Partial View of Gowanda Correctional Facility with Power Plant in Background at Left, September 1996
Efforts to restrict inmates’ access to books in New York State prisons reveal a troubling disregard for inmates’ right to read and appear to have no reasonable basis, PEN America announced on Monday.
In New York State, the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision Directive 4911A, put in place December 4, 2017, restricts prisoners’ ability to receive packages and articles: packages must be sent from a list of approved vendors, or face possible rejection. As of January 8, only six vendors are approved to send books. As a result, Directive 4911A prevents inmates from being sent books—including used books or books unavailable through purchase in any catalog—outside of these vendors’ limited lists.
Currently, the Directive is a pilot program, and applies only to three correctional facilities: Greene, Green Haven, and Taconic, with the possibility that the Directive will later be applied to all state facilities.
While this Directive does not restrict access to prison library facilities, NYC Books Through Bars has noted in a January 3 letter to Governor Cuomo that they have received requests for books from prison employees who are “struggling to stock libraries for the general population.”
“The State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision needs to promote moral and responsible prison policies that uphold inmates’ access to information and safeguard the right to read,” said Summer Lopez, PEN America Senior Director of Free Expression Programs. “Directive 4911A, a ruinously over-broad restriction on inmates’ ability to access published materials, goes in the opposite direction. We encourage the Department and the Governor’s office to revoke this ill-considered directive, and to ensure inmates have access to as much outside publications as possible.”
PEN’S ANNUAL PRISON WRITING CONTEST
PEN America Center’s annual writing contest is open to anyone incarcerated in a federal, state or county prison in the year prior to September 1, the annual deadline for poetry, fiction, drama and nonfiction. No submission fees. Cash award for first, second and third place. Details HERE.
Link HERE to read the winning manuscripts from the 2017 contest.
PEN America has run a national prison writing program for over forty years, including the above referrenced contest.
“Founded in 1971, the PEN Prison Writing Program believes in the restorative, rehabilitative power of writing and provides hundreds of inmates across the country with skilled writing teachers and audiences for their work. It provides a place for inmates to express themselves freely and encourages the use of the written word as a legitimate form of power.”
Prisons Foundation, a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit, “seeks a more creative and fulfilling world for both incarcerated and free citizens.”
Manuscript Submission Guidelines All books by prisoners and returning citizens and those who write about them and books by all citizens who donate are welcome for publication.Click Here for further information and submission guidelines for inmates.
Photo credit: Gawanda photograph courtesy of Daniellagreen under CC BY-SA 3.0 license; NY Correctional State Services logo is public domain.
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.
In response to reports that a lawyer representing President Trump attempted to halt publication of Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, PEN America Executive Director Suzanne Nossel released the following statement yesterday.
“PEN America is deeply alarmed by reports that a lawyer representing President Trump is attempting to halt publication of Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, which purports to provide a behind-the-scenes look at the Trump White House. The President’s attempt to halt publication of a book because of its content is flagrantly unconstitutional. President Trump’s threats represent a brazen attempt at imposing unlawful prior restraint, a form of censorship repeatedly rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court. For the President of the United States criticism comes with the territory. The President should immediately withdraw and repudiate this outrageous demand, allowing the American people to render their own judgement of the book.”
Note: The book came out today and is available for purchase online and at brick and board stores should you care to read it. Before its release today, the book and e-book both reached number one on Amazon.com and the Apple iBooks Store. Michael Wolff is an Internet entrepreneur, a journalist and news commentator.
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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. It champions the freedom to write, recognizing the power of the word to transform the world. PEN’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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“Advocacy for literary translators is increasingly important to us. Many of our members are both authors and translators, and with the number of books in translation growing each year, many of which are very high-profile titles, it is important for us to understand the landscape,” said Authors Guild executive director Mary Rasenberger.
The Guild’s translator members are also working with Guild legal staff on a model contract for literary translation, which the Guild is planning to roll out early next year as part of its commitment to merge translators’ concerns into its ongoing Fair Contract Initiative.
The survey confirmed some long-held assumptions, while shedding light on new issues.
Contradicting the belief that royalties for translators are a rarity, nearly half of the respondents reported always or usually negotiating royalties in their contracts. Similarly, over half reported receiving royalty payments, and over half of those whose contracts did not stipulate royalties said it was because the publisher refused.
Two-thirds of translators reported always or usually retaining copyright to their work; over half of those who did not retain copyright said it was because the publisher refused.
Half of the respondents who translate prose (where pay, as a rule, is significantly higher than it is for poetry) reported receiving 13 cents per word or more—slightly higher than the rate the Society of Authors states that UK publishers are prepared to pay. On the other hand, a disturbing number of respondents reported working for subpar rates of 7 cents per word or less.
On the whole, the survey showed that income for literary translators has not changed significantly over the past five years. Although 39% reported spending more than half of their time on translation and translation-related activities, just 17% reported earning more than half of their income from that work.
“It’s so wonderful to have this detailed information about translation contracts and earnings finally available,” said Susan Bernofsky, director of the program Literary Translation at Columbia University and a past chair of the PEN America Translation Committee. “I hope translators across the country will take advantage of the Authors Guild’s contract-vetting service, and also that more publishers will step up as champions of translator-friendly contracts. I’m grateful to the team at the Authors Guild for this significant contribution to translator advocacy.”
About the Survey:
The survey was distributed online in April 2017, to members (approximately 1,200) of the Authors Guild, the American Literary Translators Association, the PEN America Translation Committee, and the American Translators Association’s Literary Division, and was also publicized on social media. The survey was open to all translators, but focused on those who work in the U.S. and/or work predominantly with U.S.-based publishers.
Click here for the main findings of the survey, with commentary and advocacy recommendations.
The Authors Guild has served as the collective voice of American authors since its beginnings in 1912. Its over 9,000 members include novelists, historians, journalists, and poets—traditionally and independently published—as well as literary agents and representatives of writers’ estates. The Guild is dedicated to creating a community for authors while advocating for them on issues of copyright, fair contracts, free speech, and tax fairness.
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Poetry Translation Centreoffers the poetry of Africa, Asia and Latin America translated into English. It works with communities in diaspora. (Recommended.)
The spread of “fake news” is reaching a crisis point, PEN America warns in its new report, Faking News: Fraudulent News and the Fight for Truth. The comprehensive, 100+-page report evaluates the array of strategies that Facebook, Google, Twitter, newsrooms, and civil society are undertaking to address the problem, stressing solutions that empower news consumers while vigilantly avoiding new infringements on free speech.
Coming from the leading US free expression organization, the PEN America report argues that even though most “fake news” is protected by the First Amendment, its proliferation creates a flood of disinformation that imperils open expression writ large and demands a concerted response.
“Fake news is mendacious publication gone viral in the digital age,” said Suzanne Nossel, executive director of PEN America, citing the organization’s 1948 Charter which commits PEN to “oppose such evils of a free press as mendacious publication, deliberate falsehood and distortion of facts for political and personal ends.”
“That most fraudulent news may be protected by the First Amendment doesn’t mean it isn’t corroding our discourse and, ultimately, our democracy,” said Nossel. “When the public loses its bearings in terms of what’s true or false, it shakes the foundations that make freedom of speech valuable.”
Faking News rates the range of fact-checking, algorithmic, educational and standards-based approaches being taken to counter the proliferation of fake news. The report identifies sound methods that merit investment, and sounds a warning bell for tactics that risk suppressing controversial speech, such as giving government new powers to regulate or calling on social media companies to block specific content entirely.
The report comes out as tech giants Facebook, Google, and Twitter are being called to Capitol Hill to testify about how their companies’ platforms and technologies were used by Russian actors in an effort to sway the 2016 presidential election. Arguing that these companies—which are many Americans’ primary channels for news consumption—must play a critical and transparent role in curbing the spread of false news, the report spells out a series of specific strategies that center on empowering news consumers with access to fact-checking initiatives and news literacy programs.
In Faking News, PEN America also sets out a News Consumers Bill of Rights and Responsibilitiesoutlining what consumers should expect from the outlets and social media platforms that convey news and how they can protect themselves and others.
In addition to the report, PEN America will host a public panel discussion about “fake news” on October 13 at the Newseum in Washington, featuring Nossel, NPR Editorial Director Michael Oreskes, executive director of the Newseum Institute’s First Amendment Center Lata Nott, media critic Rem Rieder, and George Stanley, award-winning editor of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and the Newseum’s Gene Policinski.
PEN America stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect free expression in the United States and worldwide. The organization 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
Thank you for sharing your love of words. Comments will appear after moderation.
In New York State, the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision Directive 4911A, put in place December 4, 2017, restricts prisoners’ ability to receive packages and articles: packages must be sent from a list of approved vendors, or face possible rejection. As of January 8, only six vendors are approved to send books. As a result, Directive 4911A prevents inmates from being sent books—including used books or books unavailable through purchase in any catalog—outside of these vendors’ limited lists.
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