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The Newsletter [[link removed]]
Send a Letter: Don’t Censor America
A lot is on the line this election season, and the next four weeks are critical. As we cap off Banned Books Week , we invite you to join us and ask your elected officials to stand up to book bans and educational censorship , fight disinformation, and defend journalists .
Send a Letter >> [[link removed]]
[link removed] [[link removed]] PEN America recorded over 10,000 instances of book bans in the last school year. To mark this dangerous milestone in the fight against book bans, we are running a 10% sale on our ' Get Out the Reading Vote ' swag.
Use the code 10THOUSAND and show your support for our efforts.
Shop Now >> [[link removed]]
PEN America Defends
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Banned Books Week 2024: One for the Books!
With new PEN America figures revealing a dizzying rise in school book bans – more than 10,000 during the 2023-2024 school year [[link removed]] – we gathered with writers, readers, and activists across the country for Banned Books Week 2024 to defend the right to read. PEN America proudly endorsed a resolution from U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin and Sen. Brian Schatz supporting Banned Books Week [[link removed]] and joined with fellow advocacy groups including We Believe and EveryLibrary to invite readers to send letters to their elected officials to demand action against rampant censorship.
Read the recap >> [[link removed]]
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Top Election Year Disinformation Dangers
In this election season that has featured false claims of immigrants eating dogs and cats, deepfake videos of presidential candidates, and sophisticated foreign influence campaigns, there are plenty of worries to keep disinformation experts up at night. From “influencers” to “filter bubbles,” these are the trends that worry experts gathered by PEN America for a panel discussion on disinformation trends.
Learn more >> [[link removed]]
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Write to Pham Doan Trang
This week, we're amplifying Legal Initiatives for Vietnam's #WriteToTrang campaign calling on people to write a letter to Pham Doan Trang —imprisoned Vietnamese writer, journalist, and 2024 PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Awardee. Show solidarity with Trang by sending her a letter and posting it online with #WriteToTrang.
Visit LIV to get involved >> [[link removed]]
DEADLINE EXTENDED: Submit to PEN America U.S. Writers Aid Initiative by October 7, 2024
PEN America is an organization of writers and their allies, and that solidarity is never more important than when members of our literary community face crises. The U.S. Writers Aid Initiative is intended to assist fiction and nonfiction authors, poets, playwrights, translators, and journalists in addressing short-term financial emergencies.
The 2024 application cycle is closing soon. If you need assistance, be sure to apply by October 7 >> [[link removed]]
Member Spotlight
This week’s Member Spotlight features A Gaze Hound That Hunteth By the Eye [[link removed]] by PEN America Member V. Penelope Pelizzon . Written over a decade while the author lived on four continents, this poetry collection maps the cultural legacies we cherish against those we reject. Playful and wrenching by turns, with lines inflected by the spoken music of their Arabic, Oshiwambo, Xhosa, and Italian contexts, these profound poems explore a life where displacement is the norm. [[link removed]]
Check out A Gaze Hound That Hunteth By the Eye >> [[link removed]]
View 2024 publications by PEN America Members here >> [[link removed]]
PEN America Events
Understanding Election Disinformation: What Voters Need to Know
[link removed] [[link removed]] Thursday October 17
Learn more >> [[link removed]] 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Online
Learn an overview of the key themes, motivations, and trends of current election disinformation campaigns, followed by a conversation with Maritza Félix of Conecta Arizona and Jen Fifield of Votebeat about what they’ve learned from fighting election conspiracies and providing communities with nuanced, accurate information about voting.
PEN America Reads
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Saad Mohseni | The PEN Ten Interview
Saad Mohseni discusses his recent autobiography Radio Free Afghanistan . Mohseni, the CEO of MOBY Media Group, captures his tale of hope and resilience, leaving behind a banking career to start a local radio station with his siblings that would boom into a television empire, becoming a beacon for millions of Afghans.
Read the Interview >> [[link removed]]
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Andrew DeVigal and Martiza Félix
In new Facts Forward interviews, Andrew DeVigal , the director of the Agora Journalism Center at the University of Oregon, sat down with PEN America’s Mina Haq , discussing how training local journalists can strengthen newsroom infrastructures in the face of disinformation. In another interview, Kurt Sampsel chatted with Maritza Félix of Conecta Arizona about building an infrastructure for listening to tackle misinformation across borders.
Read the interview with DeVigal >> [[link removed]]
Read the interview with Félix >> [[link removed]]
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Get Crafting with Diana Weymar
In a new book, Crafting a Better World (Harvest, 2024), Diana Weymar collaborates with other creative activists – including PEN America – to get crafting as a political outlet. In an interview with Amulya Hiremath , she discusses making the book and how activism is inherently a group activity.
Read the Interview >> [[link removed]]
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Iranian writer in exile talks about a quest for freedom and justice
In a new interview, we spoke to Asal Abasian , an Iranian writer and a queer feminist activist in exile in Paris. Abasian spoke about growing up in Iran enamored with print media, and the impact of community in repressive environments. “The impact of this censorship is profound, as it limits not only the range of voices that can be heard,” they said.
Read the Interview >> [[link removed]]
PEN America in the News
Kasey Meehan, director, Freedom to Read, said though the numbers were high in Iowa and Florida, book bans were a national issue. (The New York Times)


PEN America also spoke to AP News about the latest book ban numbers. (AP)


PEN America’s congressional affairs lead, Laura Schroeder, thanked U.S. Rep. Raskin and Sen. Schatz for the  resolution that was introduced in Congress to mark Banned Books Week. (Publishing Perspectives)


The findings from the book ban memo also made international news with The Guardian quoting from the report. (The Guardian)


PEN America’s journalism and disinformation program consultant Mina Haq wrote about the threats from generative-AI and how to mitigate them. “Generative AI is only going to become more savvy, easy to use and affordable. “Tech won’t save us from tech – it’s on human beings to do that.” (IRE Journal)


PEN America’s initiative to preserve over two decades of independent Russian journalism in its dedicated database – Russian Independent Media Archive (RIMA) – was featured in a recent article. (Voice of America)

What We Are Reading
The National Book Award Finalists include past PEN America interviewees Hisham Matar, Deborah Taffa, and Salman Rushdie, and Percival Everett, winner of the 2023 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award. (The New York Times)


What Happened to Free Speech? (The Wall Street Journal)


Moms for Liberty Co-Founder Would Be ‘Honored’ to Be Trump’s Education Secretary (Education Week)


A Princeton Professor’s Advice to Young Conservatives (The New York Times)


Meet the 2024 MacArthur Fellows (BookRiot)


Quote of the Week
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“When students fail to see themselves, their history, or their identity reflected in the books that they read, the authors whom they read, they are being denied equal opportunity to access education.”
- U.S. Department of Education Deputy Assistant Secretary Matt Nosanchuk , at our Banned Books Week event in Austin.
Trending on PEN America
We collaborated with The Meteor on a video of their Meet the Moment event, organized by Jamia Wilson and Amber Tamblyn , with readings of Sold by Patricia McCormick and This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki. [[link removed]]
Check it out >> [[link removed]]
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