Plus: Celebrating World Press Freedom Day

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The 2021 World Voices Festival: Power to the People Tuesday 5/18 - Saturday 5/22 ([link removed])
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The PEN World Voices Festival ([link removed]) is the premier celebration of international literature in the U.S., and this year's theme is "Power To The People." We'll be joined by distinguished guests like Jhumpa Lahiri, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Joy Harjo, Richard Flanagan, and many more. Check out the full lineup and get your tickets now » ([link removed])

FLASH SALE EXTENDED: For a limited time only, enter the code FLASH21WVF at checkout to receive 25 percent off. PEN America Members get a full 50 percent off.
Get tickets now ([link removed]) or learn more about becoming a PEN Member here ›› ([link removed])
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Special Pre-Festival Event: Worker Writers School 10th Anniversary Celebration & Book Release ([link removed])
Saturday 5/1 | 8pm ET / 5pm PT

On International Workers Day, and in anticipation of the World Voices Festival 2021, we’re celebrating the release of Coronavirus Haiku ([link removed]) , an anthology of poetry made in collaboration with Workers Writers School, Kenning Editions, and Pilsen Community Books. Coronavirus Haiku brings together a selection of haikus from frontline workers during the COVID-19 pandemic that “convey moments of protest, solace, wonder, certainty, love, and strife.” Learn more and register here ›› ([link removed])

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Keeping it Local: Community Reporters Elevating Civil Discourse ([link removed])
Monday 5/3 | 8pm ET / 5pm PT

This World Press Freedom Day, we're spotlighting the work of a group of community-based journalists, editors, and publishers that demonstrate the necessity of local news. Join us as panelists Cierra Hinton (Scalawag Magazine), Sarah Rahal (Detroit News), Willoughby Mariano (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution), Trelaine Ito (Office of U.S. Senator Brian Schatz), and moderator Zach Stafford (MSNBC) will discuss their work, the importance of regional journalism, and how to support local news sources. Register here ›› ([link removed])

Announcing Breathe into the Ground: 2020 Prison Writing Awards Anthology ([link removed])
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PEN America's third annual Prison Writing Anthology, Breathe into the Ground, ([link removed]) released earlier this month, honors path-breaking work—spanning poetry, nonfiction, and drama—from writers on the inside amid the devastating pandemic.

This year, we include personal letters from the writers about their experience during the pandemic, and we introduce the PEN America/L’Engle-Rahman Award in Mentorship ([link removed]) with moving letters from our mentorship pairs. Also included is original artwork accompanying pieces provided by incarcerated artists through the Justice Arts Coalition. Learn more and purchase your copy here ›› ([link removed])

From Our Partners
Save on a Paris Review Subscription and Our Latest Anthology ([link removed])
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Subscribe to the quarterly magazine and save nearly 40% off the cover price and access our entire sixty-eight-year archive PLUS save 25% off Poets at Work, the latest anthology of Writers at Work interviews from Paris Review Editions, featuring interviews with Yehuda Amichai, John Ashbery, Frank Bidart, Elizabeth Bishop, Allen Ginsberg, and more.

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Want even more news on art, books, and culture? Sign up for The New Republic's weekly newsletter, Critical Mass. Sign up here ›› ([link removed])
Call for Submissions: Love Letters in Light ([link removed])
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Writers, join a public literary art project this May!

Submit a brief message of love that’s fifteen words or less. If selected, your message will be installed at one of the Library locations throughout Los Angeles County. Submissions due May 6.

Jurists for the contest include Los Angeles writers and poets Victoria Chang, féi hernandez, Yesika Salgado, Jerry Quickley, Imani Tolliver, and more. Learn more ›› ([link removed])

The PEN Ten ([link removed])

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The PEN Ten with Leone Ross: ([link removed]) "Fiction gives me an opportunity to express emotional truth by creating composite characters—bits of myself, inspired by other people, combined with made-up histories and newspaper headlines—and hoping readers relate deeply.”

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The PEN Ten with Elissa Washuta: ([link removed]) "I don’t think of stories as being isolated works of intentional narrative construction—I think they are at the core of how we understand the concept of time and how we relate to it.”
The PEN Pod ([link removed])
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On PEN America's Freedom to Write Index: ([link removed]) In this special episode of The PEN Pod, we speak with Karin Karlekar, director of Free Expression at Risk Programs, and Veronica Tien, assistant of Free Expression Programs, on the 2020 Freedom to Write Index ([link removed]) from PEN America and the implications that these imprisonments have on citizens' freedom of expression.

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On Artificial Intelligence and What it Means for Society with Kevin Roose: ([link removed]) "We are in charge ultimately of how these technologies are deployed and used and regulated, and we have done that throughout history. We have adapted technology to our needs and our priorities and made it work for us."

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