PEN America stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect free expression in the United States and worldwide.

Oct 1, 2025 · Accessibility forms the core of PEN America’s definition of a school book ban and emphasizes the multiple ways book bans infringe on the rights of students, professional educators, …

Dec 18, 2025 · PEN America is honored to announce the Longlists for the 2026 Literary Awards. Our awards are juried by panels of esteemed, award-winning authors, editors, translators, and critics.

Dec 2, 2025 · As of the 2024 grant conferral, PEN America confers two PEN/Bare Life Review Grants of $5,000 each. The grants are made possible by a substantial contribution from The Bare Life Review, …

Aug 7, 2025 · Since 2021, PEN America has been at the forefront of documenting and defending against the unprecedented rise of school book bans nationwide and the spread of educational censorship …

The 2025 PEN America Literary Gala held on May 15 was grounded in a collective response to the divisive issues of the day that drive PEN America’s mission to defend free speech and celebrate writers.

Oct 1, 2025 · Together, PEN America reports nearly 23,000 cases of book bans across 45 states and 451 public school districts since 2021. “No book shelf will be left untouched if local and state book …

4 days ago · PEN America celebrates literature with free and low-cost quality public programming, authors’ evenings, advocacy trainings, writers workshops, community gatherings and more.

Jan 7, 2026 · (NEW YORK)–PEN America today condemned new levels of educational censorship at Texas A&M, after a professor was instructed to remove certain works by Plato from an introductory …

Jan 8, 2026 · PEN America is alarmed over a congressional subpoena targeting investigative journalist Seth Harp, who was wrongly accused of “leaking classified intel” and “doxxing” a Delta Force …