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August 6, 2025
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Doubling Down in Florida
PEN America has been tracking for several years now the rise in educational censorship legislation in Florida and its consequences. With pressure by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration accelerating, we decided to open a local office to support legal challenges [[link removed]] , launch awareness campaigns, partner with local groups and grassroots coalitions, and organize public programming. As we warned in our recent report, The Blueprint State [[link removed]] , Florida's restrictive “parental rights” agenda is now being exported nationwide. Only by standing together can we stop these pernicious laws from continuing to spread.
Read more about PEN America's work in Florida >> [[link removed]]

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Paws Off Our Books
After PEN America shared on social media that, as part of a ban of nearly 600 books, a Tennessee school district this year removed The Complete Book of Cats and The Complete Book of Dogs by Rosie Pilbeam , the most common reaction was: "Why!?!" State laws targeting public school and library collections are increasingly imprecise in outlining which books are subject to challenge or removal. As a result, out of an abundance of caution, titles about cats, dogs, art, history, and science are ending up on removal lists—oftentimes without anyone ever reviewing their content.
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For this week's Member Spotlight, PEN America interviewed Reyna Grande about her memoir A Dream Called Home [[link removed]] and the political and personal landscapes that shape her work. Recently named one of the best books of the 21st century so far by Kirkus Reviews, the memoir urges readers to reframe their definition of "home." "To me,” Grande told us, “home is not a place on a map, it's something that you have to build and create for yourself and can take with you wherever you go." [link removed] [[link removed]]
Read the interview >> [[link removed]]
More 2025 publications by PEN America Members >> [[link removed]]
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Thursdays, August 7, 14, and 21
Online
Free
August is Women in Translation Month and this year our free, virtual reading series gathers voices from across time zones for an international celebration! Organized by PEN America and the PEN America Translation Committee [[link removed]] , these three interactive webinars bring together panels of translators and their authors, working in a diversity of languages. The readings will be followed by brief Q&A discussions.
Register >> [[link removed]]
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[link removed] [[link removed]] Censorious state legislation is spreading
2025 has been a record-breaking year for higher education censorship, with more than 70 bills and policies introduced in 26 states, casting a web of state control over higher education.
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Submit Entries to the 2026 PEN America Literary Awards!
Since 1963, PEN America has honored outstanding voices in translation, fiction, poetry, science writing, essay, biography, and drama. Publishers and editors may submit titles published in 2025 for consideration before August 20 >> [[link removed]]
Fighting Book Bans in Iowa
PEN America filed a legal brief arguing that a 2023 Iowa which banned more than 3,000 law denies students’ rights to receive information, infringes on authors’ free speech rights, and misapplies the obscenity doctrine. “These restrictions deprive Iowa students of books that help them understand the world in which we live,” said Elly Brinkley . Read more >> [[link removed]] Read coverage in the Iowa Capital Dispatch >> [[link removed]]
Rhode Island Leads the Way
The smallest state in the nation just passed the strongest Freedom to Read Act. The new law is the first to allow librarians, authors, students, and parents facing censorship to seek relief in court. "The law’s robust protections for librarians, writers, and readers set an exemplary model that we hope to see other states replicate,” said Laura Benitez. Read more >> [[link removed]]
Filtering Out Online Abuse
Viktorya Vilk and Amanda Wells wrote in Ms. Magazine about PEN America's report, Treating Online Abuse Like Spam [[link removed]] , urging tech companies to implement safety features that proactively filter harm before it reaches users. Online abuse disproportionately affects women, minorities, and LGBTQ+ people and without those voices, these spaces become less free and less equitable. Read more >> [[link removed]]
Recommended Reading: The PEN Ten Interviews
In our latest PEN Ten interview, Katie Yee talks about her debut novel Maggie; Or, A Man And A Woman Walk Into A Bar. About the unique passage of time in the novel, she says, "The way the book deals with time was my attempt to mimic the experience of free-falling through grief. When you experience something traumatic, your memories of these days might feel fractured and your relationship to time changes." Read more >> [[link removed]]
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“You can never be too prepared to stop book bans.”
— Laura Benitez, state policy manager at PEN America
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