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Updates on the Coronavirus from PEN America

June 9, 2020

May 27, 2020

As the pandemic has raged around the world, there’s been an alarming uptick in attacks and hatred against Asian and Asian-American people here in the United States. To fight back, we teamed up with the Asian American Writers’ Workshop to get more than 100 writers, artists, and activists to sign a joint statement of solidarity.

Those activities get underway around midday, and we’ll make recordings of the highlight events available on our website. One of the day’s participants: writer and activist Helen Zia, who also joined us on The PEN Pod today to talk about the spike in anti-Asian sentiment but also how we can rally together to fight back.

May 27, 2020

There’s been a heartening rise in the number of protest actions across the country in recent years: the Women’s March, Black Lives Matter, and Standing Rock, just to name a few. But the current White House occupant has taken to calling protesters he dislikes disloyal. Meantime he praises as patriots those protesting lockdowns with guns at state capitols.

Now, in a new report from us at PEN America, we find that over the past five years, state legislators have introduced a slew of anti-protest legislation aimed at mostly limited First Amendment rights for progressive demonstrators.

Our report, Arresting Dissent, shows that while in 2015 and 2016 just six bills limiting protest rights were introduced at the state level, that number ballooned to 110 from 2017 to 2019. While many have died or been challenged in court, nearly two dozen have become law.

As our Nora Benavidez says:

May 22, 2020

Chile and other Latin American countries have seen a rise in crackdowns against artistic and free expression. Just this week, Chilean authorities appeared to permit the “erasure” of an artist collective’s light installation. The group Delight Lab had been projected statements on buildings in Santiago.

Said our Julie Trebault:

May 21, 2020

Writer, poet, novelist, and playwright Carmen Boullosa normally splits her time between Mexico City and New York, but since the pandemic, she’s stayed in the Mexican capital, reflecting on her work and continuing to write.

May 20, 2020

In a statement, our Nora Benavidez said:

May 19, 2020

While we’ve mostly used this space to explore our work as it relates to the coronavirus, this week we launched a new annual report documenting the writers imprisoned around the world. And while our Freedom to Write Index 2019 discusses those incarcerated last year, many still languish in the world’s prisons as the pandemic rages and threatens those behind bars in acute ways.

The Freedom to Write Index is part of the long history of advocacy of PEN America and indeed PEN International. For a century, PEN centers worldwide have taken it as their mission to defend writers who are muzzled by governments who seek to silence their voices.

We have long tracked cases and annually bestow our PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award on an imprisoned writer or group of writers, we had never published a full look at all those held in a calendar year. That is, until now.

The Index shows that during 2019, at least 238 writers and public intellectuals were unjustly detained in connection with their writing. The worst offenders? China, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey. As part of the project, we also launched a comprehensive real-time database of historical cases that’s searchable by name, country, and case type.

We hope you have a chance to explore the Index and the database, and for more on the effort, listen to Tuesday’s episode of The PEN Pod, featuring Karin Deutsch Karlekar, who led the research effort for the Index, as well as Egyptian writer Ahmed Naji who was detained for his work for two years.

May 15, 2020

The Great Believers, which is set during the AIDS epidemic in 1980s Chicago, was a Pulitzer and National Book Award finalist and received the ALA Carnegie Medal and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.

We spoke with Rebecca about the similarities and differences between that moment in history and our current one; the writing advice she always gives her students; and why it’s more important than ever that we continue making and talking about art during times of upheaval.

Also on today’s edition, we put our toughest questions about free speech and the pandemic to PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel. This week, we focus on “plandemic,” and the president’s attacks on journalists from VOA and CBS News.

May 14, 2020

A political theorist by day, Notre Dame professor Eileen Hunt Botting is also a scholar of the famed writer Mary Shelley. While perhaps best known for her novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, Shelley’s 1826 apocalyptic novel The Last Man has been of particular interest to Botting.

Botting has called The Last Man the first modern major pandemic novel. On this edition of The PEN Pod, she explores the idea of how a pandemic can be shaped by politics, and how imagining what comes next is perhaps one silver lining of our current crisis.

Take a listen to the full episode:

May 13, 2020

In this week’s edition of Temperature Check, our biweekly newsletter series focusing on prisons and COVID-19, our team focuses on the specific issue of incarcerated women.

Nearly ten percent of the over 2 million people incarcerated in the U.S. are women, a population that’s grown at twice the rate of men’s incarceration since 1980. Of those numbers, 80 percent of women in jails are mothers, and more than 60 percent of women in state prisons have a child under the age or 18.

Read more, including a submission from prior PEN America Prison Writing Award Winner Elizabeth Hawes.

May 13, 2020

The good folks at the Los Angeles Times picked up the story and explored all the PEN America is doing amid the pandemic. Our Michelle Franke said:

May 13, 2020

We spoke with Lulu about her book and its particular relevance in this moment across the globe, the importance of resilience, and how to remain optimistic in the face of adversity.

You can listen to our full episode here:

May 12, 2020

It’s been nearly two months since most of the nation’s university and college campuses shut down, which means the spring semester has been mostly been taking place in the virtual space. Our campus free speech team, rather than going to conferences and campuses, has been taking to webinars to brief professors and administrators on how to protect and promote free expression in the online classroom.

On today’s episode of The PEN Pod, we talk to the campus speech project’s director Jonathan Friedman about the virtues and perils of bringing the classroom online, and how faculty, students, and their family members are coping. Take a listen.

May 11, 2020

Hungarian author and screenwriter János Székely was born right at the turn of the century, enduring one of the most challenging times in European history. His masterwork is his 1949 autobiographical novel Temptation, which has only just now appeared in English translation.

Today on The PEN Pod, we spoke to the work’s translator, Hungarian-British scholar Mark Baczoni, on this unusual, epic novel that explores the prewar period in central Europe. And without being too glib, he discusses key parallels between our time and Székely’s, as well as how translation and the need for translation has become all the more acute.

Take a listen:

May 8, 2020

But is this a step in the right direction or just Facebook trying to dodge accountability and police itself? We put that question to our CEO Suzanne Nossel in our weekly TOUGH QUESTIONS segment on The PEN Pod.

She also tussled with an experiment over at Twitter, where that platform is experimenting with a warning to folks who may be inciting online hate…but not outright banning them from posting harassing language.

Also on today’s edition: an interview with Ukrainian novelist Andrey Kurkov, who is also president of our peer PEN center in Ukraine. Take a listen:

May 8, 2020

In just a few weeks, PEN America will be releasing a new look at how writers in particular are being persecuted globally. Among those facing unjust imprisonment, Bangladeshi photojournalist Shafiqul Islam Kajol.

We’ve also been calling attention to the case of Russian writer and historian Yury Dmitriev after a COVID-19 outbreak in his detention center. His appeal for release was rejected by a Russian court this week.

Sixty-four, Dmitriev has worked to uncover and document mass graves from the era of Stalinist purges. He was first arrested in 2016 on charges of sexual misconduct involving children–a charge the Russian government has used before to discredit those it wishes to silence–and acquitted in 2018. That acquittal was overturned just two months later, and new charges were brought against him for which he faces up to 20 years in prison; he remains in pre-trial detention.

May 7, 2020

We spoke with Jose about how the pandemic is impacting immigrants in the United States and around the globe, as well as the unique freedom that is inherent in writing.

Also today, we unveil another installment of our series on how local bookstores are weathering the shutdown and the economic strains of our current moment. In this installment, we profile shops in Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles, and Washington DC.

May 7, 2020

We’ll be rolling out new content each and every week. Stay tuned!

May 6, 2020

Also today, PEN America releases a new reading list uplifting Asian American voices for Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month:

May 6, 2020

In particular, she highlights the specific threat journalists reporting on the crisis have faced. In Russia, she reports that radio stations and news sites have been compelled to pull articles about the outbreak, while other journalists have been questioned about their sources.

Polina offers up her analysis on today’s edition of The PEN Pod.

May 5, 2020

In 2020, the Italian city Parma was meant to be celebrated as the country’s capital of culture. Of course the COVID-19 pandemic has upended any and all plans for the year, and the outbreak has been particularly acute in Italy.

But as the lockdowns are loosening slightly, today on The PEN Pod we talk to American author Wallis Wilde-Menozzi, who after living in some of the world’s biggest cities, finally settled in Parma. The Wisconsin native says she’s never lost her Midwestern accent, and her memoir Mother Tongue about her life in Italy has just bee republished.

She previews what life has been like under the Italian lockdown; how a country that has endured multiple hardships over the century is coping with this one; and how she’s found time to write and create and be productive…even with an hours-long line at the grocery store.

Also on today’s edition, we take a look at the Pulitzer Prize winners, announced yesterday. The roster includes a number of friends of PEN America. Take a listen:

May 4, 2020

Take a listen:

May 4, 2020

At a moment when the world’s in crisis, diving into a good book is a treat. And diving into a series of good books can be a welcome distraction. On today’s episode of The PEN Pod, we interviewed bestselling author Karin Slaughter. Her crime novels have sold millions of copies globally, and fans go wild for her Will Trent series of books.

Slaughter lives just down the road from the CDC, and in our interview talks about research she did there for a prior book, and how it’s helped form her take on the current pandemic. She’s also founder of Save the Libraries, a nonprofit that supports public libraries in the U.S.

Take a listen:

May 1, 2020

In our interview, we discussed what life is like for people who are facing isolation and repression, especially at a moment when we’re all stuck inside. And she offers up a look at what’s on her bookshelf.

Also, we went over some tough questions about free speech with our CEO Suzanne Nossel for our weekly segment on tricky questions amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

This week, we talked about the responsibilities that digital platforms have to prevent online conspiracy theories from tipping into online harassment, the controversy around Michael Moore’s new documentary, and why PEN America is honoring local journalists this Sunday for World Press Freedom Day.

May 1, 2020

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve been warning about governments and officials using the crisis as cover for drastic moves to censor or otherwise withhold civil liberties.

To wit, in Florida, we saw a case emerge this week where medical examiners’ offices were reporting a fatality rate ten percent higher that state department of health figures. Thanks to the amazing reporting at The Tampa Bay Times, this story came to light, but since then, the state has been withholding critical information about the virus.

In our statement, we said that public access to government records should never be subject to political interference:

May 1, 2020

This Sunday marks World Press Freedom Day, normally a moment for us to reflect on the work that journalists do worldwide to provide critical information. Right now, though, we believe it’s crucial to also honor those journalists working so hard here in the U.S. amid the pandemic.

As part of that efforts, we’ve been sending letters to state governors and other officials urging them to direct needed resources to local news outlets. Now, we’re asking our Members to play a role as well. Today, we sent a message to our 7,500 Members across the country to email their governors to make the same request.

Check out the link above to read more and to see how you can reach your state officials at this moment of crisis.

April 30, 2020

On today’s edition of The PEN Pod, we speak to author and PEN America Trustee Dinaw Mengestu, author of three novels, all three named New York Times notable books. His most recent is All Our Names, and Dinaw teaches at Bard College.

In our interview, we talk about how Dinaw is working with his students right now, as well as the possibilities for writing and transcending borders amid a global lockdown.

Also on today’s episode, we speak to Julie Trebault, director of PEN America’s Artists at Risk Connection. Usually her program is in the business of helping artists and other creative professionals around the world get the resources they need when their work is threatened.

Now, she and her team have taken that work a step further, assembling a group of ten organizations to creative a rapid-response network called Amani: Africa Creative Defence Network. This way, when an artist needs to link up with resources, that person can fill out one form and it gets to all ten organizations to coordinate.

Take a listen to the full episode:

April 29, 2020

She discussed how the book, of course written well before the pandemic, reflects the current moment:

Listen to the full episode here:

April 28, 2020

Part family history, part meditation on migration and movement, the book started with a photograph of Brandon’s grandfather.

Take a listen to the full episode:

April 27, 2020

PEN America has been enlisting its members and friends to help support local journalism at a time of true crisis. We’re appealed to federal lawmakers, but this week, we turned to the nation’s governors and demanded that they include emergency funding for local news in their coronavirus relief efforts.

Our Nora Benavidez says:

April 27, 2020

While we were excited to welcome novelist Polish novelist Szczepan Twardoch to the now-canceled World Voices Festival, we are delighted to let you listen to the music that inspires his work.

As part of our Just Press Play series, Twardoch shares some of his favorite jams. His novel The King if Warsaw debuted this month.

April 27, 2020

Debut author Ramiza Koya has been active in the literary scene in Portland, and while for years she pursued a number of writing projects, this year she’s out with her first novel The Royal Abduls.

It’s a story of an Indian-American-Muslim family in the post-9/11 era, and the struggles for acceptance in a country split sharply on racial and religious lines. Koya talks about how she hopes others might read her book, but also about her own struggle with cancer and how her community in Portland has rallied around her.

Take a listen:

April 24, 2020

With so much put on hold — including going to school, playing with friends, after-school activities, visits with grandparents, and even weekly trips to the library; not to mention the fear of catching a scary disease that is transmitted in invisible ways — the COVID-19 crisis has upended children’s lives.

April 24, 2020

Poet Rigoberto Gonzalez earlier this year was granted the 2020 PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry, just weeks before the pandemic set in. We caught up with him amid the lockdown to discuss the arc of his poetry, how his family history informs his work, and the ability to find beauty amid a crisis.

Also on today’s edition of The PEN Pod, our weekly segment “Tough Questions” with our CEO Suzanne Nossel. We discussed the reaction to Facebook’s decision to pull posts related to lockdown protests; a State Department report on how Iran, Russia, and China are pushing falsehoods about the virus; and paywalls and local journalism.

Take a listen:

April 23, 2020

Emily Nemens came to The Paris Review as editor in 2018, charged with revising the magazine for the current moment. Less than two years later, she and her team are managing how to keep a magazine running and its contributors busy amid a global pandemic.

We spoke to Nemens about her work as editor and about her new novel The Cactus League, published earlier this year.

April 23, 2020

This week, the White House removed Rick Bright as the director of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority and as he deputy assistant secretary for preparedness and response. He was given a narrower job at the National Institutes of Health.

Bright alleges that he was dismissed for his insistence that the government scrutinize hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria drug embraced by President Trump as a COVID-19 treatment.

Our Washington director Thomas O. Melia wrote on Medium:

Read his entire piece here:

April 22, 2020

It’s become perhaps too routine to lament the president’s use of the coronavirus crisis to assert an anti-immigrant agenda. And last night, after much fanfare and confusion, the president announced a suspension of green card issuances for 60 days.

Read our full statement.

April 22, 2020

Last year, writer Mimi Lok debuted her first short story collection Last of Her Name, and in March, a group of judges awarded her the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Short Story Collection. The judges wrote that the stories were not only darkly comic but necessary.

On today’s episode of The PEN Pod, we talked about how the pandemic is reshaping literary life right now and how the connections forged in the pages of her book mirror the connections we make amid the pandemic. She also discussed her work as executive director of Voice of Witness, a nonprofit oral history project.

Take a listen.

April 22, 2020

In the second installment of our Writers Who Cook series, author Malie Meloy brings us into her kitchen where working through the fresh ingredients always comes first. She writes that her boss at her first real job taught her how to make risotto. “She said it was easy and forgiving; it’s all about stirring.”

Check out her full recipe here:

Also, while we’ve focused a lot on the plight of writers at this time, small publishers have their own unique set of challenges as the economy grinds to a halt. Our LA executive director Michelle Franke spoke to Dan Smetanka, vice president and editor-in-chief of Counterpoint Press, one of the country’s largest independent publishers, about how they’re coping.

April 21, 2020

We spoke with Emily about the comparisons many readers have made between Station Eleven, which takes place in the aftermath of a fictional swine flu pandemic, and our current moment; what inspired her new book; and her writing process.

Also on today’s episode, we speak to PEN America’s Katie Zanecchia about the rollout of our initiative to elevate local journalists amid the pandemic. As part of the lead-up to World Press Freedom Day, we’re profiling journalists doing life-or-death work to report on the crisis, and we’re asking for your nominations for reporters doing this critical work.

Take a listen to today’s episode:

April 20, 2020

The threat to civil liberties and free expression right now is acute, as governments exploit a global pandemic to lash out against critics. In Hong Kong over the weekend, authorities arrested 15 prominent figures of the city’s pro-democracy movement.

We issued a statement Monday calling on authorities to stand down in their campaign against pro-democracy activists. Our Summer Lopez said the arrests are an example of Hong Kong using crisis to silence critics.

Read our full statement here:

April 20, 2020

For our weekly World Voices Festival digital series Just Press Play, we bring you a playlist from Whiting Award winning author of IRL and co-host of the pdocast “Food 4 Thot” Tommy Pico. Not only can you listen to his playlist, you can also check out his commentary on each track.

For Lorde’s “Buzzcut Season,” he writes: “I’m gonna be real: I haven’t had a haircut since November, and I am starting to look mangy. I was going to get a fresh cut right before my spring tour, but with all of my dates canceled and the shop closed, it looks like it might be awhile before I get a good snipping. Looks like it’s buzzcut season, friends!”

Listen hear for his selections:

April 20, 2020

In her latest work, she contends with imagined worlds but also the very real-life problems of social stratification and gentrification.

Take a listen:

April 17, 2020

PEN America’s already been putting pressure on members of Congress to support local news amid the pandemic (look for a major local news initiative from us starting Monday). But we’ve also joined a number of other groups to ensure the arts, humanities, and literary sectors receive the financial support they need to weather this crisis.

Today we joined some 40 other organizations calling for relief that will “sustain the arts sector’s unique capacity to support the U.S. economy, uplift the human spirit, and provide lifelong learning.”

April 17, 2020

While most folks are focusing on their sourdough recipies, we at PEN America are working with our friends and authors to provide a few other ways to keep yourself distracted while you’re stuck at home. Each week we’ve published select reading lists bringing you some of the best in literature from some amazing voices.

Since it’s national poetry month, we asked writer and translator Forrest Gander to write an intro for this week’s reading list, a selection of collections from the 2020 PEN America Award for Poetry in Translation.

Okay, and we also couldn’t resist getting authors in their kitchens, or at least see what’s keeping their bodies and souls nourished while stuck mostly indoors. Author of Black Card Chris L. Terry introduced us to his lentil soup and the backstory behind it. Plus, don’t miss the photo credit from his five year old son.

April 17, 2020

Like so many industries, writers have taken a major hit as the economy has hit the skids. Screenwriters in the entertainment industry face a unique moment of uncertainty, as television and film and digital projects often require groups of people to be in the same place to produce, but it doesn’t stop writers from putting pen to paper.

To dissect all the ways this crisis is affecting Hollywood, we turned to founder of The Black List and film entrepreneur Franklin Leonard (who also happens to be a PEN America trustee). He’s also been outspoken about the industry’s lack of diversity, and discussed the challenges facing the entertainment business even before the pandemic. But he’s also optimistic that the world could change for the better.

Also on Friday’s episode, our weekly Tough Questions with PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel. This week, we cover the Trump administration’s ongoing press briefings, Liberty University issuing a warrant against two journalists, and concerns over surveillance amid the pandemic.

April 16, 2020

Our campus speech program, rather than going dormant as campuses have shuttered, has turned its attentions online. Through a series of training seminars and workshops, that team continues to inform the conversation around threats to free speech, especially as they manifest in the virtual classroom.

One focus of these seminars has been the threat of Zoombombing, or harassers crashing webinars and spewing hate or offensives images. Our Jonathan Friedman writes on Medium that such attacks might be new, but it has its legacy in the unfortunate reality of online hate and harassment. He writes:

Read his whole article here:

April 16, 2020

He joined The PEN Pod to talk about his new novel, as well as his perspective on the shutdown and the health crisis we’re all enduring.

Take a listen:

April 16, 2020

E-readers offered the promise of expanding access to literature, news, and information to people incarcerated in the nation’s prisons and jails. But unfortunately, the private companies that provide these digital devices often levy exorbitant pay-per-minute access fees.

James also joined The PEN Pod today to talk about the letter. Take a listen:

April 15, 2020

On today’s edition of The PEN Pod, Booker Prize winner Bernardine Evaristo joined us to talk about the COVID-19 crisis in London, how she crafted the characters in her latest novel Girl, Woman, Other, and rediscovering literature at a time of crisis.

Also on today’s podcast, Washington Post media journalist Paul Farhi discusses the role of the press and how reporters are coping with the circus of Trump’s press briefings.

Take a listen to the whole episode here:

April 14, 2020

While he’s since somewhat walked back his comments, President Trump used a Monday press conference to assert (nonexistent) absolute authority over state governments in his efforts to restart the economy. Our Thomas O. Melia, a former State Department official, wrote on Medium that it was yet another installment of a continuing spectacle of tirades against the press and personal grievance.

Tom also wrote about the president’s use of White House staff to produce and effectively underwrite a propaganda video seeking to rebut reports about his widely failed efforts to take timely steps to control the coronavirus.

April 14, 2020

Three Burmese street artists were arrested for painting a mural that Myanmar authorities said was “insulting to religion.” They were detained under the country’s draconian article 295A, which criminalizes speech that “insults or attempts to insult” religion or religious beliefs.

The mural appeals to Burmese citizens to stay home amid the coronavirus pandemic. Hardline Buddhist activist alleged that the figure of the Grim Reaper on the right resembled a Buddhist monk. The charges against the artists can carry a two-year sentence.

Our Artists at Risk Connection project director Julie Trebault said that their arrest exemplifies how laws that punish peaceful speech can have abusive consequences:

Read our full statement:

April 14, 2020

On today’s episode of The PEN Pod, we take a deeper look at how the pandemic is playing out in the nation’s prisons and jails. First, we discuss current conditions with Caits Meisser, who leads PEN America’s Prison and Justice Writing Program. We talk about what writers on the inside are facing and about her team’s new weekly newsletter series, Temperature Check.

Then, we turn to investigative reporter Beth Shelburne. Based in Alabama, she covers one of the most over-capacity prison systems in the nation. She talks about the crisis on the inside but also the challenges she faces as a reporter in covering conditions of confinement.

Finally, we hear from one of our writers who’s serving time in a prison in Michigan. Justin Rovillos Monson shares his original poem, “Lockdown Language in a World that Does Not Yet Understand the Total Logic of the Cage.”

April 14, 2020

Missouri’s Governor Mike Parson has taken social distancing precautions to an extreme, banning reporters from even attending daily press briefings. Rather than enforcing distance among journalists, the governor’s office requires reporters to email questions in advance, and they are in turn vetted by the governor’s staff.

It’s an obvious move to block transparency and press access at a time when it couldn’t be more important. And what’s more, emailing questions halts one of the most critical tools in a reporter’s arsenal: the follow-up, which every politician dreads but to which every member of the public is entitled. Our Nora Benavidez said:

Read our full statement here:

April 13, 2020

Following the mantra to never let a crisis go to waste, world leaders have been using this period of uncertainty and alarm to crack down on free expression and free speech. In her latest Foreign Policy piece, our CEO Suzanne Nossel writes that around the world, we have the be vigilant to the threats posed by leaders who would hijack crisis to burnish their own images or preserve power.

Suzanne highlights how governments around the world have cracked down, and adds that here in the U.S. the president repeatedly uses the bully pulpit “to tout unproven treatments, downplay the severity of the crisis, and spread falsehoods…[H]is relentless propaganda nonetheless drags down public discourse and makes it impossible for citizens to know what to believe.”

April 13, 2020

On Monday, two egregious attacks on free speech and the freedom of the press came to light for us at PEN America. One was here in the U.S., where President Trump’s re-election campaign sued a Wisconsin NBC affiliate after they aired an ad critical of the president’s coronavirus response.

In India, late last week authorities drove hours to serve notice to the founding editor of India’s The Wire news website, who faces a criminal complaint for his outlet’s coverage of a state government minister who attended a public religious gathering in contravention of India’s social distancing rules.

In both cases, governments appeared to be papering over their own lackluster responses to the crisis by lashing out at the press and the media. On both accounts, we say the criminal charges and the lawsuit are frivolous and should be rejected outright.

April 13, 2020

Health professionals are obviously playing a heroic role amid the coronavirus pandemic. And increasingly, doctors who are also writers are helping interpret disease and the pandemic to all of us.

Dr. Judy Melinek is a medical examiner, and in 2015, she penned her memoir Working Stiff alongside her co-author and spouse T.J. Mitchell. Recently they’ve switched over to novels, with their debut First Cut. We caught up with Judy and T.J. to talk about the outbreak, writing as a married couple, and facing their own quarantine.

April 10, 2020

Across the country, teachers and professors are making the difficult transition to teaching students online. Already a hotbed for questions over free speech and free inquiry, universities and colleges are now having to confront similar questions in the virtual space.

As part of a weekly webinar series, our campus free speech program this week hosted an online conversation about online attacks and abuse and what higher education professionals need to know about the phenomenon.

PEN America’s Jonathan Friedman and Viktorya Vilk joined Oren Segal of the Anti-Defamation League and Cynthia Miller-Idriss of American University to detail how threats of online hate and harassment can proliferate in different ways online. Watch the entire webinar here:

April 10, 2020

From Tulsa to Denver to points in between, PEN America engages with Members across the country, and one of our favorite places to convene: the bookstore. Obviously bookshops nationwide are hurting right now with shelter-in-place orders and the closure of non-essential businesses.

We’re reaching out to bookstores across the country, normally hubs of literary life, how readers can support their favorite shops. And they’ve come up with lots of creative ways, from virtual book clubs to wine pairings to curated reading lists for when you can’t stand the look of your spouse/dog/roommate.

Our first installment in this “Bookstores Across America” series brings you some insights and messages from Birmingham, Dallas/Fort Worth, and Detroit. We’ll have more regions and bookstores featured each week.

April 10, 2020

In the coming days and weeks, you’ll be hearing more from our World Voices Festival team. While we couldn’t bring you all the amazing speakers that we were planning on this May, we’re going to rolling out tons of great content to keep you company during these uncertain times.

First up: a new musical series we’re calling Just Press Play. We’re asking some of our authors to bring us the soundtrack of their writing lives. The playlists are meant to remind all of us that music, much like books, can connect us across distances.

Today, we have a playlist from Laila Lalami, author of The Other Americans, a finalist for the National Book Award in fiction.

Stay tuned for all our playlists, coming at you each week over at PEN.org.

April 10, 2020

On today’s episode of The PEN Pod, we talked to Ruchika Tomar. She’s the 2020 recipient of the PEN/Hemingway Award for debut novel, which she won for her book A Prayer for Travelers. Our judges referred to Ruchika as an exquisite writer, saying her book is “marked by a deft and deeply rendered sense of place.” We spoke with her about the pressures that the pandemic has put on vulnerable and at-risk populations, what writing can offer in this moment, and what books she’s turning to now.

Also on today’s episode, the second installment of our Tough Questions segment, where we put tricky questions about free speech and free expression to our CEO Suzanne Nossel. This week, she fielded questions about Diamond and Silk being booted from Twitter; while public subsidies for local news might save democracy; and how scientists are being muzzled by the White House.

April 9, 2020

Governments around the world are taking drastic steps to contain the coronavirus. As part of our ongoing work, we’re keeping watch on where those measures might cross a line that violates free speech and free expression.

Read our whole press release here:

April 9, 2020

Our Prison and Justice Writing team continues their weekly email series, this time with an edition featuring new poems from fellow Justin Rovillos Monson, who will join our own Caits Meissner for a live virtual conversation.

This week’s edition also includes a writing prompt about remixing a book, and the latest episode of our Works of Justice podcast, featuring an interview with The Appeal’s Josie Duffy Rice.

Read more:

April 9, 2020

For today’s episode of The PEN Pod, we spoke with poet and novelist M. NourbeSe Philip, winner of this year’s PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature. Based in Toronto, she shared her thoughts on the transformative power of poetry and the interconnectedness of the literary community.

April 8, 2020

As we’ve said in the Washington Post, Slate, and elsewhere, local news right now needs a lifeline. Already under significant economic pressures, the coronavirus outbreak has made a bad situation worse. On top of that, journalists are performing life-or-death work reporting critical stories at a moment of national crisis.

Today, alongside some 50 other organizations, PEN America sent a letter to Congressional leadership demanding that any future stimulus bill include funding for local journalism.

The letter highlights the fact that national outlets can’t substitute for rigorous, on-the-ground local reporting, and that without it, our health and our democracy suffer.

Read the full letter here:

April 8, 2020

While it feels like ages ago, just last month, author Yiyun Li took home PEN America’s PEN/Jean Stein Book Award for her lyrical novel Where Reasons End. After the COVID-19 outbreak, Li decided to pour some of her seemingly-boundless energy into a virtual book club called #TolstoyTogether.

Today, on The PEN Pod, she spoke about why she chose such a heavy tome, and also about her writing, how she stays connected, and her background in immunology:

Take a listen to the full interview, and also in this episode, how governments and public agencies are masking normally public information:

April 7, 2020

She’s been an incredible steward of the organization, and in today’s episode of The PEN Pod, she discusses her own recent struggle with a suspected case of COVID-19. She’s fortunately on the path to recovery, and in this episode talks about her own brush with the virus but also its broader impact on readers and writers, especially those with publication dates on the horizon.

And yet, she brings a note of optimism, expressing hope that like the postwar period, the United States could undergo transformative change as a result of crisis (Egan extensively researched the mid-century wartime period for her latest novel, Manhattan Beach).

Take a listen to the entire episode:

April 6, 2020

David L. Ulin was the book critic for The Los Angeles Times for many years, so he’s quite used to being asked what people should be reading right now. When it comes to the coronavirus outbreak, he says that folks should focus on the books they’ve always wanted to read rather than listening to what other people have to say.

On today’s episode of The PEN Pod, David also discusses reading books specifically about outbreaks as part of better understanding how this isn’t the first time humanity has faced a global pandemic.

He also discusses how the literary community, as a group of communicators by nature, may be among those groups best prepared to weather the current crisis.

Also on today’s edition, we talk about PEN America’s newest reading list. This time, it’s a roundup of newly-published books from authors who would’ve taken part in our annual World Voices Festival this spring in New York and Los Angeles. Since we can’t meet in person, we figured we’d bring some of their books to you.

Take a listen:

April 3, 2020

Read our full statement:

April 3, 2020

A huge crowd cheered farewell to Capt. Brett Crozier, relieved of his command of the aircraft carrier the USS Theodore Roosevelt for speaking out about an outbreak of coronavirus aboard his ship. Hundreds we seen on the boat’s hangar deck chanting Capt. Crozier’s name.

Crozier’s letter to military leadership leaked Tuesday; in it he warned that his sailors faced the risk of death if the Pentagon didn’t take immediate action. He was relieved of duty Thursday. As of Friday afternoon, more than 100,000 have signed an online petition calling for his reinstatement.

PEN America’s CEO Suzanne Nossel objected to the move by the U.S. Navy, saying that while we understand the need for discipline, this dismissal should be disturbing for anyone who values the First Amendment.

Click below to read PEN America’s full statement:

April 3, 2020

Obviously the podcasting game is a bit new to us here at PEN America, but we’ve been brainstorming ways to make it most relevant and illuminating for you, our audience.

To wit, today we’re launching a weekly segment on The PEN Pod called Tough Questions. The idea’s pretty simple. We’ll review the news of the week, see where there have been tricky situations around free speech or free expression, and then we’ll put those questions to our CEO Suzanne Nossel (who happens to have a forthcoming book on the topic).

On today’s episode, we discuss the case of a doctor in Washington state fired for speaking out against his hospital; Trump’s press briefings and whether they’re worth the wall-to-wall coverage; and cities threatening to arrest folks for spreading disinformation.

Hear the whole episode here:

You can also read Suzanne’s full take on Trump’s press conferences and how the cable networks might not want to cover every moment of them here:

April 2, 2020

Writer Parnaz Foroutan, a former PEN America Emerging Voices fellow, is no stranger to destabilizing times. Her family fled Iran during the Iran/Iraq war. Her family experience helped defined her latest work, the newly released memoir Home is a Stranger.

In today’s episode of The PEN Pod, she discusses her new book, connecting virtually with readers and writers, and why the voices of marginalized people, especially immigrants, are so crucial right now.

Listen to our entire conversation here:

April 1, 2020

This week, PEN America’s Prison and Justice Writing Program started a new regular email series, “Temperature Check: COVID-19 Behind Bars.” The rapid-response emails include works from writers on the inside, insights on the deteriorating health situation in America’s prisons, and a podcast episode with Fair and Just Prosecution’s Miriam Krinsky and Scarlet Neath.

Today’s edition includes a dispatch from Derek Trumbo, a multi-time PEN America Prison Writing Award winner, dramatist, and part-time mentor to all those who seek purpose in imprisonment. He resides at Northpoint Training Center in Burgin, Kentucky.

He writes:

April 1, 2020

Two separate developments this week alerted our experts here at PEN America.

As our Summer Lopez, senior director of free expression programs, said in a statement, “This move looks worryingly like yet another example of an authoritarian regime using the coronavirus outbreak as an excuse to constrain rights–in this case, narrowing restrictions on press freedom in Iran even further.”

April 1, 2020

It’s hard to be an optimist right now, especially with grim projections coming from the White House about what’s ahead for Americans.

Still, novelist and technology futurist Jamie Metzl shares his thoughts on how virtualization has transformed our world, how we can maintain human connection throughout this crisis, and why he still calls himself an optimist.

Also on the podcast, messages from our listeners and more on journalism at the front lines. Take a listen:

March 31, 2020

A moving piece from our colleague Summer Lopez, senior director of free expression programs at PEN America. She writes about the phenomenon of New Yorkers applauding health professionals out their apartment windows and calls on all of us to consider journalists as equally crucial in the fight against the pandemic.

She points out that reporters are bravely facing risks to their own health and the health of their families to rescue us from deliberate falsehoods and disinformation.

Read more about our work on journalism, and particularly local journalism, here:

March 31, 2020

Fatima Shaik is a writer and journalist who co-chairs our children’s and young adult book authors group. She’s also a New Orleans native who, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, hopped across Louisiana to write and document the upheavals that took place there in the decade following the storm.

She also listed a number of recommendations of children’s books, and encouraged parents to read from authors whose ethnicity they may not share.

March 30, 2020

There are few people who know their way around free expression better than Reza Aslan, host of the TV show “Rough Draft” and author of four books on religion. In today’s episode of The PEN Pod, Reza talks about the role journalists play right now, and how adhering to the old standards of respect for the presidency no longer apply.

Reza also discussed his concerns that politicians with agendas may try to advance draconian, anti-free expression policies under the cloak of a crisis. And he reflects on reading and writing and entertaining his family.

Also on today’s podcast, another reading list for your perusal! This time, a group of our Emerging Voices fellowship alumni put together some of their recommended reads:

Listen to the whole episode here:

March 29, 2020

In both cases, committed truth-tellers were punished for speaking out. Such retaliation has no place in a free society. As our CEO Suzanne Nossel pointed out this weekend, the pandemic is bad enough without being “compounded by a resort to punitive tactic aimed to suppress vital information.”

Read our full statement:

March 27, 2020

Read their full piece at Slate or on our website:

March 27, 2020

And he’s at it again.

Check out our full statement:

March 27, 2020

Pulitzer Prize-wining poet Gregory Pardlo is using this time of distancing to do some serious self-reflection…and maybe even some refinancing. On today’s episode of The PEN Pod, Pardlo weaves the everyday into the poetic, as he has so richly done throughout his career as a memoirist and poet.

Also on today’s episode, we cover some mental health tips for writers who are facing social distancing. Our LA office’s Michelle Franke interviews a mental health professional who has some pointers.

March 26, 2020

While the president has recklessly recommended people go back to work before the coronavirus threat is controlled, author and professor of clinical psychology Andrew Solomon tells The PEN Pod that we should be mindful of the risks social isolation poses to mental health.

Listen to the full episode here:

March 26, 2020

After returning from Spain, Thai artist Danai Ussama posted to Facebook that no COVID-19 screening was taking place at Bangkok’s international airport. Days later, officers from Thailand’s Technology Crime Suppression Division arrestsed Ussama at his art gallery in Phuket.

Though he was under self-quarantine, police flew him to Bangkok for his arraignment under the country’s draconian Computer Crime Act. He was released on bail but is scheduled to appear in court May 12.

March 25, 2020

As part of our ongoing efforts to fight back against disinformation, our colleagues at PEN America have published a new Tip Sheet: PEN America’s Guide on COVID-19 and Disinformation.

It offers up six easy tips for improving your digital consumption health. It provides advice on distinguishing news from opinion; on finding reliable information; and some pro tips on how to become a crack disinformation spotter.

March 25, 2020

Also on today’s episode, we remember playwright Terrence McNally, among the first coronavirus deaths within the literary community. The New York Times’ Jesse Green walks us through his career.

Take a listen:

March 24, 2020

As Congress nears approval on trillions in stimulus spending, the Washington Post reached out to us at PEN America to ask: What solutions would we offer to mitigating the coronavirus’ impact?

Our answer is pretty simple: Fund local news.

In recent weeks, local news outlets have been providing a service that is literally life-saving: guiding the public on what they should or shouldn’t do, but also holding leaders accountable for their decisions. And many have dropped paywalls in service to their audience (and likely to the detriment of their bottom lines).

Hence why we believe lawmakers should appropriate funds to help shore up local reporting. See our full report analyzing local news nationwide…and what we think can be done to reinvent it.

March 24, 2020

Every quarter, our CEO Suzanne Nossel sends around a letter to our friends and supporters. It’s usually a look back at the last few months, focusing on accomplishments and events and big initiatives that we’re working on.

This first quarter of 2020 is particularly jarring. Up until a few weeks ago, we were feting writers at our annual Literary Awards and making big plans for the World Voices Festival and our busy spring season. All that gone in a flash.

But we’ve been undeterred. As Suzanne writes, we are reinventing PEN America at a time when so many are recalibrating our own lives. Here’s what we’re doing:

Check out the whole letter on our website:

March 24, 2020

After the horrific news of an Arizona man who died after ingesting a form of a chemical President Trump promoted as a “treatment” for coronavirus, the threat of disinformation and misinformation has perhaps never been so acute.

She says that there are a few things we know about the way disinformation functions and why it spreads:

Listen to the whole episode here:

March 23, 2020

This weekend, conservative activist and founder of Turning Point USA Charlie Kirk called on college students to record their professors’ virtual lectures to “document and expose” so-called “blatant indoctrination.”

Read our full statement:

March 23, 2020

What happens when one of the biggest literary festivals of the year just doesn’t happen?

For today’s episode of “The PEN Pod,” we speak to festival director Chip Rolley, who is also senior director of literary programs at PEN America. He discusses what literary festivals mean to readers and writers, and how we can recreate some of that magic on our own:

Listen to the whole conversation here:

March 20, 2020

They did not disappoint.

March 20, 2020

Rather than answering Alexander’s question, the president went on attack mode, calling him a “terrible reporter” and labeling the inquiry “a nasty question.”

Nossel said:

Read our full statement here:

March 20, 2020

Read the full piece here:

March 20, 2020

While some may see the current social distancing moment as a blessing for writers, author Alexander Chee says that the distractions and rage of the moment are so great that it’s hard to focus on work.

In an interview for The PEN Pod, he offers tips for writers and others on how best to work under difficult times. He also encourages everyone to buy books and support local bookstores, even if that means buying online from a shuttered retailer. He also shares what’s on his bookshelf right now. Take a listen:

March 19, 2020

She also talks about self-care and how readers and writers can care for each other.

Listen to the whole episode here:

March 18, 2020

Egyptian security forces arrested Egyptian writer Ahdaf Soueif and other demonstrators in Cairo Wednesday. They were protesting overcrowded prison conditions that could worsen the spread of COVID-19 among incarcerated people.

Read our full statement:

March 18, 2020

Here’s episode one:

March 17, 2020

Over the weekend, Peruvian author and former PEN International President Mario Vargas Llosa wrote a newspaper column on the coronavirus that took aim at China’s censorship of doctors alerting the world to the coronavirus outbreak.

China’s embassy to Peru fired back, releasing a statement accusing Vargas Llosa of “discriminatory and defamatory statements.” There were also reports that his books vanished from e-book platforms in China.

Read PEN America’s full statement here:

March 17, 2020

Right now, of course, artists globally are facing some of the same pressures as writers. That’s why our ARC team has assembled a number of COVID-19-related resources for artists and other cultural professionals in the field.

The list includes emergency relief funds, resources for artistic organizations, legal resources, webinars and more. The ARC team will be keeping the list up to date.

March 17, 2020

The Chinese government today, still reeling from the coronavirus, announced it would expel a number of U.S. journalists, including those from The New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal, as well as imposing additional restrictions of other U.S. reporting outlets.

Read her whole statement here:

March 17, 2020

These are really difficult times for everyone, especially those directly impacted by the coronavirus, as well as front line health professionals.

It’s also a unique and challenging time for writers and readers. Bookstores are shuttered. Tours are being canceled. And a number of complex issues around free speech and free expression are coming up amid the crisis.

Check out the trailer below, subscribe on Spotify, and we’ll post interviews and other podcast content on this live blog.

March 16, 2020

After a weekend of news about cancelations and closures, PEN America now joins countless organizations facing major disruptions this spring. For us, it means we are not going to proceed with the 2020 PEN America World Voices Festival.

Right now, we’re looking for the best path forward to continue elevating writers during these difficult times. On Wednesday, we’re aiming to launch a limited-run podcast that will bring some of our voices to you, our friends and Members. Take a listen to the trailer:

You can read our full letter here:

March 13, 2020

Read our full statement here:

March 12, 2020

As a group of readers and writers, we at PEN America love ourselves a reading list. And we realize that folks might have canceled trips, or are stuck at home, or are just looking for a great book that offers more context around a health crisis.

March 11, 2020

Local and state officials across the country are working their hardest to provide accurate information and health care for those who might be at risk of the virus. But throughout this crisis, PEN America’s Free Expression team is monitoring for instances where folks might overstep.

Case in point: a New Jersey law enforcement official threatened legal action against people who may spread misinformation about the virus:

Read the whole statement here:

March 11, 2020

Click below to read the entire letter:

March 9, 2020

Click below to read the entire piece:

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