"Interpretation of Harlem Jazz" a.k.a. "Drawing in Two Colors" art by German artist of the Harlem Renaissance Winold Reiss. (circa 1917, public domain) “Life calls the tune, we dance.”   ―   John Galsworthy , from Five Tales It was almost enough for me to simply join PEN American Center and set up a profile page without doing much else to qualify its existence. Such a page alone could allow me to relax inside the satisfaction of knowing I had remained true enough to my literary calling to place my name beside that of authors whose lives and craftsmanship had so often empowered my own. That idea, of course, faded very quickly as I further allowed myself to acknowledge something I have long known: you do not claim rights to an honored tradition just because a few books allowed you to bring them into the world or because you managed to cough up the obligatory dues. One claims a right to such traditions very much the way runners on a winning Olympic relay ...

Award-winning journalist Serkalem Fasil accepts the 2012 PEN Freedom to Write Award for husband Eskinder Nega . (photo by Beowulf Sheehan, PEN American Center/Associated Press) Political relations between China and the United States may have been visibly strained due to Chinese activist and lawyer Chen Guangcheng’s unexpected bid for asylum last week but diplomacy and fellowship between authors from across the globe proved the exact opposite throughout PEN American Center’s World Voices Festival from April 30 to May 6. Currently celebrating the 90th anniversary of PEN American Center, headquartered in New York City, members of the organization hosted some 100 writers from more than two dozen countries during the festival. The event concluded Sunday with former PEN president Salman Rushdie’s presentation of the Arthur Miller Freedom to Write Lecture . Several locations in the city served as festival venues, including the The Standard, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, th...

Family of Trayvon Martin sitting front row: Tracy Martin (second from left) next to Sybrina Fulton and Jahvaris Fulton. The Rev. Al Sharpton is behind them and family attorney Benjamin Crump seated far left. (AP photo by Evan Vucci) Florida State Attorney Angela Corey’s announcement on April 11 that George Zimmerman had been arrested on charges of second-degree murder for the shooting of Trayvon Martin on February 26, 2012, brought some sense of relief to Martin’s family but has not quelled the concern of many that Martin’s death represents only one incident within a pervasive pattern. Appearing on the NBC’s  Today Show  Thursday, Martin’s mother, Sybrina Fulton expressed her belief that the shooting was an “accident” resulting from circumstances that “got out of control.” She later clarified her statement on MSNBC by pointing out that,  “The 'accident' I was referring to was the fact that George Zimmerman and my son ever crossed paths. .. My son was profile...

(Cover of Whitney Houston's brilliant debut album .) With the death of Soul Train founder Don Cornelius at the very beginning of the month, and that of Whitney Houston on February 11, Black History Month 2012 is fated to go down in history as one during which the world lost two of its greatest champions of African-American music. Moreover, since almost two weeks still remain in the month, one presents such a statement with noted caution. Yet as the world community and the good people of Newark, New Jersey, bid farewell to the elegant Whitney Elizabeth Houston, it seems appropriate to pause a moment and give some consideration to things of an elevated nature. To repeat myself from another occasion: Sometimes an angel gets in my head and refuses to leave until I write down whatever it says. It felt that way when Michael Jackson passed in 2009 and it feels like that now. Please click the following link to read the full editorial and poem by Aberjhani in honor of Whitney...