After the Trump administration issued an executive order declaring government censorship of speech “intolerable in a free society,” it immediately set about doing just that. Subsequent executive orders require federal agencies to remove reference to “gender,” “diversity,” “inclusion,” and “environmental justice” from all federal documents. Staff at the National Science Foundation have reportedly been told to scrutinize projects that use words including “disability,” “women,” “female,” “minority,” “historically,” “underrepresented,” or “socioeconomic.” There is no act of censorship more explicit than literally banning words. These orders will have a clear chilling effect that will range well beyond the halls of government.
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Last month, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights dismissed all complaints related to book bans, saying it was ending “Biden’s book ban hoax.” As an organization that counted more than 10,000 instances of school book bans in the 2023-2024 school year, nearly triple the number in the previous year, we know book bans are no hoax. |
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You Are A Writer is a series of free, online workshops for early career writers. This year’s workshops are dedicated to creative nonfiction, including the implications of generative A.I. on the creative process, the role of writing during charged and challenging times, developing a sustainable writing process, and the intersection of creativity and objectivity. |
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The Last One by PEN America Member Rachel Howzell Hall is part mystery, part romance. The Good Morning America Book Club pick will keep readers rapt to the very last page. |
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| Censorship Alert
There are a few things Utah students can’t bring to school. Weapons. Vaping devices. Judy Blume’s Forever... Based on a new interpretation of a state law, Utah is forbidding students from bringing banned books to school, including Elana K. Arnold’s Damsel, a feminist retelling of Sleeping Beauty. Arnold spoke about what’s happening in Utah in a video. |
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Fabienne Josaphat in conversation with Barbara Kingsolver |
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| Thu. February 13, 2025 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM ET
Join us online to celebrate Fabienne Josaphat, the winner of the 2023 PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction. Josaphat will be discussing her new novel, Kingdom of No Tomorrow with novelist, essayist, and poet Barbara Kingsolver. |
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Banned Picture Books
No surprise that some of the most banned picture books of the 2023-24 school year show -- gasp! -- naked butts! See the list and read more in People magazine. The Trans Experience
PEN America President Jennifer Finney Boylan spoke about her new book Cleavage, and life at this moment for transgender Americans. Read more in The Advocate and The New York Times.
The PEN Ten | Adam Haslett
Mothers and Sons, the newest novel by Pulitzer Prize nominee Adam Haslett, concerns itself with the chilly yet tenacious relationship between a 40-year-old reclusive immigration lawyer and his mother. Haslett discussed seeing himself as a “method” writer, medieval abbess Hildegard von Bingen, and the challenge of helping (and writing about) others without cutting oneself off. Read this week's PEN Ten interview.
PEN America at Sundance
The documentary film The Librarians, executive produced by Sarah Jessica Parker, is partnering for its impact campaign with PEN America. Read more about the film and a panel discussion that followed.
Crisis for USAID
Summer Lopez, interim co-chief executive officer, called attacks on USAID and the freeze on virtually all foreign assistance “a catastrophic abdication of the U.S.’s historic role in the international community and a callous abandonment of those who fight against oppression the world over and who have relied on the support of USAID to do their work.” Read the statement.
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“We’re down, but we’re not out. We’ll continue to fight, and it’s not over, it’s not anywhere near over yet.”
| — PEN America President Jennifer Finney Boylan |
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