More book bans in half the time.
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Apr 17, 2024
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** Book Bans Surge Across the Country
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In the first half of the 2023-2024 school year, PEN America documented more than 4,300 book bans across the country — a number that surpassed the entire previous academic year. Our latest Banned in the USA report highlights the stories behind those numbers, with case studies showing continued hostility toward LGBTQ+ narratives, the silencing of speech about race, and more targeting of books that contain sexual violence. We also document the rising backlash – shining a spotlight on the students and parents across the country fighting for their right to read.
Read the report >> ([link removed])
Read more in The New York Times >> ([link removed])
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** Honoring a Courageous Voice for Change
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Last week, we announced that Vietnamese author-blogger-journalist Pham Doan Trang will receive the PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award, an honor given last year to Narges Mohammadi, who went on to received the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize. Trang has been persecuted and jailed Trang in an effort to still her voice on democracy, human rights, environmental degradation, and women’s empowerment.
Read more about Trang >> ([link removed])
Read more in the Voice of America >> ([link removed])
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** Defending Artists in Times of Emergency
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PEN America’s Artists at Risk Connection in collaboration with UNESCO and co-sponsored by the Permanent Mission of Norway to the United Nations hosted the event “Defending Creative Voices: Protection of Artists in Times of Emergencies ([link removed]) ” at the United Nations Headquarters. Bringing together renowned experts and artists, the event raised awareness among UN Member States and civil society actors about the impact of emergency situations on writers and artists, as well as to call for enhanced coordination and comprehensive efforts to defend artistic freedom during crises.
Watch the livestream >> ([link removed])
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
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This week’s Member Spotlight features The Shutouts by PEN America Member Gabrielle Korn. A brilliant, queer dystopian novel, The Shutouts follows a cast of characters on the margins of a strange and exclusive society. The year is 2041, and it's a dangerous time to be a woman driving across the United States alone. But Kelly's on the road anyway; she needs to get back to her daughter, who she left seven years ago for a cause she's no longer sure she believes in. Almost 40 years later, another mother, Ava, and her daughter, Brook, are on the run as well, from the climate change relief program known as The Inside Project, where they've spent the past 22 years being treated as lab rats. The Shutouts tells the captivating story of those who have been shut out from Inside, their fight to survive, and an interconnectedness larger than all of them.
Check out ([link removed]) The Shutouts >> ([link removed])
View 2024 publications by PEN America Members here >> ([link removed])
PEN EVENTS
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Thursday, April 18, 2024
2:00 pm – 3:00 pm ET
Webinar
Many of us assume that we won’t be influenced by false, misleading, and incomplete information because we’re smart, thoughtful people. But the reality is that we are all vulnerable. The reason? When we’re faced with information overload and the need to make frequent decisions, we all take mental shortcuts, and those shortcuts lead to trouble.
In this webinar, Kurt Sampsel of PEN America will provide an overview of some of the most common cognitive biases that shape how we consume information, followed by a conversation with Thomas Martinez of the Fort Worth Report and Kristy Roschke of Arizona State University about how we all can reduce the influence of cognitive biases and become more resilient consumers of news and information.
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PEN READS
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** 20 Years of World Voices
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We’re proud to announce that our World Voices Festival ([link removed]) , now in its 20th year since its founding by Salman Rushdie and others in the wake of 9/11, will feature 35 events with more than 100 writers, among them our current president Jennifer Finney Boylan with her co-author Jodi Picoult, Roxane Gay, Min Jin Lee, Patrick Radden Keefe, Rita Dove, Carmen Boullosa, James McBride, and Leigh Bardugo.
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** Salman Rushdie in Conversation
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In a conversation with Suleika Jaouad, Salman Rushdie shared details of his recovery and his new memoir, Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder, saying “It just became clear to me that if I didn’t face up to this, that it would actually, in a way, kill me. ... So if I wanted to actually not be killed artistically, I had to face this."
Read more of the conversation >> ([link removed])
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** Lisa Grunwald | The PEN Ten Interview
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Lisa Grunwald was forced to grapple with her own assumptions in exploring the 1925 Scopes trial from “the other side” for her new novel, The Evolution of Annabel Craig. In an interview with Jeremy C. Young, PEN America’s Freedom to Learn program director, Grunwald discussed the value of looking at a major historical event through the lens of one woman’s experiences, and the importance of challenging one’s beliefs and keeping an open mind.
Read the interview >> ([link removed])
PEN SPEAKS
* Freedom to Read Program Director Kasey Meehan spoke to NPR about librarians in Prattville, Alabama, who lost their jobs over book challenges. (NPR ([link removed]) )
* Florida Director Katie Blankenship wrote that a groundswell of activism has helped the fight against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ aggressive push to upend basic rights — the freedom to read, learn, and speak, among others. (Florida Politics ([link removed]) )
* Blankenship and Raegan Miller of the Florida Freedom to Read Project write that once again, Florida leaders side with book banners. (Tallahassee Democrat ([link removed]) )
* PEN America’s research is cited in a report about how librarians fear penalties and even prison. (AP ([link removed]) )
* See how PEN America defended free expression this week >> ([link removed])
WHAT WE'RE READING
* Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People includes last year's PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write honoree Narges Mohammadi (Time ([link removed]) )
* With State Bans on D.E.I., Some Universities Find a Workaround: Rebranding (New York Times ([link removed]) )
* Roxane Gay: Open Letters Are Cries in the Dark (New York Times ([link removed]) )
* Saudi Arabia Is Rebranding Itself as a Moderate Country, but What’s the Truth? (The Guardian ([link removed]) )
* Several Attempts at Understanding Percival Everett (The Millions ([link removed]) )
** “I became the person who was on the one hand, the target of death, and on the other hand, the recipient of love. And that became to me the book I was writing.”
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** - Salman Rushdie in conversation on his new memoir
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TRENDING @ PENAMERICA
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Ahead of the 2024 PEN World Voices Festival, nine former PEN America presidents came together to stress the importance of maintaining dialogue.
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