Rachel Powers is the PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Center program manager at PEN America. Rachel has interned at Gotham Writers’ Workshop, Planned Parenthood, the U.S. House of Representatives, the Women’s Environment and Development Organization, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. She is deeply involved in community organizing and mutual aid. Rachel has a BA with honors in Creative Writing and Government from Colby College. She is a fiction writer from the Catskills and currently lives in Brooklyn.
Rachel Powers
Program Manager, PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Center
Articles by Rachel Powers
Thursday November 14
Day of the Imprisoned Writer 2024: Writing as a Political Act
For the 2024 Day of the Imprisoned Writer, which falls annually on Nov. 15, PEN America convened a panel to call attention to writers in prison.
Friday October 6
Narges Mohammadi, The Iranian Writer Speaking Out From Behind Bars
Narges Mohammadi has been a target of Iranian authorities for more than 30 years. She was arrested twice at meetings of a political student group.
Tuesday September 12
Sola Mahfouz & Malaina Kapoor | The PEN Ten Interview
In Afghanistan, laughter is as much a part of life as sorrow and pain. People crack jokes while hiding from bombs in basements, finding humor in their grim reality.