''PEN America: A Journal for Writers and Readers'' is an annual literary journal that features fiction, poetry, conversation, criticism, and memoir. It is published by
PEN America
PEN America (formerly PEN American Center), founded in 1922 and headquartered in New York City, is a nonprofit organization that works to defend and celebrate free expression in the United States and worldwide through the advancement of litera ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. Contributors include
Yousef Al-Mohaimeed
Yousef Al-Mohaimeed, ( ar, يوسف المحيميد; born January 31, 1964, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) is a Saudi Arabian writer and journalist who has published several novels and short story collections in Arabic, and has been translated into E ...
,
Paul Auster
Paul Benjamin Auster (born February 3, 1947) is an American writer and film director. His notable works include ''The New York Trilogy'' (1987), ''Moon Palace'' (1989), ''The Music of Chance'' (1990), ''The Book of Illusions'' (2002), ''The Broo ...
,
Michael Cunningham
Michael Cunningham (born November 6, 1952) is an American novelist and screenwriter. He is best known for his 1998 novel '' The Hours'', which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award in 1999. Cunningham is a senior lectur ...
,
Lydia Davis
Lydia Davis (born July 15, 1947) is an American short story writer, novelist, essayist, and translator from French and other languages, who often writes short (one or two pages long) short stories. Davis has produced several new translations of ...
,
Petina Gappah
Petina Gappah (born 1971) is a Zimbabwean lawyer and writer. She writes in English, though she also draws on Shona, her first language. In 2016, she was named African Literary Person of the Year by ''Brittle Paper''. In 2017 she had a DAAD Arti ...
,
Nikki Giovanni
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni Jr. (born June 7, 1943) is an American poet, writer, commentator, activist, and educator. One of the world's most well-known African-American poets,Jane M. Barstow, Yolanda Williams Page (eds)"Nikki Giovanni" ''E ...
,
Rawi Hage,
Shahriar Mandanipour Shahriar Mandanipour ( fa, شهریار مندنی پور; also ''Shahriar Mondanipour''(February 15, 1957), Shiraz, Iran, is an Iranian writer, journalist and literary theorist.
Mandanipour was born and raised in Shiraz, Iran. In 1975 he moved to ...
,
Colum McCann
Colum McCann is an Irish writer of literary fiction. He was born in Dublin, Ireland, and now lives in New York. He is a Thomas Hunter Writer in Residence at Hunter College, New York.
McCann's work has been published in over 40 languages, and ...
,
Michael Ondaatje
Philip Michael Ondaatje (; born 12 September 1943) is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian poet, fiction writer, essayist, novelist, editor, and filmmaker. He is the recipient of multiple literary awards such as the Governor General's Award, the Giller P ...
,
Marilynne Robinson
Marilynne Summers Robinson (born November 26, 1943) is an American novelist and essayist. Across her writing career, Robinson has received numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2005, National Humanities Medal in 2012, and ...
,
Salman Rushdie
Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British-American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and Wes ...
,
Susan Sontag
Susan Sontag (; January 16, 1933 – December 28, 2004) was an American writer, philosopher, and political activist. She mostly wrote essays, but also published novels; she published her first major work, the essay "Notes on 'Camp'", in 1964. Her ...
,
John Edgar Wideman
John Edgar Wideman (born June 14, 1941) is an American novelist, short story writer, memoirist, and essayist. He was the first person to win the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction twice. His writing is known for experimental techniques and a focus o ...
, and many others.
History
''PEN America'' wasestablished in 2000 by M. Mark, who was a member of PEN's Board of Trustees at the time. In its inaugural year, PEN America was recognized as one of the "Ten Best New Magazines" by
Library Journal
''Library Journal'' is an American trade publication for librarians. It was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey. It reports news about the library world, emphasizing public libraries, and offers feature articles about aspects of professional prac ...
. The magazine received a nomination for an Utne Independent Press Award in 2010 for its international coverage. The essay "Ghost Writer" by
Cynthia Ozick
Cynthia Ozick (born April 17, 1928) is an American short story writer, novelist, and essayist.
Biography
Cynthia Ozick was born in New York City, the second of two children. She moved to the Bronx with her Belarusian-Jewish parents from Hlusk, ...
, which was published i
PEN America 9: Checkpoints was included in The Best American Essays 2009 as part of ''
The Best American Series {{italic title
''The Best American Series'' is a series of anthologies that is published annually by Mariner Books, an imprint of HarperCollins. Each title within the series covers a specific genre such as short stories or mysteries. The works for ...
''. Additionally, works of fiction from the magazine were selected for the
Pushcart Prize
The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize published by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year. Magazine and small book press editors are ...
in 2009 and 2010.
In February 2009,
Edward Albee
Edward Franklin Albee III ( ; March 12, 1928 – September 16, 2016) was an American playwright known for works such as ''The Zoo Story'' (1958), '' The Sandbox'' (1959), ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' (1962), '' A Delicate Balance'' (1966) ...
,
André Aciman
André Aciman (; born 2 January 1951) is an Italian-American writer. Born and raised in Alexandria, Egypt, he is currently a distinguished professor at the Graduate Center of City University of New York, where he teaches the history of litera ...
,
Anthony Appiah,
Ron Chernow
Ronald Chernow (; born March 3, 1949) is an American writer, journalist and biographer. He has written bestselling historical non-fiction biographies.
He won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Biography and the 2011 American History Book Prize for his ...
,
Lydia Davis
Lydia Davis (born July 15, 1947) is an American short story writer, novelist, essayist, and translator from French and other languages, who often writes short (one or two pages long) short stories. Davis has produced several new translations of ...
,
Deborah Eisenberg
Deborah Eisenberg (born November 20, 1945) is an American short story writer, actress and teacher. She is a professor of writing at Columbia University.
Early life
Eisenberg was born in Winnetka, Illinois. Her family is Jewish. She grew up in su ...
,
Francine Prose
Francine Prose (born April 1, 1947) is an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and critic. She is a visiting professor of literature at Bard College, and was formerly president of PEN American Center.
Life and career
Born in Brookl ...
, and
Sarah Ruhl
Sarah Ruhl (born January 24, 1974) is an American playwright, professor, and essayist. Among her most popular plays are ''Eurydice'' (2003), '' The Clean House'' (2004), and ''In the Next Room (or the Vibrator Play)'' (2009). She has been the rec ...
participated in the journal's first benefit reading.
Events: PEN America
Issues
PEN America 1: Classics
PEN America 2: Home & Away
PEN America 3: Tribes
PEN America 4: Fact/Fiction
PEN America 5: Silences
PEN America 6: Metamorphoses
PEN America 7: World Voices
PEN America 8: Making Histories
PEN America 9: Checkpoints
PEN America 10: Fear Itself
PEN America 11: Make Believe
PEN America 12: Correspondences
PEN America 13: Lovers
PEN America 14: The Good Books
PEN America 15: Maps
PEN America 16: Teachers
See also
*List of literary magazines
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby union ...
References
{{Reflist
External links
''PEN America: A Journal for Writers and Readers'' website
''PEN America: A Blog for Writers and Readers''
Annual magazines published in the United States
Literary magazines published in the United States
Magazines established in 2000
Magazines published in New York City