NEW YORK – The book world’s most creative minds gathered under a giant whale. It sounds like the start of a joke, but the evening’s tone was anything but. At a PEN America’s star-studded literary gala, hosted by comedian Amber Ruffin in the Natural History Museum’s ocean room, the evening’s unofficial theme was freedom of expression, or rather, the threatened state of it.
The night’s biggest speeches came from actors Sarah Jessica Parker and Taye Diggs, Wesleyan University President Michael S. Roth, author Jodi Picoult and PEN America President and author Jennifer Finney Boylan. All spoke about the Trump administration’s recent actions targeting free speech, diversity, equity and inclusion and public libraries.
“As writers, we also know that the most important part of our work is not the first draft, but the revisions. So I can tell you plainly, Donald Trump will not be the author of the final draft of this country,” Boylan said.
Sarah Jessica Parker ‘enraged’ about threat to public libraries
Parker was honored with a PEN/Audible Literary Service Honoree for her work as a lifelong reader, stewardess of literature and now publisher with her SJP Lit imprint. She’s also an executive producer of the 2025 documentary “The Librarians,” which follows librarians across the country fighting back against targeted efforts to ban and challenge library books.
In her acceptance speech, Parker said she was “enraged” at rising book bans but “incredibly moved by the librarians and advocates pushing back, like the freedom fighters who are standing up to the right to read, often at great personal risk.”
She continued, “To censor books is to limit imagination, curiosity, connection, empathy and inspiration. Libraries aren’t just buildings with shelves, they are a beacon. They are warm in the winter and cool in summer, and they are sanctuaries of possibility. They are the heartbeat of a neighborhood.”
Jodi Picoult, Taye Diggs speak about their banned books
Broadway and film actor Diggs, in introducing honoree and Macmillan CEO Jon Yaged, talked about his own experience with censorship as a children’s book author. Diggs is the author of five picture books, including “Chocolate Me!”, “Mixed Me!” and “Why? A Conversation about Race,” which focus on “being proud of your identity, what it means to be a true friend and having empathy for others,” he said.
“Not too controversial right? Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Several of my books have been banned or challenged in districts around the country for the crime of being too multicultural,” Diggs said.
Picoult, the evening’s gala cochair, is the author of dozens of bestselling novels, including “Nineteen Minutes.” The novel follows the aftermath of a school shooting and currently stands as the most frequently banned book in the country, according to PEN America’s 2023-2024 report.
“Margaret Atwood notwithstanding, I don’t think many writers could dream up an America as dystopian and dysfunctional as it is right now,” Picoult said. “I also know that many of us in this room who are authors, stand at a crossroads, where we understand that in a climate such as this, it is the artists who will lead the opposition, powerful stories and films and plays and translations that will spark readers to resist authoritarianism and to prevent history from repeating itself. We need our publishers and our booksellers to stand with us, and most of all, we need an organization like PEN to unify and protect us on the front lines of this ideological battle.”
Picoult praised the nonprofit organization for standing behind marginalized authors. PEN America has a history of legal action against attempted censorship, including a 2018 case against Trump to prevent censorship of the press and the more recent federal lawsuit challenging book restrictions and removals in Florida. More recently, PEN America compiled a list of more than 350 words that have been limited or removed from government websites and documents, including “abortion,” “women,” “disability,” “climate” and “race.”
PEN also honored imprisoned poet Galal El-Behairy with the PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write award. The Egyptian poet and activist was detained in 2018 on charges of terrorism, “spreading false news” and “insulting the Egyptian army” with his song “Balaha” and poetry book “The Finest Women on Earth.”
“In a time when many progressive organizations are buckling under the bullying of administration that uses threats and funding cuts to ensure obedience, PEN has done the opposite,” Picoult said. “It’s gotten louder, stronger, fiercer.”
Clare Mulroy is USA TODAY’s Books Reporter, where she covers buzzy releases, chats with authors and dives into the culture of reading. Find her on Instagram, subscribe to our weekly Books newsletter or tell her what you’re reading at [email protected].
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