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August 19, 2026
The Newsletter [[link removed]]
Government Interference on Campus
As students head back to school this fall, many will return to universities and colleges shaped not only by the hallowed traditions of research, learning, and teaching, but also by ideological whims and political agendas. Universities and colleges across the country have been forced to navigate an ever-changing landscape of government censorship. We’ve identified four ways state laws are sustaining the destructive campaign against academic freedom in 2026.
Learn more about these new tactics >> [[link removed]]
PEN America joined the Alliance for Higher Education in responding to the U.S. Department of Education’s recent call for colleges and universities to publicly commit to policies and priorities advanced by the Trump administration, including on admissions, faculty hiring, free expression, research, affordability, and technology. Colleges and universities must remain free from politicized government interference.
Learn more about our unity campaign >> [[link removed]]
Tell Congress: Protect the Freedom to Read in Schools
A bill intended to censor speech and instruction in schools, explicitly targeting explicitly targeting LGBTQ+ stories and modern literature, is moving through the House, and companion legislation was recently introduced in the Senate. Contact your members of Congress today and urge them to oppose this legislation that extends a pattern of policies targeting LGBTQ+ voices and experiences.
Send a letter >> [[link removed]]
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We’re Suing to Preserve the Independent Work of VOA
PEN America joined longtime Voice of America journalist Barry Newhouse and three other VOA journalists in suing the Trump administration over its dismantling of the broadcaster and efforts to turn it into a government mouthpiece. The lawsuit, Newhouse v. USAGM , seeks to restore VOA’s editorial independence and protect the vital role of independent journalism in reaching audiences around the world.
Learn more >> [[link removed]]
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Our Member Spotlight features Lane Glisson , author of Disappearance and Candor in Contemporary Women's Writing [[link removed]] . Using the example of Marcel Proust's character Albertine, this book argues that the trope of the disappeared woman stems from the male narrator's inability to see beyond his own projections, and women's narratives challenge those constraints. [link removed] [[link removed]]
Glisson addresses broader questions of human rights by focusing on authoritarian governments' use of gendered language and the feminization of enemies to justify the disappearance of political opponents or scapegoated minorities.
Check out Disappearance and Candor >> [[link removed]]
View 2026 publications by Members >> [[link removed]]
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Women in Translation Month Reading Series 2026
Thu. August 20, Thu. August 27
Free
Online
We’re celebrating Women in Translation Month with a free, online reading series that brings together panels of translators, joined by their authors, working in a diversity of languages. We hope you’ll join us for two more bilingual readings, moderated by Nancy Naomi Carlson and Joon-Li Kim.
Learn more >> [[link removed]]
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[link removed] [[link removed]] Need more ‘Odyssey’?
We have book recs.
Perhaps Christopher Nolan's adaptation of The Odyssey in 70mm IMAX took your breath away, and you've been in a Homeric daze ever since. Or perhaps each and every one of the classicist Emily Wilson's criticisms about the mythic movie resonated with you. We recommend these 23 books to everyone who can't get enough of the complicated men (and women) of antiquity that continue to captivate our imagination.
Check it out >> [[link removed]]
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Recommended Reading
In our latest PEN Ten interview, we spoke with Ruta Sepetys about her latest release, A Fortune of Sand , which first came to her mind 50 years ago. To writers looking to try their hand at historical fiction or make their readers laugh out loud, Sepetys also offered her best advice. Read more. [[link removed]]
Turning Newsgathering Into a Federal Crime
PEN America joined 45 news organizations, including the AP, The New York Times, and the Washington Post, on an amicus brief led by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press asking a court to dismiss the case against independent journalists Georgia Fort and Don Lemon related to their coverage of an immigration enforcement protest at a St. Paul church. Read more. [[link removed]]
‘These Books are Relevant to Anyone Who Cares About Freedom’
Darrel D. Colson, Presidential Fellow at Centenary College of Louisiana and Former President of Wartburg College, wrote for PEN America [[link removed]] about an experience with a South African student that impacted his perspective on free expression. Hear more perspectives on free expression and add your own voice to the mix through America Speaks [[link removed]] .
‘Let’s Be the Voice of Those Forgotten’
PEN America hosted a conversation with two formerly jailed writers now in exile, Iranian scholar and poet Behnaz Amani and British-Eritrean poet Awet Fissehaye . They spoke about their work and explained how their governments attacked them for their words. Catch up on the conversation. [[link removed]]
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“Censorship is a coward’s game, and we know what they fear: expertise, integrity, academic rigor, and the pursuit of knowledge.”
— Laura Benitez and Emma Sorkin , Freedom to Learn at PEN America
Donate to PEN America [[link removed]]
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