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Dear Friend,

I hope you are able to find time to rest and reflect this holiday season. It’s been a long year, and we know that the fight for free expression is only going to intensify in 2020. I am going to keep this relatively short, since I know it’s a whirlwind time of year. If you have a moment to breathe, please spend some time on our website ([link removed][UNIQID]) to get a fuller picture of our activities across the country and around the world.

I wanted to share this op-ed ([link removed][UNIQID]) that I wrote for The New York Times on the largely unchecked threat that disinformation poses for our democracy. It’s impossible to know where we’ll be a year from now, but the worst political scenario of all would be a prolonged crisis over an election outcome that is sharply disputed because of disinformation and interference. Over the next year, we will be doubling down on our efforts at training, information dissemination, and engagement with political parties, campaigns, and tech companies to make sure that truth prevails.
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PEN America President Jennifer Egan at the Empty Chair Rally in support of Ukrainian journalist Stanislav Aseyev.

As we enter a hotly contested election cycle, accurate and up-to-the-minute information is vital for an informed citizenry from the national to the local level. We took an in-depth look ([link removed][UNIQID]) at the state of local news this fall and found it to be in deep crisis, as documented in our November report, “Losing the News: The Decimation of Local News and the Search for Solutions.” ([link removed][UNIQID])

More than 20 percent of local news outlets have been shuttered over the last two decades and the remainder have suffered from continual rounds of budget cuts, including the slashing of newsroom staffs. The result is a deep deficit for democratic accountability and civic engagement. School board meetings go uncovered. Corporate misdeeds go unexposed. Politicians get a pass for corruption and bad behavior. Voters are in the dark about what’s happening in their own backyards. Our report includes detailed case studies on Detroit and the Piedmont region of North Carolina (both home to PEN America chapters ([link removed][UNIQID]) launched earlier this year), as well as Denver.

While local news is in crisis, it is not down for the count. An array of innovative new business models, nonprofit configurations, philanthropic interventions, and proposals for expanded public funding point to the possibilities ([link removed][UNIQID]) for bolstering local news, including doing more to address the needs of minority communities. Our local news report has generated substantial news coverage, both nationally and in local outlets. Please check out articles in The New York Times ([link removed][UNIQID]) and The Washington Post ([link removed][UNIQID]) , as well as stories in local outlets in Colorado ([link removed][UNIQID]) , Pennsylvania
([link removed][UNIQID]) , Arkansas ([link removed][UNIQID]) , and points in between. And check out our recent TV appearances on PBS NewsHour ([link removed][UNIQID]) and Bob Herbert’s Op-Ed.TV ([link removed][UNIQID]) .

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Check out our Literary Awards Longlists, and mark your calendars for Tuesday, March 2.

Of course we’re also gearing up for another PEN America Literary Awards season and celebrating writers and champions of free expression. This year’s award ceremony on Tuesday, March 2 promises to be the biggest in our history, and we’ve just released our longlisted titles (if you need a last-minute gift, check them out here ([link removed][UNIQID]) ).

We had the chance to honor the great Toni Morrison at our LitFest Gala ([link removed][UNIQID]) in Los Angeles in November. The incomparable LeVar Burton gave her a rousing tribute ([link removed][UNIQID]) . That night, we also feted ([link removed][UNIQID]) filmmaker Ava DuVernay as a champion of storytelling that uplifts and inspires, as well as songwriter Diane Warren, free speech lawyer Theodore Boutrous, Jr., investigative journalist Julie K. Brown, and Michael Chabon, Ayelet Waldman, and their team for their exceptional work on the television series Unbelievable. Also in November, we called for the release of imprisoned Ukrainian journalist Stanislav Aseyev, detained by separatists in Ukraine in 2017, at an empty chair rally ([link removed][UNIQID]) across from the Russian Consulate in New York City.

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Actor LeVar Burton offered a moving tribute to Toni Morrison at our LitFest Gala in LA.
We were proud to announce this fall our 2019-2020 Writing for Justice Fellows ([link removed][UNIQID]) , a group of emerging and established writers who create works to illuminate issues regarding incarceration and spark public debate. Our Prison and Justice Writing Program also piloted a new addition to the mentorship program, empowering incarcerated writers to serve as leaders. November marked National Novel Writing Month ([link removed][UNIQID]) , and as part of that initiative, four of our currently incarcerated mentorship program participants worked as peer facilitators, guiding small groups of incarcerated writers in the challenge to complete a novel in a month. Want to learn more about our Prison and Justice Writing Program? Catch my colleague Robert Pollack on this episode ([link removed][UNIQID]) of the Givers Podcast—he was interviewed along with incarcerated PEN America Writing for
Justice Fellow Arthur Longworth.

Early next year, we’ll launch Free Speech 2020, an initiative designed to ensure that free expression and the freedom to write are central issues in the coming election season. We’ll fan out across the country, equipping writers with the tools to defend themselves against online harassment, leading media literacy trainings to empower voters, and engaging legislators and policymakers in enacting real change to shield free expression. Our 16th annual World Voices Festival ([link removed][UNIQID]) in May will show that writing and literature have the power to transcend our increasingly rigid borders (tickets go on sale in February). And if you’re in New York, stay tuned for the rollout of our winter PEN Out Loud author conversation series ([link removed][UNIQID]) .

If you’ve already made a gift to PEN America this holiday season, thank you. And if you haven’t, please consider supporting ([link removed][UNIQID]) all the work on the horizon—or joining us as a Member ([link removed][UNIQID]) . We’ve never been busier, and we’ve never needed your support as much as we do now.

Happy holidays, and the best wishes for a new year of hope and resilience.
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Suzanne Nossel
Executive Director, PEN America
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