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July 22, 2026
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Tips for Early Career Writers
You Are A Writer is PEN America’s annual series of free online workshops for early career writers. The series introduces topics that are foundational to understanding and launching a literary career. This year’s series was dedicated to fiction writing – from forming good writing habits to submitting your manuscript to publishers. Catch up with our recaps of the sessions.
How to Research for Storytelling >> [[link removed]] How to Write in Today’s World >> [[link removed]]
How to Build Literary Habits >> [[link removed]] How to Get Your Book Published >> [[link removed]]
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Last Call for Literary Awards Submissions
Submissions for the 2027 PEN America Literary Awards close on August 1. Our genre-spanning awards recognize writers at all stages of their careers, from debut voices to current literary luminaries. Join us in our mission of celebrating outstanding literary work by submitting exemplary work today!
Submissions must be made by publishers, editors, or agents. Authors may not submit their own work.
Learn more >> [[link removed]]
The New Ways Professors Are Being Watched
State legislatures are setting up tip-lines for anonymous reports about educators. Online vigilantes are scouring professors’ social media activity and syllabi to create watch lists, generate outrage, and call for their firing. Students are recording professors in class, sometimes to report them, sometimes to circulate the recording online, and sometimes both. At PEN America, we’re paying attention to the ways in which an increased sense of being watched is affecting freedom of expression and academic freedom, contributing to a chilled campus where suspicion and anxiety are running at high levels.
Learn more >> [[link removed]] For more on Campus Free Speech, join us at our next workshop >> [[link removed]]
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This week’s Member Spotlight features PEN America member Lily Brooks-Dalton , whose novel Ruins was described by Kirkus Reviews as “an all-too-believable picture of nature reclaiming Florida from its human inhabitants.” [link removed] [[link removed]]
Ruins is a powerful, deeply resonant novel about an ambitious archaeologist in pursuit of a rare artifact from an ancient civilization that would change not only her life but potentially society at large.
Check out Ruins >> [[link removed]]
All Members Books
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Wed. July 29, 2026 | 1:00 PM ET
Free
Online
Around the world and throughout history, governments have seen writers as a threat, interrogating the conveniently-expunged and state-sanctioned versions of “history,” “fact,” and “truth.” That’s precisely why governments around the world are going to extreme lengths to silence and jail writers [[link removed]] . Join PEN America for a conversation with two writers, Awet Fissehaye and Behnaz Amani , who know what it’s like to be arrested for words, and why solidarity is the first step to guaranteeing the freedom to write for all.
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Women in Translation Month Reading Series
Thu. August 13, Thu. August 20, Thu. August 27
Free
Online
This August, we’re celebrating Women in Translation Month! Our free, virtual reading series gathers voices from across time zones for an international celebration. These events bring together panels of translators, joined by their authors, working in a diversity of languages. We hope you’ll join us for these one-of-a-kind bilingual readings, moderated by Nancy Naomi Carlson, Joon-Li Kim, and Samantha Schnee.
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Cocktails and Conversation with Daniel Rivero
Sun. August 16 | 12:30 PM
Esmé Hotel
Miami Beach
Join us for cocktails, light fare, and conversation with journalist and author Daniel Rivero, whose acclaimed book Just Freedom: Inside Florida’s Decades-Long Voting Rights Battle traces the decades-long struggle to restore voting rights to Floridians with past felony convictions. Gather with William Johnson , Director of PEN America’s Florida office, in an intimate setting to explore one of the most significant voting-rights victories in Florida’s history and the ongoing challenges shaping access to the ballot box today.
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[[link removed]] The Unbannable Library: Big Books, Bigger Impact
They’re big. They’re floppy. They’re colorful. They’re fighting censorship. We caught up with The Unbannable Library, who make large-scale art books to protest book bans, at the World Voices Festival to talk about the impact this project has had in the South and across the country.
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Dark Humor and Painful Topics
Navigating pain and grief looks different for everybody, and for many, comedy can be a source of light in the darkness. At the 2026 World Voices Festival panel authors Katie Yee and Benedict Nguyễn explored how they use humor and satire to tackle painful topics. Read the blog [[link removed]] .
A Fortunate Event in Tennessee
PEN 's Freedom to Read team joined author Lemony Snicket (aka Daniel Handler) and local advocates in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, to host a freedom to read celebration with the Rutherford County Library Alliance, winners of this year’s PEN/Benenson Courage Award. Read more in the Tennessean >> [[link removed]]
Read an op-ed from Lemony Snicket >> [[link removed]]
What Comes After Book Bans?
After removing hundreds of books, Clay County, Florida, is debating the purpose of high school libraries. “This is a bigger conversation that goes beyond any single book,” said William Johnson , director of PEN America's Florida office. "It's a conversation about the future of reading, intellectual freedom and what school libraries should look like in Florida." Read more in WUSF >> [[link removed]]
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“Freedom of expression is the precondition for the fullness of liberty, quality, and justice.”
— Award-winning journalist Ali Velshi for America Speaks [[link removed]]
Donate to PEN America [[link removed]]
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