The PEN Pod

It's Friday, which means it's time for our weekly "Tough Questions" segment with PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel, author of the forthcoming book Dare to Speak: Defending Free Speech for All. As we near the book's publication date, we discuss how the social platforms are dealing with the crisis in Hong Kong; we dissect the U.S. government's threat to ban the ever-popular Tik Tok; and we delve into the controversy surrounding a letter in Harper's Magazine about free speech.

On this special edition of The PEN Pod, we're joined by two-time U.S. Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner Natasha Trethewey. She discusses the power of poetry, her new memoir about the loss of her mother at an early age, and what poetry can do to help re-envision our world.

On this episode of The PEN Pod, we speak with YA author Ed Lin about his forthcoming book David Tung Can't Have a Girlfriend Until He Gets Into an Ivy League College, and on the pressures and universal experiences young people are facing. Plus, our weekly World Voices Festival reading list.

On this Tuesday edition of The PEN Pod, we talk to acclaimed writer Julia Alvarez about her new book AFTERLIFE; what we can learn about empathy from reading; and the parallels in writing books for younger readers and books for adults.

On this edition of The PEN Pod, playwrights Jeremy O. Harris and Lynn Nottage in conversation about the theater, its future, and abolishing the structures of anti-Blackness in the theater world. Plus, how policymakers are rethinking regulation for Facebook and Twitter.

As we head into the Independence Day weekend, we have an extended version of our weekly TOUGH QUESTIONS segment with PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel. In this edition, we talk social media platforms, Mary Trump's book, and the status of free expression in Hong Kong.

On this edition of The PEN Pod, PEN America's Gina Chung talks to science journalist Ed Yong about the missed signals of the COVID-19 pandemic, what we can learn from microbes, and how a splintering of information may have worsened the pandemic. Then, stone soup for our most recent installment of Writers Who Cook.

On today's episode, we talk about playwriting amid the pandemic and how plays might be viewed through a new lens in the wake of a global virus. Then, we hear a conversation about justice and children's literature with authors Fatima Shaik, Amy Nathan, and Sharon Langley.

We talk to author Megan Giddings about her book LAKEWOOD, a novel that navigates dark themes of human experimentation, exploitation, and the lengths we go to when our loved ones' lives are on the line. Then we talk about a disturbing case of retaliation against a Russian theater director.

On today's episode, we speak to debut novelist Gabriel Bump about his book Everywhere You Don't Belong, and how this Chicago story is a coming of age book that also grapples with some of the major issues confronting America right now. Plus, a World Voices Festival reading list.