PEN America

Cannupa Hanska Luger clinched this year's PEN/Jean Stein Book Award for SURVIVA: A Future Ancestral Field Guide, a genre-bending work of Indigenous futurism. We spoke with Luger at the #PENLitAwards about his reaction to winning the award, his perspective on the state of free expression in the United States as an Indigenous writer, and the unrealized power of make-believe. https://lnkd.in/ej5sCBEJ

At the #PENLitAwards, we took the chance to ask some of the best writers around to share (if they would) their best (and their worst) writing advice. Here's what we heard. #writing #writers #writingadvice

Professors are increasingly feeling watched in their classrooms, whether because of state laws encouraging student complaints, campus policies allowing for classroom recordings, or social media campaigns to build public outrage. Join us on April 22 at 3pm ET/ 12pm PST for “Surveillance in the Classroom: Tip-Lines, Recording, and Social Media Campaigns,” a panel that we are co-hosting with the UC Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement. Sarah Brown from The Chronicle will moderate a conversation between Heather Akou, Bloomington Faculty Council at Indiana University, Isaac Kamola, AAUP Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom and Sarah Sobieraj, Professor of Sociology, Tufts University, that will dive into the intersections of virality, teaching, and the current political moment. We hope you’ll be a part of the conversation: https://lnkd.in/dRxRnrzi

In her new memoir The Flower Bearers, Rachel Eliza Griffiths reflects on writing and rebuilding after the death of her close friend, poet Kamilah Aisha Moon, and the attack on her husband, novelist Salman Rushdie. In our new PEN Ten interview Griffiths talks with Malcolm Tariq , director of PEN’s Prison and Justice Writing Program, about how grief reshapes identity and the self, the importance of vulnerability in friendship, and the process of making meaning after loss. Read the full interview at: https://lnkd.in/dvjeFAjM

This year, PEN America Florida partnered with independent bookstores and community stakeholders across the state to build literary programming centered on the guiding idea that reading offers both pleasure and insight. Readers joined a wide array of authors, including Todd S. Purdum, André Aciman, Craig Mundie, Alejandro Heredia, and Ibram X. Kendi, for conversations spanning World War II, the history of television, artificial intelligence, disco culture, and the ideas that shape how we see the world. Read about the year in literary events and sign up for our newsletter to see what comes next in Florida: https://lnkd.in/dJWRS4vH

Texas A&M’s policy restricting classroom content related to race and gender has rattled faculty across the state. In a new installment of Snapshots of Censorship, Dr. Martin Peterson writes about being forced to remove a reading from Plato’s symposium from his Philosophy class. To read his story, and those of other scholars who have faced educational censorship nationwide, visit our Snapshots of Censorship page at: https://lnkd.in/d72UaBMr. To take a stand against the censorship at Texas A&M, go to https://lnkd.in/ez4WiJ3n to sign our petition to send a strong message in defense of academic freedom to the Texas A&M Board of Regents.

Jason Stanley's book, Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future, was praised as timely and essential when initially published in 2024 — but now, as the paperback edition hits shelves for the first time, it’s an even more urgent read. In celebration of the new edition, Stanley joined Nikole Hannah Jones for a lively conversation about the rise of fascism at St. Ann and the Holy Trinity Church. PEN America and Liz's Book Bar jointly hosted the discussion. Read more at: https://lnkd.in/dVeQUxrp #ErasingHistory #JasonStanley #NikoleHannahJones

Tennessee’s Charlie Kirk Act raises new questions on campus. It's vague language could end up "chilling speech," warns PEN America https://lnkd.in/dJ-hGm9t

What book festival would be complete without dozens of authors? And those authors have written some marvelous books! Get a head start before joining us at the World Voices Festival and check out some of these great titles! Browse our #PENWorldVoices reading list: https://lnkd.in/d5gvkXjd Join us in NYC and LA April 29-May 2: https://lnkd.in/epsPtUxU

NEW: PEN America has criticized Tennessee’s “Charlie Kirk Act” which has been sent to the Governor for signature. PEN America’s Kristen Shahverdian said, “This bill claims to protect free speech but in reality places demands on universities that will diminish free expression and that threaten excessive punishments for students and faculty.” Read more here: https://lnkd.in/e4QgGVBi