45 Baby Names that Mean Music

For some parents, the definition of a name is just as important as the sound. Music is universal and names with musical definitions make great choices for your little ones. Musical names come from many countries and heritages. They have simple and creative spellings and various sound options. Let's take a look at the great name options that have musical definitions.

(1) Shira: (female) Shira is Hebrew for song. I love the sound of Shira!

(2) Apollo: (male) Meaning God of music and poetry, this Greek name is a strong choice for a baby boy.

(3) Ranit: (male or female) Hebrew for song, Ranit is a great choice for a little boy or girl.

(4) Nazim: (male) Nazim is Indian for song and has a great sound. Naz is a great nickname as well.

(5) Alahya: (female) This Indian name means musical tone or color. It's so beautiful and I love the spelling.

(6) Lirit: (female) This Hebrew name means lyrical and has a great simple sound. It's like a better Merrit.

(7) Dewon: (male) Dewon is Irish for song and fits right into the popular sound for boys names today.

(8) Melody: (female) Melody is of Greek origin and is a wonderful choice. The melody is the most important part of a song!

(9) Roni: (male or female) Hebrew for song, Roni could work on a little boy or girl.

(10) Saron: (male or female) Meaning his song in Hebrew, Saron has a wonderful sound to it.

(11) Aria: (female) This English name means gentle music. It's more of an obvious choice musically speaking, but still beautiful.

(12) Philomela: (female) This Greek name means lover of music. It is a bit of a mouthful, but fits right in with Gabriella or Isabella.

(13) Leron: (male) The Arabic meaning of Leron means the song is mine. It's a wonderful definition for your child and has a great, modern sound.

(14) Sora: (female) Sora is Native American for chirping songbird. It's a softer Zora and has such a pretty sound.

(15) Brage: (male) This is the Norwegian name for the god of music. It has a really cool sound.

(16) Rina: (female) Rina is Hebrew for joyous song. It's beautiful and is a great choice for parents who don't like nicknames.

(17) Alima: (female) Alima is an Arabic name that means learned in dance or music. It has a simple spelling and a pretty sound to it.

(18) Lark: (male or female) The American meaning of Lark is songbird. I think it could work on a boy or girl.

(19) Ranim: (male or female) Arabic for reciting in a sing song voice, Ranim is a wonderful choice for your baby boy or girl.

(20) Cadence: (female) This American name means musical beat. It another choice that is a bit more obvious, but has such a great sound and energy to it.

(21) Philyra: (female) Like Philomela, Philyra means lover of music. It is a simpler spelling, so much more relate-able for modern parents.

(22) Chantal: (female) From the French verb to sing, Chantal is a beautiful name with many alternate spelling choices.

(23) Binali: (female) With the cute nickname Nali, the Hindi name Binali is a beautiful choice. It means musical instrument.

(24) Piper: (male or female) Piper literally means a flute player. It's gender bending, so you can consider it for your baby boy or girl.

(25) Lyric: (female) Lyric is Greek for melodic word. While it is obvious, I love this name!

(26) Aika: (male or female) Aika means love song in Japanese. It has such a great definition and a very unique sound.

(27) Ruana: (female) This Hindi name means musical instrument and the nickname Ru is absolutely adorable.

(28) Musetta: (female) Musetta is French for a song. It is a really pretty name and frilly as well. I like Muse and Etta as nicknames.

(29) Bethany: (female) This is a recognizable name that means house of music in Hebrew. It's a great way to honor music and your daughter, without the name being that out there.

(30) Charmaine: (female) In Latin, Charmaine means to sing. It has a pretty sound and is definitely a bold choice.

(31) Harper: (male or female) This name literally means harp player. It's gaining popularity and can be used on a little boy or girl.

(32) Carol: (female) The French meaning of Carol is melody and song. You could also do Carolyn, Caroline, or Carollie.

(33) Daina: (female) Daina means song in Lithuania. It's a cooler spelling then Dana, and is easy to say.

(34) Jaron: (male) Meaning to shout and sing in Hebrew, Jaron is a really cool choice for your baby boy. It is much cooler than Jayden!

(35) Gita: (female) Gita is Hindi for song and has such a cute energy and sound.

(36) Kotone: (male) Kotone means harp sound in Japanese. I really like the cool sound to this name. It's very strong.

(37) Mavis: (female) This name has a very unique sound, but is super easy to spell. It is the name of a bird that means song thrush.

(38) Carmen: (female) The Latin and Spanish definition of Carmen is song. It's also the name of a beautiful opera.

(39) Riya: (female) Riya means singer in Hindi. It can also be spelled Ria, but I really love it with the "y."

(40) Zamir: (male) Hebrew for songbird, Zamir is an awesome choice for your baby boy. I love Z names, and this is a great way to take a departure from Zachary.

(41) Chyna: (female) Chyna means musical instrument. If you are a music lover who loves place names, this could be your top choice.

(42) Harmony: (female) Another obvious choice, Harmony is a great option for parents who want a recognizable musical choice.

(43) Kousan: (male) In Armenian, Kousan means singer. I really love the sound of this name, and think it should be on any music lovers list of possiblities.

(44) Zimri: (male) Zimri means my music in Hebrew. It has a really cool, unique sound and would make a great choice!

(45) Calliope: (female) Meaning beautiful voice in Greek, Calliope has such a cool sound and a great nickname in Calli.

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Diversity Within Diversity: 2015 ALA Youth Media Awards “Change the Landscape” of Recognition in Children’s Literature

Winter storm Linus may have dominated Chicago headlines as February rolled in, but the flurry of each announcement at the American Library Association’s Youth Media Awards on Feb. 2 quickly snowballed into perhaps the most diverse awards list in the history of children’s literature. Librarians, authors, and children’s book creators are still reveling in excitement akin to that of a student waking up on a snow day.

Diverse books refer to non-majority narratives in terms of ethnicity, culture, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and disabilities. This year’s winning titles feature protagonists ranging from a deaf bunny to a Mexican painter to fraternal twins, one gay and the other recovering from a terrible sexual experience.

But the 2015 award winners and honor titles aren’t just diverse in their casts of characters. Diverse formats and styles were recognized widely at the ceremony. A welcome surprise came with the announcements of not one, not two, but three graphic novels as recipients. Cece Bell’s El Deafo received a Newbery Honor and This One Summer by Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki received a Caldecott Honor, a Batchelder Award, and was on the honor list for the Printz Award. Loic Dauviller, Greg Salsedo, and Marc Lizano’s graphic work Hidden: A Child’s Story of the Holocaust was also on the honor list for the Batchelder award, which recognizes books translated into English.

Beyond comics, another emerging format that repeatedly garnered awards was the novel-in-verse. The Newbery Medal winner The Crossover by Kwame Alexander and honor recipient Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson are both in verse. Combined with graphic novel El Deafo, one hundred percent of this year’s Newbery winners are non-traditional in format. Another winner that breaks the mold is the 104-page verse picture book Josephine, whose illustrator Christian Robinson received a Coretta Scott King (Illustrator) Honor.

“Looking over the list, I can’t help noticing the diversity—in so many respects,” wrote Carol Hinz, editorial director at Millbrook Press, an imprint of Lerner Publishing Group. “Look at the diversity of format: Poetry! Nonfiction (not just for the nonfiction awards)! Graphic novels!”

Books narrated by more than one character or voice, such as I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson and How It Went Down by Kekla Magoon also garnered attention. Nelson’s book won the Michael L. Printz Award and Magoon’s book received a Coretta Scott King (Author) Honor.

Nonfiction received unprecedented recognition on the Caldecott list with three titles, representing half of the six honor recipients. The Stonewall Book Award also included Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin, which features photographs of and interviews with six transgender or gender-neutral young adults.

“I came away from the ceremony thinking that we all are winners this year,” said Hinz, who noted that the diversity spread even further this year to include a “good number of small and independent houses,” not just large publishers. Lerner, an independent publisher, was one of those smaller presses, touting The Story of Owen by E.K. Johnston as a Morris Award finalist. Other award-winning small or independent publishers included Cinco Puntos Press, Candlewick Press, Lee and Low Books, Chronicle Books, Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, Groundwood Books/House of Anansi Press, and Elephant Rock Books.

Beyond the scope of diverse characters, formats, and publishers, perhaps one of the most noticeable—and encouraging—aspects was the number of diverse authors who received awards. The Caldecott Medal went to Thai-American Dan Santat, and the Theodore Seuss Geisel Award went to Anna Kang, who also directed the documentary “not black or white,” an irreverent look at media stereotypes of Asian women. The Newbery list includes two African Americans and a deaf author, and Latina author Isabel Quintero won the William C. Morris Award for her debut YA novel, Gabi, Girl in Pieces.

In addition to the more than sixty authors and illustrators recognized for their award-winning titles, many of whom identify with non-majority experiences, the lifetime achievement awards and lectures were all awarded to diverse individuals. Mexican-American author Pat Mora was awarded the May Hill Arbuthnot Honor Lecture Award, and the ALSC Distinguished Service Award went to openly gay K.T. Horning. Three African Americans’ lifetime achievements were honored—author/illustrator Donald Crews received the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, author Sharon M. Draper received the Margaret A. Edwards Award, and Deborah D. Taylor was graced with the Coretta Scott King–Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement.

“This is a victory for us and a victory for all of our children,” said We Need Diverse Books President Ellen Oh. Oh’s passion lies not only in amplifying books with diverse characters and authors, but in ensuring that the publishing industry itself becomes more diverse, a mission shared by WNDB. This summer, WNDB will launch its first diverse internship program, geared to assist diverse college grads with entering positions at publishing houses.

The snow in Chicago may come and go, but the online blizzard of reactions to the ALA awards continues to accumulate. When these positive comments are considered alongside other movements on the front lines of the diversity issue, it’s hard to escape the feeling that this storm finally has enough momentum to change the landscape of children’s literature.

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Pen Review: Delta Unica

Material: Celluloid
Nib: Steel
Appointments: Gold
Filling System: Cartridge/Converter
Length (Capped): 132.6mm
Length (Uncapped): 122mm
Length (Posted): 152mm
Section Diameter: 11.8mm
Barrel Max Diameter: 13.5mm
Cap Max Diameter: 15.5mm
Weight, Capped (with ink and/or converter): 24g
Weight, Uncapped (with ink and/or converter): 16g

Late in 2014, The Goulet Pen Company posted about a new, exclusive version of the Delta Unica that they were going to be adding to their catalog. This new exclusive was built using the same orange celluloid material that Delta uses on many of its higher-end pens (like the Delta Dolce Vita). There was much falderal around this, as an $80 modern pen made out of celluloid was something many (myself included) had never seen before. Plus, it was in a very eye-catching color.

I suspect that Delta hadn’t anticipated the volume of pens like this that Goulet Pen Company would move because, only a few days after I placed my order, Brian Goulet announced that the Delta Unica in Orange Celluloid was coming to an end. Delta was going to be unable to make any more out of the orange celluloid, as the material itself can take up to two years to make.  As a result, my Goulet Exclusive also became a limited edition.

Despite the fact that my version of the Delta Unica is no longer available, I still wanted to do a review. The Unica still is available in blue, pink, and white acrylic with silver appointments. There is also a new Goulet Exclusive in blue acrylic with a matte gold nib (more on that matte gold nib later.)

The Unica is one of Delta’s less-expensive pens.  It has an almost conical shape, with a flat end at the bottom of the pen, and straight-lined flare to the cap’s slightly rounded flat top. My version of the pen came with gold-colored appointments.  The clip is sturdy and fairly stiff, and has a little roller-wheel for the ball of the clip. The pen is fairly thick for its size, giving it a slightly stubby appearance, with a grip of nearly 12mm. So, while it’s not the longest pen in the world, it’s probably going to be a better fit for people who like fuller grips.

The Unica is a cartridge/converter pen, but the threads of the section are metal, so it can’t be used as an eyedropper. (Personally, I would never use this particular pen as an eyedropper, as celluloid is far too delicate a material for eyedropper purposes.) The pen utilizes standard international converters and cartridges.

In the hand, this pen is quite comfortable, if a little on the wide side. It’s just long enough for me use without posting, but feels more comfortable and balanced when posted. It posts deeply, so it doesn’t feel off-balance or unwieldy when posted. The section is smooth, and tapers slightly. The threads aren’t sharp, so even if you grip the pen a little higher up like I do, they shouldn’t be much of a bother to you.

I did find myself slightly annoyed at the staining I noticed on the inside of the section’s celluloid from the inking process. I inked with a dark blue initially, and as a result, the celluloid of the section now feels and looks slightly darker. This is why I wouldn’t use this pen as an eyedropper, even if the section threads weren’t metal. I suspect the darkening of the material I experienced probably would not happen on the acrylic versions of this pen.

And the nib?  Well. Let me tell you. The nib on the Unica is one of the smoothest, juiciest steel nibs I have ever used in my entire life. I didn’t have any skips or hard starts. There is essentially no feedback. It’s very well-polished. I might have even considered it ever-s0-slightly over-polished had I experienced any issues consistent with Baby’s Bottom Syndrome. The nib is so wet, however, that the Medium writes like a European broad; I would hard pressed to describe this pen’s line as medium even in  the most generous of circumstances.

Perhaps one of the most unusual aspects of my version of this pen is the “brushed metal” finish on the gold-colored steel nib. The nib is quite intricately decorated, but the decorations come off a little chunky and cluttered to me, instead of refined. The matte gold/brushed metal finish on the nib looked really cool when I first got the pen.  It’s a neat idea, but execution leaves a little to be desired. First, it doesn’t really match the shiny gold appointments on the outside of the pen. And, during the first cleaning, I noticed that the face of the nib wouldn’t come clean. Upon closer inspection, I realized that the matte finish on the face of the nib had already started off leaving a big, rough, stained patch between the tip of the nib and the start of the embossing. It’s gotten worse over time and now it looks pretty bad. The nib has even started leaving little flecks of gold on the page when I write. I’m pretty seriously considering trying to figure out if I can buff off the matte finish and polish the nib face to a mirror shine. If you don’t care about the aesthetics of your nib, it doesn’t impact the writing experience at all which, on my pen, is pretty glorious. If the nib’s aesthetics are important to you, I would encourage you to steer clear of the matte-finish nibs. It just isn’t a great look after the first inking or two.

Ever since people found out that I snagged one of the last orange celluloid versions of the Unica, they’ve been asking me if I’m interested in selling. I’m happy to go on the record: no, I’m not selling the pen. In the last few months since receiving the pen, it has regularly found a rotation with many of my far more expensive writing instruments. The Unica is a pen that punches well above its weight class. For $75-$80, you’re going to be getting a well-made, turned pen with an excellent steel nib. Even the acrylic versions are a steal at this price. (The celluloid version…well that was the deal of the century, in my opinion.)

The Unica would be a great stepping stone for someone interesting in moving up from the entry level Pilot Metropolitans and Lamy Safaris, but isn’t quite ready to breach that $100 price point. If your experience with the Unica is anything like mine, you’ll find it keeping quite solid company with pens that cost significantly more.

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Mexico: Ensure Adequate Resources for Protecting Journalists

Last month, a delgation from PEN Centers around the world, including PEN American Center, visited Mexico City to put the global spotlight on the growing threat to journalists in the country, which Reporters Without Borders called "the most dangerous country for media." Below, we've re-printed an excerpt from reflections on the trip by Robert Wallace, treasurer of PEN Center USA in California.

At the end of February, as a board member of PEN Center USA, I was fortunate to take part in a PEN International delegation to Mexico City. The purpose of the trip, the third to Mexico in three years, was to focus public attention on the serious threats that our colleagues face there and to put pressure on the Mexican government to take real and meaningful steps to protect these people.

To say that freedom of expression is “under attack” does not begin to describe how terrible the situation is in Mexico. According to the country’s federal Special Prosecutor for Crimes against Freedom of Expression, 103 journalists have been murdered and 25 have disappeared since 2000. Impunity for those crimes stands at approximately 90 percent, which clearly shows that what laws do currently exist are not being enforced. There seems to be no end to the growing corruption and violence in Mexico, as evidenced by the recent mass kidnapping and murder of 43 student teachers from Ayotzinapa who were on their way to a public demonstration in Mexico City.

Over forty delegates from PEN Centers around the world, including Germany, Wales, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Brazil, and Argentina, spent four days meeting with local human rights groups and government officials, including the Foreign Minister, the head of the Human Rights Commission, the Minister of the Interior, and the mayor of Mexico City. There was also an inspiring and well-attended press conference at which each PEN Center delegate stood and read a personal statement demanding that the government of Mexico take action to support freedom of expression.

The result of the delegation’s daily working sessions was an official statement that made the following recommendations to the Mexican government:

• Make the protective measures for journalists and human rights defenders actually work: ensure adequate funding for enforcement, make the assessment of individual cases swift and transparent, and keep those at risk fully informed and engaged in the process at all times.

• Whenever a crime is committed against any person known to be a writer or journalist, local police should report the case directly to the Special Prosecutor for Crimes against Freedom of Expression, instead of determining themselves whether or not such crimes are freedom of expression cases.

• Expand the jurisdiction of the Special Prosecutor for Crimes against Freedom of Expression to include cases where the suspected perpetrator may be involved in organized crime, including narco-trafficking. Ensure that the office has energetic, sustained political support and sufficient resources, including funding and personnel, to fulfill its mandate.

• Actively encourage the remaining twelve Mexican states to decriminalize defamation.

• Ensure the prompt and thorough investigation of all crimes committed against journalists and provide full and frequent updates on those investigations to the public. In particular, immediately make public the details of progress made in the investigations into the murders of anthropologist Miguel Ángel Gutiérrez Ávila, social-media activist Maria del Rosario Fuentes Rubio, and journalist Moisés Sánchez.

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Three Poems by Mark Levine

This week in the PEN Poetry Series, guest editor Robert Fernandez features three poems by Mark Levine. About Levine's work, Fernandez writes: "These poems by Mark Levine describe a condition of exile between what’s said and unsaid, what’s possible and impossible—between adulthood and childhood, facility and debilitation, the past and present. We find ourselves perched on the lip of ruin—the ruins of history, the ruin of self—and this can precipitate dread and anguish, arrest and collapse, or it can, as in Levine’s case, provide a charge, a surge of blood and adrenaline, pitching the poem toward understanding and truth. Here the poet at once trusts and denies that he is carried 'In a fiery spume of [his] own singeing.' In this self-questioning there lies an ethics. The poems, too, are as nuanced and sophisticated explorations of melancholy, hope, and hopelessness as one will find in this day and age."

 

Mutter
 

 There is a brand of play called muteness
Beneath the play yard’s interlacing branches.

It appeals to children born
 Entre deux guerres, whose specialty it is.

  It is mutiny; that is, a tongue
 Of foreign origin ending in grunts.

 One such child uses his tongue
On a frozen fence for the embrace of it

For the mutating appendage makes of speech
 A combat; an internment.

There is a brand of child assisted to the play yard
 By his keeper fussing with his zipper.

 Yes it is cold in the high hemisphere
And nothing will be the death of him

As he sets hard sweets on his tongue
 He neither chews nor swallows.

 Such children can never swing too freely
   From the elm’s loping barkless arm.

  It is mutual. There is smoke on the air, tarry,
   Commuting the industry on high

 As the children simmer with speech within
 Their word-cloud.

 And someone or something is calling them home
A familiar voice, if they have one.

 

Dance
 

Old man is done. Here I am dancing
 Dancing in my own step, as others skirt by
Wheel by, are jerked by
     By their loose lashes
Here I am ringed round by glistering prongs
 Primate
    Solo dancer
 Stalking a window like a reasoning housefly
In a hexagonal mirror
 An ambulette. I do not dance
   As I danced in prior light
Under a name (Aron)
 A pair of mynahs vying for my
   Flame on each shoulder,
White wolf, wonder-working rod,
   Cloud spiller
That dance is but done, lord.

Young man is done. It was not me, was never
   Astride Niagara Falls (Canada)
 In a fiery spume of my own singeing
   Making words, when I had some
When my dance was
   Romancing me
Upon the blunt windshield
     For all to weep.
It may be I’ve bent to sacrifice
 A step or two lately
As I am empty as a flue
 As my adhesive strip
Has left me palely tottering
No hoist to crank me forth
No partner boosting old boy’s jizz, no
 Heedful vengeful god within.

 

Fraction

 

That wasn’t the half of it.
    The third man sat for a quarter hour
    Downing a fifth of Bacardi
      In a shower of ice
     Before emerging from a noodle bar
    At Sixth and Bleecker
     (For it could not be any)
  En route to Film Forum
  For a private showing
    Of The Seventh Seal and
    I am distant kin to Burt Bacharach
      Eighth of nine siblings
     Or the second of two depending
     On one’s genealogical screws
      Regardless am the only
   Eye still blinking after a proper
Nazi trampling. I’ll not see twenty-twenty;
Not twenty-ten; have scrubbed my cataracts
   In a dizzy ravine
   In my forty-sixth summer
  Of premature evacuation, having misplaced my walker
       In an essence of soda water
        And earth to make a bed
         For jackpot winners. But I was about to say
   When Chance came and cut me down with his Wehrmacht
 That I was present on the assembly floor
And accountable for this little industrial
Severance of a couple digits
   Leaving me ninety-nine and forty-four hundredths
Clean.
     I’ll never again wish myself back to that state
Sponsored shower as long as I.
   The sixteenth squadron spared my hide
   Emptying its gunwales in me for thirty seconds
     As I stood frozen on the ladder’s twenty-seventh rung and
I like to think some boy’s been swinging there
     On the forty-ninth parallel called Heaven
     In the northerly taiga where the shales
   Are asleep in a pharmacological hush
  And when my sinuses clear
What am I.

 

Once a week, the PEN Poetry Series publishes work by emerging and established writers from coast to coast. Subscribe to the PEN Poetry Series mailing list and have poems delivered to your e-mail as soon as they are published (no spam, no news, just poems). 

 

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The PEN Ten with Dante Micheaux

The PEN Ten is PEN America's weekly interview series. This week, guest editor Nicole Sealey talks to poet Dante Micheaux. He is the author of Amorous Shepherd (Sheep Meadow Press, 2010). His poems and translations have appeared in PN Review, The American Poetry Review, Callaloo, and Rattapallax—among other journals and anthologies. He has been shortlisted for the Benjamin Zephaniah Poetry Prize and the Bridport Prize. Micheaux’s honors include a prize in poetry from the Vera List Center for Art & Politics, the Oscar Wilde Award, and a fellowship from The New York Times Foundation.

When did being a writer begin to inform your sense of identity?

I do not think of myself as a writer, though I do write and often use the label for convenience: being a writer is much easier to explain than being a poet. Historically, “writers” have ascribed a set of responsibilities to themselves or committed allegiances that have always seemed disingenuous to me. That being said, being a poet began to inform my identity not so long ago. I have been composing poems since I was twelve but it took the candor and encouragement of Hettie Jones, in my junior year of college, to help me see myself in this vocation.

Whose work would you like to steal without attribution or consequences?

Carl Phillips.

Where is your favorite place to write?

In complete silence, low temperatures, overlooking a landscape—preferably rural.

Have you ever been arrested? Care to discuss?

No, but I should have been. I do not care to discuss.

Obsessions are influences—what are yours?

Men. God(s). Desire. Power.

What’s the most daring thing you’ve ever put into words?

When I was younger, I often composed poems against rivals, for desire or power, and read them in public. I have also composed a poem about my relationship with my mother, which was difficult to make.

What is the responsibility of the writer?

One would have to ask a writer.

While the notion of the public intellectual has fallen out of fashion, do you believe writers have a collective purpose?

Out of whose fashion has it fallen? Certainly, not mine! Intellectuals are still here and we are still writing, composing, conversing with one another, in private and in public. I think the notion of “the public” as an entity has fallen out of fashion or is devolving into something unrecognizable from the cooperative enterprise that forges democracy and nurtures civic accountability. At my snarkiest, I suppose that individuals who make up “the public” are merely stupid but, when I am thinking on an even keel, I know that most of those individuals have been convinced that their sole responsibility is to consume. Capitalism is decimating humanity—Americans in particular, are increasingly seduced by its shimmer, at the expense of our souls.

I do not believe writers have a collective purpose but, again, one would have to ask writers. I think writers think that their collective purpose is truth. That is, however, speculation on my part.

What book would you send to the leader of a government that imprisons writers?

Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo.

Where is the line between observation and surveillance?

The line between observation and surveillance is action for any purpose other than art. Once one takes non-artistic action based on an observation, it becomes surveillance. In other words: I could observe The Honorable John Boehner as close as is legally possible, in order to compose a satirical poem about the quality of his job performance (observation). The Honorable John Boehner could have me observed as close as is legally possible, in order to arrest me for violation of the Patriot Act (surveillance).  

On March 19, 2015, 6:30 pm at The New School’s Wollman Hall, please join writers Dante Micheaux, Darryl Pinckney and Tiphanie Yanique as they discuss the tensions and complications between James Baldwin and the places about which he wrote. Visit Cave Canem's full calendar here.

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PEN Mexico Announces 2015 PEN Awards

Mexico City – PEN Mexico has awarded its 2015 PEN Awards to Elena Poniatowska, Darío Ramírez, Federico Mastrogiovanni, Pablo Ferri and an anonymous Aristegui News reporter, in recognition of excellence in journalism, literature, and work in human rights.

This year's recipients are: writer Elena Poniatowska, who has been a member of PEN Mexico for decades; an anonymous Aristegui journalist who revealed how the President of the PRI in Mexico City recruited women for sexual services with public money; the Italian journalist (based in Mexico) Federico Mastrogiovanni, who has researched forced disappearances in Mexico in works such as Ni vivos ni muertos (Neither alive nor dead); human rights defender Darío Ramírez, director of Article 19 for Mexico and Central America; and journalist Paul Ferri, who, thanks to his research, revealed that the Mexican Army executed 22 civilians in the town of Tlatlaya, Mexico State.

With these awards, PEN Mexico supports the importance of press freedom, freedom of expression and free thought for writers and journalists in the country, at a time when attacks on journalists by authorities and criminal groups are increasing.

The awards will be presented during the public protest PEN Pregunta, which will be held on 22 February at 12 noon, at Casa Lamm (Álvaro Obregón 99, col. Roma, Mexico, D.F.), with the participation of more than 30 authors from Mexico and other countries.

In addition, PEN Mexico is also announcing the second edition of PEN Piensa, a literary and journalistic platform that invites reflection and analysis of the current situation for freedom of expression in Mexico and Latin America. This editions includes contributions by: Héctor Abad Faciolince, Santiago Roncagliolo, Homero Aridjis, Víctor Manuel Mendiola, Wilbert Torre, Iván Ríos Gascón and Carlos Franz.

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