PEN America has named award-winning novelist, essayist, and professor Phil Klay to serve as its president and chair of its board of trustees. He was appointed to the position to fill the vacancy after Dinaw Mengestu resigned in July.
 |
|
| Phil Klay | |
Klay is a graduate of Dartmouth College. He served in Iraq from January 2007 to February 2008 as a public affairs officer. After being discharged, he received an MFA from Hunter College. His books include the short story collection Redeployment, which won the National Book Award for fiction as well as National Book Critics' Circle John Leonard Prize; the novel Missionaries; and essay collection Uncertain Ground. He is director of the Fairfield University MFA in Creative Writing, and his writing has appeared in numerous newspapers and magazines.
"Phil Klay is a writer who wrestles with moral complexity, challenges orthodoxies, and pushes us all to consider what it takes to maintain our humanity during times of upheaval and division," said Clarisse Rosaz Shariyf, PEN America's co-CEO. "He is coming to this role with a deep respect for writers as truth seekers, a principled commitment to free expression, and a firm belief in the power of literature to foster a more just world. In this moment of critical threats to free speech and democracy, we are grateful for his leadership."
A longtime PEN America member and a trustee since 2025, Klay added: "As a writer, free expression is the lifeblood of what we do, and that means not simply a narrow legalistic view of the First Amendment, but a broad faith in cultural exchange, in sustained efforts to understand other people, other cultures, and other ideas, including uncomfortable ones, and to the creation of a more open and egalitarian public square. That means keeping PEN America an organization writers recognize as their own, and it means continued dialogue with our community, including writers, members, and partners....
"In the end, freedom of expression is secured through a deep commitment to human equality and human dignity. If we cannot speak, we cannot be known, and we cannot be fellow citizens together. Freedom of expression is about creating a world in which individuals, though prone to as much folly and cruelty as they are to beauty and goodness, can be fully human."
Tracy Higgins, executive vice-president of PEN America's board of trustees, commented: "Phil Klay possesses both the courage and the clarity PEN America needs in its next president. He recognizes that in a time of profound political division, PEN America must maintain a space where writers are free to disagree. We must not only foster conversation but also tolerate dissent if we are to progress toward a better understanding of ourselves and our world. PEN America's board of trustees is delighted to have him take on this role."
Former PEN America president Ayad Akhtar added: "I've known and admired Phil Klay for a decade--his books, his mettle and grace, his commitment to principle, his steadfastness in the face of tumult and conflict. At a time when freedom of the imagination and thought is not only under attack from every human quarter, but increasingly from the non-human as well, Phil is a natural choice to serve as president of PEN America. He understands that bonds thicker than point of view are necessary to build our communities and our resistance. Literature and advocacy are not synonymous, but at their best, they are handmaidens. Phil understands this as well as anyone I know."