PEN America works tirelessly to defend free expression, support persecuted writers, and promote literary culture. Here are some of the latest ways PEN America is speaking out.
- It’s the PEN America World Voices Festival week! Now halfway through, we’ve already had some riveting conversations, fruitful cultural exchanges, and a public mural that is nearing completion in New York City and Los Angeles.
- Read our coverage of the star-studded opening night featuring Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Jennifer Egan, and Burhan Sönmez in a panel discussion moderated by interim Co-CEO Clarisse Rosaz Shariyf on the role of novelists at a time of crisis.
- Watch what the writers had to say on why writing is important at this moment.
- Read about our panel on censorship in American theatre.
- Read the history of the World Voices Festival, established in the aftermath of 9/11 isolationism to foster international dialogue.
- Here is a glimpse of our mural as seen on France 24.
- Read our coverage in People, on Medium by Christa Avampato,
- Tickets for the rest of our events are still up for grabs, go get them here.
- PEN America released a report chronicling the 100 days of the Trump administration. Called A Five Alarm Fire For Free Speech, the report details all the assaults against the First Amendment since January 20, 2025, from attacks on language to education, the press to culture, expression, and dissent. Read the full report here, and the coverage of it in The Guardian and Brookings Institution.
- PEN America’s interim Co-CEO, Clarisse Rosaz Shariyf, and vice president of the board, Dinaw Mengestu, were interviewed on CNN about our report on the Trump administration’s 100 days in office, the overwhelming list of banned words from official documents, our recently released Freedom to Write Index, as well as the World Voices Festival. Watch the segment here.
- PEN America called the latest executive order from the White House targeting public broadcasting networks like NPR and PBS an overreach that would hurt local communities. Read our statement here.
- PEN America called Indiana University’s investigation into a tenured professor a threat to academic freedom and weaponization of a diversity law. Read our statement here.
- PEN America signed an amicus brief in support of Rümeysa Öztürk, the Tufts University student who was detained by ICE last month. Read more here.
- PEN America said academic hiring should be free from political interference, expressing concern over the decision by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to intervene and halt a job search at the University of Florida for a new dean of its College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Read more here.
- PEN America’s Hadar Harris was quoted in NBC New York about the Trump administration’s 100 day marker. Read the story here. She was also quoted in BSS News, read it here.
- PEN America’s Viktorya Vilk and Tim Richardson co-authored an op-ed on authoritarianism and the Big Tech’s attack on press freedom. Read it here in the Kansas City Star.
- PEN America’s Kristin Shahverdian said free speech has been vindicated by the release of Palestinian student Mohsen Mahdawi earlier this week. Read our statement here. She was also quoted in The Hill, read the story here.
- PEN America’s Sabrina Baeta appeared in BookTrib’s Bookoholic podcast to discuss the impact of book bans in public schools across America. Listen here.
- For this week’s PEN Ten, Aleah Gatto spoke to Lauren Haddad, whose debut novel, Fireweed, takes an intimate look at the issue of racism toward Indigenous communities. Read the full interview here.
- PEN America is all set to host the 61st Literary Awards Ceremony at The Town Hall in New York City on May 8. We hope you will join us! Tickets here.
