Skip to content
PEN Transmissions

PEN Transmissions

English PEN's magazine for international writing

  • ABOUT
  • ESSAYS
  • INTERVIEWS
  • LONG READS
  • SERIES
    • x International Booker Prize
    • Pasifika Voices
    • x British Museum x Edmund de Waal
    • Digital Literary Salon [LONDON BOOK FAIR]
    • x Granta magazine
  • EDITORIALS
  • ARCHIVE
Press Enter / Return to begin your search.

All articles filed in personal essays

personal essaysJanuary 12, 2023February 2, 2023

About My Mother (and Other Things in Parentheses)

Norman Erikson Pasaribu on a mother’s choice and how writing saved them

Read More
personal essaysJanuary 10, 2023January 23, 2023

Written on the Bodies: The Language of the Hostile Environment

Rogelio Braga on the politicisation of black and brown migrant bodies and the intersections of political persecutions and the UK’s hostile environment.

Read More
personal essaysNovember 28, 2022January 23, 2023

Ghana and the Literary Industry

Elizabeth Johnson on the literary scene in Ghana, who’s building it, and the value of publishing on the continent.

Read More
illustration personal essaysNovember 16, 2022December 21, 2022

For Malorie

Dapo Adeola on his illustration marking Malorie Blackman winning the 2022 PEN Pinter Prize

Read More
personal essaysSeptember 23, 2022November 16, 2022

An Endangered Species in Uganda

Stella Nyanzi on dissident writers and free expression in Uganda.

Read More
personal essaysSeptember 2, 2022October 11, 2022

Salman the Wordsmith

By Zadie Smith.

Read More
personal essaysJuly 22, 2022December 22, 2022

Books, Books, Books

Julian Barnes on collecting books, reading books, and annotating books.

Read More
personal essaysJune 21, 2022December 22, 2022

The Freedom and Right to Share Our Stories: Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai on Decolonising Literature

Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai on decolonising literature about Việt Nam by writing in the language of the coloniser.

Read More
personal essaysJune 14, 2022June 28, 2022

On Translation

Astrid Alben on language, childhood, photographs and translation.

Read More
personal essaysMay 19, 2022June 14, 2022

I Want to Be Commissioned to Review Love Island

June Bellebono on the pigeonholing of identities, being commissioned on topics other than that which you embody, and Love Island.

Read More
personal essaysMay 10, 2022May 30, 2022

I Do Not Want You to Escape the Real World

Yara Rodrigues Fowler on material as a part of reading, the making of zines, and writing there are more things.

Read More
personal essaysApril 22, 2022May 19, 2022

Osman Kavala and the Life of the Mind

Thomas de Waal on sending Osman Kavala books to read in Silivri Prison.

Read More
personal essaysMarch 24, 2022April 22, 2022

From Ajdabiya to Rome

Najwa Bin Shatwan on her geographic and writerly journey. Translated by Sawad Hussain.

Read More
personal essaysMarch 7, 2022March 17, 2022

Delhi’s Educational Underbelly

Anandi Mishra on Mukherjee Nagar and her journey to writing.

Read More
personal essaysFebruary 8, 2022December 22, 2022

Something Shadowless, Like You: Nedim Türfent Writes Back to Ai Weiwei from Prison

Kurdish poet and journalist Nedim Türfent responds to Ai Weiwei’s postcard.

Read More
personal essaysJanuary 18, 2022February 15, 2022

My Character, My Pseudonym, and Me

Fatima Daas on names. Translated by Lara Vergnaud.

Read More
personal essaysJanuary 11, 2022December 22, 2022

All My Languages

Ariel Saramandi on Mauritius, identity, and the languages in which she writes, thinks and dreams.

Read More
personal essaysDecember 22, 2021August 31, 2022

Dwelling in and ‘Writing’ the City

Daniela Hodrová on the city. Translated by Elena Sokol.

Read More
personal essaysDecember 20, 2021January 13, 2022

No Memories, Except Memories of a Memory

Sascha A. Akhtar on the literature of South Asia, and young people translating Urdu poetry.

Read More
personal essaysNovember 2, 2021November 2, 2021

The Mountbatten Materials: Censoring an Archive

Andrew Lownie on making the Mountbatten diaries and letters public, and the importance of writers’ access to archives.

Read More

Page navigation

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • Next
Create a website or blog at WordPress.com
  • Follow Following
    • PEN Transmissions
    • Join 154 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • PEN Transmissions
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...