In partnership with Harper's Bazaar, PEN America's Prison & Justice Writing Program is proud to present Essays on Freedom, a five-part series featuring essays from women who were formerly or are currently incarcerated. The collection was curated with the help of Caits Meissner, PEN America’s Director of Prison and Justice Writing, and features work by current and former PEN America Writing For Justice fellows. These essays provide reflections on finding community behind bars, seeking refuge in the arts, and the liberating power of language. Read here ››
PEN America welcomes the 2021 Emerging Voices Fellows. Now in its 25th year, a cohort of fellows, based in ten different states across the country, will partake in a five-month immersive mentorship program with virtually accessible programs that emphasize the business of books. The 14 fellows, who were selected from the largest applicant pool in the program’s history, are: Nefertiti Asanti, KB, Jerakah Greene, Stephan Sebastian Herrera, Lisa Lee Herrick, Joanna Hong, Lilly U. Nguyen, Kimberly Nguyen, Rochelle Marrett, Shanda McManus, Jenise Miller, Ofelia Montelongo, Tochukwu Okafor, and Adrienne Oliver.
Don't forget to submit to the 2022 PEN America Literary Awards, which are open through August 1! This coming year, we will confer some $350,000 to writers and translators at all stages of their careers. We hope you'll help us spread the word and encourage the submission of your favorite books published in the 2021 calendar year. Learn more about submitting here ››
Check out PEN America President Ayad Akhtar's "Shelf Life" feature with Elle Magazine, in which he discusses the books that kept him up too late, made him weep, laugh out loud, and more.
The PEN Ten with Sunjeev Sahota:“Watching imagined people struggling through life in the imagined arena of a novel somehow allows me to live my life in a better, more self-aware way. Writing novels is an extension of that.”
The PEN Ten with Zülfü Livaneli:“I have no regrets about my work. I wouldn’t want to change a single word I’ve written. In one of my early poems, I criticized the cruelty of the Turkish army with harsh words because they had killed my friends. It was immediately banned, and still is today. I’ve been sentenced several times because of this poem, but I’ve never regretted it.”
The PEN Pod: The M Word
On this special edition of The PEN Pod, we introduced last month's town hall series, The M Word, which aims to center American Muslim voices. Our own Clarisse Rosaz Shariyf spoke with oral historian Zaheer Ali, artistic director of Performing Arts Mosaic Adam Gagan, organizer Ayah Eldosougi, and director of MPAC’s Hollywood Bureau Sue Obeidi.
