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May 14, 2025
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Celebrating the Best of Literature
We brought the “Oscars of Books” back for the 61st year in style, honoring 13 awardees across multiple genres. Hosted by two-time Emmy winner Tamron Hall , the PEN America Literary Awards gathered legendary authors and new voices to celebrate literature at this pivotal moment. “The fight for free expression never ceases,” Hall said. “It is always, as we know, under attack.”
See the winners >> [[link removed]]
A Voice of Courage
In recognition of his unwavering commitment to defending academic freedom, protecting protest rights, and resisting attempts to silence dissent in higher education, Wesleyan University President Michael S. Roth will receive the PEN/Benenson Courage Award at PEN America’s annual gala tomorrow. “His insistence on protecting the most vulnerable among us is the clarion call American society needs right now,” said interim Co-CEO Summer Lopez .
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Words of Wisdom
Back for its 20th year, the PEN World Voices Festival 2025 celebrated the power of words while reckoning with authoritarianism, censorship, and press freedom. As former PEN America President Jennifer Egan put it, “I think if there was ever a time to think about what holds us together as writers, instead of whatever differences we might have, I think this is really the time.”
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Art and Culture on the Chopping Block
In a devastating blow to arts and culture organizations’ freedom and functioning, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) terminated a vast swath of grants, including PEN America’s to the World Voices Festival. Interim Co-CEO Summer Lopez said, “The arts nourish and sustain us; the Trump administration is starving them to death.”
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This week’s Member Spotlight features Hating Harlon [[link removed]] by PEN America Member Elizabeth Randall . Set in Florida in 1988, Hating Harlon is about a year in the life of 32-year-old Lily Green, who employs dark humor as she struggles with right and wrong in a society where she believes she is an outsider by not conforming to traditional feminine roles and values. [link removed] [[link removed]]
Check out Hating Harlon >> [[link removed]]
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[link removed] [[link removed]] “The role of writers is to write."
We caught up with the panelists of The PEN and the State: The Role of Novelists in Times of Crisis, the opening night event of the 2025 World Voices Festival, to talk about the importance of writing, literature, and conversation during times of political unrest. Hear what authors Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Jennifer Egan , and Burhan Sönmez had to say.
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PEN America celebrates literature with free and low-cost quality public programming, authors’ evenings, advocacy trainings, writers workshops, community gatherings and more. Check out the PEN America event calendar [[link removed]] for exciting online and in-person events!
So You’re Planning a Book Event… A Physical and Digital Safety Workshop
Tue. May 20, 2025
7:00 PM – 8:30 PM ET
Online
Free
Are you involved in author and book events and concerned about your safety? Join us for a workshop on safety considerations for book events. Whether in bookstores, libraries, or public spaces, book events are facing threats and we’re here to help.
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Women’s Voices from the Revolution: Book Launch and Conversation with Writers from Myanmar
Thu. May 29, 2025
11:00 AM ET
Free
Online
Since the military coup in 2021, women in Myanmar have drawn on their diverse experiences and shared knowledge to resist the violence of dictatorship. Offering a glimpse into their many perspectives, Women’s Voices from the Revolution , an anthology published by ALTSEAN-Burma, features 40 pieces written by first-time writers who took part in their Women Writers Workshops. We’ll talk to those writers on the power of storytelling, human rights, and their experiences living under the junta’s rule.
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Viewpoint Diversity Is Just Another Way To Control Colleges
“Viewpoint diversity” is quickly becoming a buzzword in censoring higher-education classrooms. But speaking to The New York Times, PEN America’s Jonathan Friedman called it “very dangerous.” Read through the smokescreen >> [[link removed]]
Big Tech Comes for the Press and Democracy
Funding cuts, reduced ad revenues, news deserts–these are just some of the ways the press is suffering under rising authoritarianism globally. In a new op-ed in the Kansas City Star, Viktorya Vilk and Timothy Richardson argue that Big Tech is behind these problems. ( The Kansas City Star [[link removed]] )
Two Cheers for Free Speech
The release of Mohsen Mahdawi and Rümeysa Öztürk is a vindication for free speech. “Detaining people for their speech and activism is an abhorrent scare tactic intended to chill those who raise their voices in dissent,” said PEN America’s Kristen Shahverdian . Read our statement >> [[link removed]]
No Winners In This Race
South Carolina raced to the top this month, replacing Utah as the state with the most book bans mandated in all public schools. All but two members of the South Carolina Board of Education voted to add 10 more books to the previous 12 titles banned. See which titles can get you in trouble in SC >> [[link removed]]
Recommended Reading
In our latest PEN Ten interview, PEN International President Burhan Sönmez spoke about Lovers of Franz K. , translated by Sami Hêzil, and why imagining a better future is crucial to the time we’re living in. “Losing our sense of resistance to evil and forgetting to imagine a better tomorrow, that would be a danger to humanity …I am happy to see that those who continue to create beauty and fight for humanity are still strong enough to bother the authorities.” Read the interview >> [[link removed]]
Concert Cancelation Rings Free Expression Alarm Bells
A Pride benefit concert with Kehlani in Central Park was called off after reported pressure from the Mayor’s administration. This is the singer’s second cancellation and comes after she has been vocal about her comments on Israel and Palestine that critics have called grossly antisemitic. We said "No one wins when politicians meddle to suppress artistic expression." ( CBS [[link removed]] )
First Amendment Needs Its Journalists
The First Amendment is the great equalizer and journalists have a job that’s tougher than it needs to be in a functioning democracy. Read more from the University of Iowa’s Brett G. Johnson >> [[link removed]]
Pentagon’s Review Threatens Intellectual Freedom of DoD Students
In a new memo, the Pentagon ordered all its affiliated institutions and academies to comb through their library collections to identify and “sequester” materials, using a list of 20 keyword search terms. The list includes many terms already targeted by the Trump administration in federal agencies, such as, “diversity, equity, and inclusion,” “gender expression,” and “transgender people” – along with new terms “affirmative action,” “critical race theory,” and “white privilege.” Read more >> [[link removed]]
Recommended Reading
We spoke to Lauren Haddad about her debut novel, Fireweed, which explores racism against Indigenous communities, and Caro De Robertis , discussing So Many Stars: An Oral History of Trans, Nonbinary, Genderqueer, and Two-Spirit People of Color , a rich collection of interviews of elders about transition, activism, and celebration. Read the interviews >> [[link removed]]
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“I don’t think that authoritarianism can destroy the human imagination. I don’t think it can destroy storytelling. I don’t think it can destroy words.”
— Novelist and essayist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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