When
Lauren Cerand and I founded The PEN Ten, we set out to create a short
interview series that was breezy and conversational, but also gave
contributors the opportunity to dig into more substantial issues of
craft and creative freedom if the urge arose. The questions fluctuate
between softballs and deceptively difficult curveballs, leaving some
writers temporarily stumped. We decided to keep the questions relatively
unchanged to see how the answers would vary from contributor to
contributor, over time, and through social, political, and financial ups
and downs, knowing that no two responses would ever be the same.
While the questions haven’t changed in two years, the curator has. In January we bid farewell to Lauren and welcomed a new crew, who, in the coming months, will introduce us to the writers, editors, and translators they admire and who inspire them the most. We’ll start the new series on March 3 with writers including Dante Micheaux, Sherman Alexie, Laura Lippman Elif Batumanand Megan Abbott.
Randa Jararr
novelist and short story writer, will interview writers who focus on
counter-hegemony, censorship, race, gender, and the artist's role in all
the above.
Nicole Sealey
poet and programs director at Cave Canem, will bring The PEN Ten to a
distinguished and diverse group of Cave Canem fellows and friends.
Alex Segura novelist and comic book writer, intends to drag a number of crime and genre-bending fiction authors into the series.
Natalie Diaz poet and language activist, will interview writers who grapple withhow
language works for us, affects us, changes us, from a different vantage
point: from the inside outward versus from outside looking in.
While the questions haven’t changed in two years, the curator has. In January we bid farewell to Lauren and welcomed a new crew, who, in the coming months, will introduce us to the writers, editors, and translators they admire and who inspire them the most. We’ll start the new series on March 3 with writers including Dante Micheaux, Sherman Alexie, Laura Lippman Elif Batumanand Megan Abbott.
Nicole Sealey
poet and programs director at Cave Canem, will bring The PEN Ten to a
distinguished and diverse group of Cave Canem fellows and friends.
Alex Segura novelist and comic book writer, intends to drag a number of crime and genre-bending fiction authors into the series.
Natalie Diaz poet and language activist, will interview writers who grapple withhow
language works for us, affects us, changes us, from a different vantage
point: from the inside outward versus from outside looking in.
