The 2022 PEN America World Voices Festival is coming soon. We're back in person this year, with events happening in New York City and LA, as well as some virtual events! Join us May 11–14, 2022 for cross-cultural exchanges ranging from lively debates that delve into the most pressing issues of our time to intimate conversations that awaken us to the beauty and power of literature.Sign up here to be the first to know when tickets drop ››
We recently announced writer Zadie Smith as recipient of the PEN/Audible Literary Service Award, to be conferred to her at the 2022 PEN America Literary Gala. The award recognizes Smith’s remarkable achievements as a novelist, short story writer, and essayist whose work displays unparalleled attention to craft and humane ideals. The PEN/Audible Literary Service Award honors an important writer whose work has drawn a wide audience and who helps us understand the human condition in original and powerful ways. Learn more about our announcement and the Literary Gala here ››
For Women's History Month, revisit our reading list featuring women’s stories from numerous time periods and backgrounds. Books in this list range from a few hundreds of years in the past to the far future, but they are all a way to engage and reflect upon the vast spectrum of voices and perspectives that make up women’s history. Read now ››
Tuesday 3/22 | 7pm PT
Garrison Theater, Scripps College
231 E 10th St, Claremont, CA 91711
Join us for our final PEN Out Loud event of the season! Bestselling author and cofounder of the Ascend Educational Fund Julissa Arce joins us to launch her new book You Sound Like a White Girl: The Case for Rejecting Assimilation. Reflecting on the words in the book’s title, an accusation she heard growing up, Arce “interweaves her own experiences with cultural commentary” to critique the values of assimilation. Arce will be in conversation with comedian, writer, and producer Aida Rodriguez. Learn more and register here ››
Thursday 3/24 | 1:45pm ET
2022 AWP Conference
Pennsylvania Convention Center
1101 Arch St, Philadelphia, PA 19107
This event is part of the 2022 AWP Conference.
Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and PEN America president Ayad Akhtar will be in conversation with New Yorker staff writer Alexandra Schwartz. Drawing from their writing careers, which together span genres from playwriting, screenwriting, journalism, criticism, and fiction, the two will explore a wide range of questions focused on storytelling and the process of literary creation, as well as life in the theater seen from both the playwright and critic’s perspective, and the role of the writer. Learn more about this event and other AWP events featuring PEN America staff members here ››
Join us in celebrating the launch of Diaries of a Terrorist, Christopher Soto’s debut poetry collection being published on May 3, 2022 by Copper Canyon Press, in conversation with PEN America’s new book, The Sentences That Create Us: Crafting A Writer’s Life in Prison. Hosted by PEN America’s Director of Prison and Justice Writing, Caits Meissner, author Christopher Soto will be joined for a reading by Eduardo C. Corral, Emily Jungmin Yoon, Mahogany L. Browne, Alysia Nicole Harris, Nicole Sealey,Alejo Rodriguez, and Louise Waakaa’igan. Learn more and RSVP here ››
The PEN Ten with Moncho Alvarado: “Allow yourself to imagine, to dream—to rest when you need to rest. Be kind with yourself and your writing.”
The PEN Ten with Elena Medel: “I’ve never been overly optimistic, but I do have more and more faith in the people who, before acting or speaking, think hard about what effect their actions or words will have—people who count to five before making any decision.”
