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English PEN's magazine for international writing

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All articles filed in personal essays

personal essaysJuly 22, 2022

Books, Books, Books

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

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personal essaysJune 21, 2022July 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.

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personal essaysJune 14, 2022June 28, 2022

On Translation

Astrid Alben on language, childhood, photographs and translation.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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personal essaysMarch 24, 2022April 22, 2022

From Ajdabiya to Rome

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

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personal essaysMarch 7, 2022March 17, 2022

Delhi’s Educational Underbelly

Anandi Mishra on Mukherjee Nagar and her journey to writing.

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personal essaysFebruary 8, 2022March 7, 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.

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personal essaysJanuary 18, 2022February 15, 2022

My Character, My Pseudonym, and Me

Fatima Daas on names. Translated by Lara Vergnaud.

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personal essaysJanuary 11, 2022February 15, 2022

All My Languages

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

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personal essaysDecember 22, 2021January 18, 2022

Dwelling in and ‘Writing’ the City

Daniela Hodrová on the city. Translated by Elena Sokol.

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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.

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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.

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personal essaysOctober 28, 2021December 8, 2021

Listening to the Flesh: For Tsitsi Dangarembga

Panashe Chigumadzi on Tsitsi Dangarembga, commissioned to celebrate Dangarembga winning the 2021 PEN Pinter Prize.

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personal essaysOctober 6, 2021November 2, 2021

Translating Simone de Beauvoir

Lauren Elkin on translating de Beauvoir’s newly discovered novel The Inseparables.

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personal essaysSeptember 10, 2021October 6, 2021

He Can Hardly Even Be Approached: On Saadat Hasan Manto

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Vijay Seshadri on Saadat Hasan

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personal essaysAugust 26, 2021October 6, 2021

The Great Homeless of Literature

Selahattin Demirtaş on ‘home’, state-sanctioned writing, and what makes literature literature. Translated by Kate Ferguson.

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personal essaysAugust 11, 2021August 26, 2021

Journalation

Anna Aslanyan on the perils of translating news.

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personal essaysJuly 26, 2021December 23, 2021

To Dearest, Cherished and Longed Amanuel

Yirgalem Fisseha Mebrahtu writes to Amanuel Asrat on his 50th birthday. Translated by Issayas Beyene.

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