PEN America

08/14/2026

As students head back to school, many will return to universities and colleges shaped not only by the hallowed traditions of research, learning, and teaching, but also by political agendas.

Whether directly limiting what faculty say in the classroom or overhauling governance structures, new state laws are forcing campuses to navigate the effects of direct and indirect censorship this fall.

Read more about the ways these laws will impact campuses: https://pen.org/2026-laws-censoring-campuses/

08/13/2026

Russia’s devastating cultural destruction of Ukraine is continuing. As of July 31, Russian missile attacks have damaged or destroyed 1,990 cultural heritage sites and 2,625 cultural infrastructure facilities in Ukraine.

The National Art Museum of Ukraine and the Odesa National Fine Arts Museum are among the 141 museums and galleries affected.

08/12/2026

While jailed in two notorious prisons for exercising their freedom of expression, Iranian scholar and poet Behnaz Amani and British-Eritrean poet Awet Fissehaye turned to the same writers again and again for a sense of purpose and motivation to persevere: William Wordsworth. Oscar Wilde. Margaret Atwood.

Years later, both writers are in exile — Amani lives in Germany, and Fissehaye in the United Kingdom — and both continue to use their own voices to demand the release of the dozens of other writers in their home countries who are still unjustly jailed for creative expression.

At a member-exclusive conversation hosted by PEN America, they called on the audience to join them in their advocacy, encouraging participants to demand proof of life for Eritrean writers who have been detained for nearly 35 years and share writer Golrokh Iraee’s letter from a prison in Iran.

Read the full story and take action at: https://pen.org/formerly-jailed-writers-advocate-for-release-of-more/

08/12/2026

PEN America, as a part of the Mass Freedom to Read Coalition is proud to celebrate the signing of a freedom to read act in Massachusetts.

08/11/2026

Join us in celebrating Women in Translation Month!

On August 13, 20, and 27, PEN America will host our free, online Women in Translation Reading Series, which for more than a decade has promoted gender and cultural diversity in the literary world. Across the three sessions, hear from pairs of authors and translators whose work spans more than a dozen languages in total.

Get details and register at: https://pen.org/women-in-translation-month-2026/

08/11/2026

"What inspires you to use your voice?" That's a question our interns Eleanor and Alex posed recently to these New Yorkers.

Tell us how you'd answer the question at: https://pen.org/america-speaks/

08/10/2026

If the movie adaptation of The Odyssey has whet your appetite for epic adventures, we've got you covered. Check out our newest Bookshop list featuring 23 mythical and myth-inspired books sure to captivate your imagination: https://bookshop.org/lists/the-odyssey-a-reading-list

08/10/2026

PEN America today joined the Alliance for Higher Education in responding to the latest letter from Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon calling for colleges and universities to align with the administration on issues including admissions, hiring, free expression, research, affordability, and technology. We’ve released a set of resources highlighting the harms of McMahon’s letter, recommendations for college and university presidents and boards, and a toolkit of additional resources to help higher education institutions stand strong and ensure academic freedom and institutional autonomy remain guiding principles in institutions across the nation.

Visit our website to access these resources and learn more:

PEN America joins Alliance for Higher Education in response to administration efforts advancing their agenda interfering with academic freedom

08/07/2026

Ruta Sepetys’s seventh novel, A Fortune of Sand, follows the daughter of an automotive tycoon as she uncovers family secrets and tries to define herself in 1920s Detroit. In this week’s PEN Ten interview, Sepetys opens up about her process of researching historical fiction. Read more here:

In this PEN Ten interview, Ruta Sepetys talks about the moment 50 years ago that first planted the seed of A Fortune of Sand in her mind.

08/05/2026

Changes to public school curricula. Lawsuits against universities. Late night TV hosts being targeted for telling jokes. These threats to free expression on the local, state, and national level have left many Americans anxious and alarmed. Across professions, states, and political viewpoints, uncertainty continues to grow about who can speak freely in America today—and the costs for those who can’t.

Read more about America's free expression anxieties at: https://pen.org/free-expression-anxieties/

Share your thoughts at: https://pen.org/america-speaks/

Uncertainty continues to grow about who can speak freely in America today--and the costs for those who can't.