Nine of the ten authors longlisted for the $75,000 PEN/Jean Stein Award have withdrawn their books from consideration, as part of a continued boycott of PEN America over the organization’s response to the war in Gaza. Camille Dungy’s SOIL is currently the book that remains. In a statement provided by her publisher, Dungy said, “Right now in America, book bans are increasing at an alarming rate. In states like the one where I live—Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Iowa—such bans are putting young people at risk, particularly Black, Brown, queer, and trans youths who can’t access books that represent and affirm who […]
