NY 10012 PEN America- Washington, DC:
1100 13th Street, NW, Washington, DC xxxxxx PEN America- Los Angeles:
1370 N. Saint Andrews Place, Los Angeles, CA 90028
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.
