PEN America

Literature

401 Writers Behind Bars: The World PEN America Has Been Counting All Along

PEN America's 2025 Freedom to Write Index documents 401 imprisoned writers across 44 countries — a 7% rise — with the United States appearing for the first time. A number worth sitting with.

Reviews

When Facts Get Banned: PEN America's Report on the New Wave of Nonfiction Censorship

PEN America's new report documents a surge in banning nonfiction — history, science, memoir. Because facts, in certain school districts, have become the most dangerous genre of all.

News

What the PEN America Awards Returned With — and What They Left Behind

The 62nd annual PEN America Literary Awards marked the first full ceremony since the 2024 author boycott. But to call it a return to form is already an interpretive act.