In response to last week’s revelations on the use of Facebook consumer data to target voters in the United States and abroad, PEN America Chief Executive Officer Suzanne Nossel issued the following statement:
PEN, Exc. Dir. Suzanne Nossel
“This week’s revelations about the uncontrolled flow of consumer data from Facebook to unscrupulous influence peddlers determined to manipulate voters in the United States and abroad have jolted the public into really recognizing that platforms we delight in for communication and connection can pose grave risks to our privacy, our discourse, and our democracy. That company and other leading platforms need to be far more aggressive in protecting data, vetting their business partners and customers, and offering the public the transparency and accountability necessary to restore trust. While Americans have the choice to forswear Facebook in favor of other channels, elsewhere in the world it is virtually the only route to online access. Having secured its own ubiquity and preeminence, Facebook now owes it to the public to prove that it is worthy of the position it has staked.”
Find out more about PEN America’s position on personal data and privacy, the protection of open discourse, and the transparency and accountability online platforms owe their users HERE.
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PEN America stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect open expression in the United States and worldwide. PEN champions the freedom to write, recognizing the power of the word to transform the world. Its mission is to unite writers and their allies to celebrate creative expression and defend the liberties that make it possible. pen.org
PEN America announced last week that it will honor author and LGBT cultural pioneer Edmund White with the annual PEN/Saul Bellow Award for Achievement in American Fiction.
EDMUND WHITE (b. 1940) is an American novelist, memoirist, and an essayist on literary and social topics. Much of his writing is on the theme of same-sex love. His books include The Joy of Gay Sex (1977) (written with Charles Silverstein, a writer, therapist, lecturer and gay activist), his trio of autobiographic novels, A Boy’s Own Story (1982), The Beautiful Room Is Empty (1988) and The Farewell Symphony (1997), and his biography of Jean Genet. His website is HERE. His Amazon page is HERE.
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The 2018 PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature will go to the extraordinarily prolific Irish novelist Edna O’Brien, whose acclaimed work broke down social and sexual barriers for women in Ireland and elsewhere.
Edna O’Brien at Hay Festival 2016 courtesy of Andrew Lih under CC BY-SA 3.0
EDNA O’BRIEN, DBE (b. 1930) is an Irish novelist, memoirist, playwright, poet and short story writer. Philip Roth described her “the most gifted woman now writing in English”, while the former President of Ireland, Mary Robinson, cited her as “one of the great creative writers of her generation”.
O’Brien’s works often revolve around the inner feelings of women, and their problems in relating to men, and to society as a whole.Her first novel, The Country Girls, is often credited with breaking silence on sexual matters and social issues during a repressive period in Ireland following World War II.The book was banned, burned and denounced from the pulpit, and O’Brien left Ireland behind.
O’Brien received the Irish PEN Award in 2001. Saints and Sinners won the 2011 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award, the world’s richest prize for a short story collection. Faber and Faber published her memoir, Country Girl, in 2012. Her Faber & Faber author’s page is HERE. Her Amazon page is HERE.
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PEN America will also honor:
poet Kamau Brathwaite with the PEN/ Voelcker Award,
translator Barbara Harshav with the PEN/ Manheim Medal for Translation, and
author Dave Kindred with the PEN/ ESPN Lifetime Achievement Award for Literary Sports Writing.
The PEN/ Laura Pels Foundation for Theater Awards will be conferred on playwrights:
Luis Alfaro for Master American Dramatist,
Sibyl Kempson for American Dramatist in Mid-Career, and
Mike Lew for Emerging American Playwright.
White, O’Brien, and PEN America’s other career achievement award winners will accept their prizes at the 2018 PEN America Literary Awards Ceremony on Tuesday, February 20, at the NYU Skirball Center near Washington Square Park. Featuring readings, performances, and edge-of-your-seat live announcements of the winners for the year’s prizes, this annual celebration of literature and free expression has become one the city’s premier literary events drawing the biggest names and the hottest new voices in literature. Special guests, finalists, and presenters in attendance will include:
Tanwi Nandini Islam
Yahdon Israel
Hari Kunzru
Victor LaValle
Colum McCann
Lynn Nottage
Philip Roth
Layli Long Soldier
Monique Truong
Kevin Young
David Zirin
… and many more
Hosted by author, social activist, and political commentator
Sally Kohn
A full list of finalists for the 2018 PEN America Literary Awards is available HERE . All book award winners will be announced at the ceremony. Purchase tickets HERE. I understand that this is the first year tickets are being made available to the general public. Student tickets are discounted.
Compiled with thanks to PEN America, White’s website, Faber & Faber, Wikipedia and Amazon.
PEN Americastands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect open expression in the United States and worldwide. It champions the freedom to write, recognizing the power of the word to transform the world. Its mission is to unite writers and their allies to celebrate creative expression and defend the liberties that make it possible.
PEN America announced the finalists for the 2018 Literary Awards last week, revealing a diverse roster of authors and works to recognize today’s best literature and translation spanning genres and continents.
For the first time, the finalist pool for the prestigious PEN/ Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction is comprised entirely of women and includes:
Hannah Lillith Assadi for Sonora (Soho Press),
Venita Blackburn for Black Jesus and Other Superheroes: Stories (University of Nebraska Press),
Carmen Maria Machado for Her Body and Other Parties: Stories (Graywolf Press),
Emily Fridlund for History of Wolves (Grove Atlantic), and
Jenny Zhang for Sour Heart (Lenny).
The announcement also included finalists for the $75,000 PEN/Jean Stein Award for book of the year, one of the largest U.S. literary prizes, established last year by the late author and oral historian. Addressing some of the key themes of our time from fraudulent news to systemic racism, the list includes:
White Tears by Hari Kunzru (Alfred A. Knopf),
We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy by Ta-Nehisi Coates (One World),
Whereas by Layli Long Soldier (Graywolf Press),
Bunk: The Rise of Hoaxes, Humbug, Plagiarists, Phonies, Post-Facts, and Fake News by Kevin Young (Graywolf Press), and
The Changeling by Victor LaValle (Spiegel & Grau).
Ursula K. Le Guin (1929 – 2018), whose death on January 22nd in Portland is deeply felt, is shortlisted for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award, Art of the Essay for her No Time to Spare: Thinking About What Matters, which is the collected writing from the blog she started at 81 years.
The video below is of Ms. Le Guin’s wisdom-filled acceptance speech for the National Book Foundation’s Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters at the 65th National Book Awards on November 19, 2014.
“We will need writers,” she says, “who remember freedom . . . poets, visionaries … the realists of a larger reality.”
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The new film adaption of Ms. Le Guin’s science fiction fantasy, A Wrinkle in Time, is due out in theaters on March 9.)
“It is fitting that our Literary Awards this year spotlight five new women’s voices in fiction, as well as a dazzling diversity of writers for our flagship Stein prize and in other categories,” said PEN America Executive Director Suzanne Nossel. “PEN America’s Literary Awards celebrate some of the greatest fruits of free expression—stories that inspire, spark empathy, and change minds. At a time when the fabric of our discourse is being torn by polarization, technological change, and political upheaval, literature has the power to help us see past impasse and imagine a different future.”
Winners of the 2018 PEN America Literary Awards will be revealed at the February 20 ceremony at the NYU Skirball Center in New York. The ceremony will feature performances of honored works and will be followed by a champagne toast. Link pen.org/2018finalists for the complete list of finalists.PEN announced that for the first time it is offering a limited number of tickets to the general public. PURCHASE TICKETS.
For over fifty years, the PEN America Literary Awards have honored many of the most outstanding voices in literature across such diverse fields as fiction, poetry, science writing, essays, sports writing, biography, children’s literature, translation, and drama. With the help of its partners and supporters, PEN America will confer twenty-four distinct awards, fellowships, grants, and prizes in 2018, awarding more than $350,000 to writers and translators.
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Sources: Ms. Le Guin’s website, PEN America, Amazon, Wikipedia, and the New York Times. PEN America nonprofit logo by Mltellman under CC BY-SA 4.0 license; photo credit Suzanne Nossel by PEN America under CC BY-SA 4.0 license.
PEN America stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect open expression in the United States and worldwide. It champions the freedom to write, recognizing the power of the word to transform the world. Its mission is to unite writers and their allies to celebrate creative expression and defend the liberties that make it possible.
“Writing isn’t about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end, it’s about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life, as well.” Stephen King
PEN America will honor legendary suspense writer Stephen King with the 2018 PEN America Literary Service Award at its annual Literary Gala on May 22 at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. PEN America confers the Literary Service Award each year to a critically-acclaimed writer whose body of work helps us understand and interpret the human condition, engendering empathy and imagination in even the darkest hours.
Stephen King is the author of more than fifty books, all of them worldwide best-sellers and many—including such classics as It, The Stand, The Dark Tower, Misery, Lisey’s Story, 11/22/63, On Writing, Under the Dome, and many more—providing the basis for major motion pictures and serving as cultural hallmarks for generations.
Among King’s many accolades are the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters and the 2014 National Medal of Arts presented by Barack Obama. His depictions of horror and violence have also earned him a title as one of the most banned or challenged authors in recent decades.
King is an impassioned advocate of freedom of expression, literacy, and access to information, which he and his wife Tabitha support through their philanthropy.
King’s Haven Foundation provides unique and generous support to writers and other freelancers in the arts who have suffered personal hardship.
Stephen King’s outspoken defense against encroachments on free speech and pointed public criticism of policies that infringe on this and other rights have resulted in his being blocked by President Trump on Twitter.
Scribner will release King’s newest novel, The Outsider, on May 22, the day of the PEN America award presentation.
“No stranger to the dark side, Stephen King has inspired us to stand up to sinister forces through his rich prose, his generous philanthropy, and his outspoken defense of free expression,” said author Andrew Solomon, president of PEN America. “Stephen has fearlessly used his bully pulpit as one of our country’s best-loved writers to speak out about the mounting threats to free expression and democracy that are endemic to our times. His vivid storytelling reaches across boundaries to captivate multitudes of readers, young and old, in this country and worldwide, across the political spectrum. He helps us all to confront our demons—whether a dancing clown or a tweeting president.”
If you are reading this post from an email subscription, you’ll have to link through to the The Poet by Day site to view it: Creative Writing Lessons: Creative Writing Tips from Stephen King.
Courtesy of Stephen King, photo credit Shane Leonard
STEPHEN KING (b. 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, science fiction, and fantasy. His books have sold more than 350 million copies. King has published over fifty novels, including seven under the pen name Richard Bachman, and six non-fiction books. He has written around 200 short stories, most of which are in book collections. Mr. King’s Amazon page is HERE.
His novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption was the basis for the film The Shawshank Redemption widely regarded as one of the greatest films of all time. It was in fact voted the greatest film of all time by Empire magazine readers in “The 201 Greatest Movies of All Time” poll in March, 2006.
PEN America stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect open expression in the United States and worldwide. It champions the freedom to write, recognizing the power of the word to transform the world. PEN America’s mission is to unite writers and their allies to celebrate creative expression and defend the liberties that make it possible.
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