For Native American Heritage Month in November, we put together a reading list highlighting books that spotlight Native American writers and their experiences. Featuring novels, short story collections, memoirs, poetry collections, and more, this list celebrates Indigenous knowledge, spirituality, and vitality. Check out the reading list here ››
Earlier this week at PEN America's town hall, four prominent writers—John McWhorter, Jennifer Finney Boylan, Wajahat Ali, and Carmen Maria Machado—debated art, identity, appropriation and the state of free expression. Playwright and novelist Ayad Akhtar, PEN America’s president, introduced the event by affirming the “bedrock principle” of free speech against those on the left who dismiss it as a mask for power and those on the right who wield it as a cudgel. Watch the conversation here ››
In our latest installment of the “PEN Pals” conversation series, begun by the PEN Children’s and Young Adult Books Committee (CYAB) as a response to recent efforts to ban books and intimidate teachers and librarians, authors Ashley Hope Pérez and Padma Venkatraman discuss what book bans are really about, as well as the bans on Pérez’s book, Out of Darkness. Read their conversation here ››
Check out author and CYAB co-chair Fatima Shaik's conversation with Susan Kuklin about her book, Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out; the importance of LGBTQ+ books; and why they need to be available in schools and libraries. Read their conversation here ››
The PEN Ten with Peter Stamm: “I’m interested in people and characters who have a secret. A secret past or a secret passion or a secret goal—something hidden that I can try to find out.”
The PEN Ten with Christopher Gonzalez: “I’m always drawn to writing by other queer authors of color, whether they’re writing about joy or anger or quiet narratives or love or sex or food or popular culture or anything, really. More of all of that.”
The PEN Ten with Kyle Lucia Wu: “I wanted to create a character who was navigating the mixed identities I had been fumbling with all my life. I had not read about a lot of biracial characters or characters who grew up in blended families. . . . I wanted to tell a story about someone who lived in a more unnoticed space, and to notice her.”
The PEN Ten with Mina Seçkin: “Living in two languages—neither spoken with exact accuracy—built a house of expression for me growing up. I learned the ways bilingual and broken English could break and rewrite the rules of what is allowed to be said—and more importantly by whom.”
The PEN Pod: Writing, Healing, and Redemption with Natashia Deón
“Writing to me is a healing process, and it also gives me a chance to say things I wish I would have said. If I had another chance, if I were that seven-year-old kid again facing that big kid, I would have said, ‘Whatever.‘ Writing is beautiful like that because we can rewrite time.”
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