News
From Our Writers
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Congressional Hearings Are a Pretext for an Assault on Higher Education
By Peter Balakian and Cathy Caruth
Consequence
January 29, 2024
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Jill McCorkle Is Getting Over Her ‘Henry James Phobia': An Interview
On the Publication of OLD CRIMES by Jill McCorkle
By the Book — The New York Times
January 5, 2024
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A Review of ABSOLUTE ANIMAL, poems by Rachel DeWoskin
By Raisa Tolchinsky
Arrowsmith Journal
December 2023
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The Death of a Mouse and the Fall of Rome
By Askold Melnyczuk
Arrowsmith Journal
December 2023
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A Poetry Reading in Diyarbakir
By Peter Balakian
AGNI 98
Fall 2023
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The War in Ukraine: A Conversation with Askold Melnyczuk, Héctor Abad Faciolince, Carolyn Forché, Christopher Merrill, and Oksana Lutsyshyna
Miami Book Fair Online
November 21, 2023
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Tell Me Something Good
By Jacki Lyden
Arrowsmith Journal, Volume 23
May 23, 2023
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Lines from the Front: Carolyn Forché on a wartime anthology of Ukrainian Poetry
The American Scholar – Stephanie Bastek
May 19, 2023
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A Profusion of Poets
The New York Review of Books – Ariel Dorfman
May 11, 2023
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The poetic governance of Chile’s firebrand president, A Perspective.
The Washington Post – Ariel Dorfman
April 27, 2023
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Indicted!
By Nancy L. Rosenblum
Senator Joseph Clark Research Professor Emerita of Ethics in Politics and Government
Harvard University
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A Review of Julia Cimafiejeva’s Motherfield, poems translated from the Belarusian by Valzhyna Mort & Hanif Abdurraqib
By Robin Davidson
Arrowsmith Journal, Volume 22
February 2023
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A Moment That Changed Me: Ariel Dorfman on a night in a police cell that gave him hope.
By Ariel Dorfman
The Guardian
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Denial, Lies, & Fear: Democracy in Jeopardy
By Peter Balakian
Arrowsmith Press Journal
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Auden’s foreboding poem ‘September 1, 1939,’ captures today’s mood, too
Peter Balakian on Auden and Ukraine in The Washington Post
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Chile’s Battle for Memory: A Report from the Latest Front
By Ariel Dorfman
The Nation
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Who Poisoned Pablo Neruda?
By Ariel Dorfman
The Atlantic
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In Memory of a Poet: Carolyn Forché Remembers Charles Simic
By Carolyn Forché
Literary Hub
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In the Hour of War: Carolyn Forché and Ilya Kaminsky on Contemporary Ukrainian Poetry
Literary Hub
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With the nationalists in power, Israel needs a Jewish-Arab alliance
By Jo-Ann Mort
The Washington Post
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Askold Melnyczuk: I Was a Pacificist—And Then They Came to Kill My Family
By Askold Melnyczuk
The First Person
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Paul Auster: Why Is America the Most Violent Country in the Western World? On the Normalization of Gun Culture in the United States
By Paul Auster
Literary Hub
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Arrowsmith Journal
Volume XXI
Featuring work from national committee members Rachel DeWoskin and Jill McCorkle
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Translation
By Carolyn Forché
The Yale Review
December 6, 2022
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The Rest of the Story
By Carolyn Forché
The Yale Review
December 6, 2022
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Salvador Allende Still Speaks to Us Today
Chilean President Gabriel Boric and Spanish Prime Minster Pedro Sanchez both find themselves besieged by a virulent resurgence of the same right-wing movements that demolished democracy in Chile.
By Ariel Dorfman
The Nation
December 2, 2022
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An open letter to Narges Mohammadi
From Siri Hustvedt for PEN International, in solidarity with the Iranian protestors.
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One Zan: inspired by the courageous women of Iran
Phoenix Pagliacci, a Canadian singer songwriter, releases "One Zan," a re-mix inspired by the bravery of Iranian women and their current Women, Life, Freedom (Zan, Zendeghi, Azadi) movement. The song is part of a larger media project led by female storytelling technologists, novelists, artists, and musicians from around the world. The song will launch to the public on November 19th and later as part of a voice AI on December 20, 2022.
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Revelations of the War in Ukraine
James Carrol’s 6-part essay is a special issue from Public Seminar
September 7, 2022
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Bearing Witness
Reimagining in poetry the victims of the Babyn Yar massacre
By Askold Melnyczuk
Times Literary Supplement
September 30, 2022
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For the Record: How to Talk About War
War is what happens when words fail. In this short documentary, Askold Melnyczuk and Jacki Lyden join Christopher Merril, Victoria Amelina, and Roman Avramenko to discuss the ongoing war in Ukraine.
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The Sins of the High Court's Supreme Catholics
The overturn of Roe v. Wade is part of ultra-conservatives’ long history of rejecting Galileo, Darwin, and Americanism
By James Carrol
The New Yorker
August 19, 2022
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My Daughters
“My Daughters” Original Music Video
Lyrics by Hillary Rollins - Music & Vocals by Michele Brourman
Based on a poem by Jo-Ann Mort
Video created by filmmaker & multi-media creative Francesca Rizzo
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Racism, Patriarchy, and Power
Siri Hustvedt on the Toxic Thinking Behind the Supreme Court’s Destruction of Abortion Rights
June 27, 2022
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For the Record: Conversations with Ukrainian Writers
Askold Melnyczuk (Founding Member) in conversation with Marjana Savka
June 16, 2022
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On the Buffalo Shooting & the History of “Great Replacement Theory”
Letters from an American — Heather Cox Richardson
May 15, 2022
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The Russian War on Ukraine Has Always Been a War on Its Language
By Askold Melnyczuk, Founding Member
May 11, 2022
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These 12 NC Writers Say There’s Only One Way to Counter Ongoing Attacks on Democracy
The News & Observer — Jill McCorkle (Founding Member), Philip Gerard, Jaki Shelton Green, Joseph Bathanti, Bland Simpson, Belle Boggs, Thomas Mills, Wiley Cash, Lynn York, Alex Albright, Margaret Bauer, and Gabrielle Calvocoressi
April 20, 2022
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Authors and Booksellers Mobilize for Midterm Voters
Publishers Weekly — Nathalie op de Beeck
April 13, 2022
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The Futility of Censorship:
The New York Review of Books — Ariel Dorfman
April 7, 2022
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Senate Confirms Ketanji Brown Jackson to Supreme Court
The New York Times — Carl Hulse and Annie Karni
April 7, 2022
Writers,
We invite you to add your names and, where relevant, institutional affiliation, to the statement below in support of Ukraine. WDA has jointly signed it with The American Association for Ukrainian Studies and The Shevchenko Scientific Society in the U.S.
Joint Statement on Russia’s War Against Ukraine
February 24, 2022
We condemn the decision by the President of Russia to invade Ukraine. Unarmed civilian populations in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odessa and other cities across Ukraine are currently under attack in what is the largest military operation in Europe since the end of World War II. We are shocked and appalled by this unprovoked war of aggression.
Since independence in 1991, Ukraine has declared it a state priority to integrate with the EU and the West. After the Orange Revolution of 2004, when Ukrainian citizens rejected the results of a rigged election, the Russian government has grown increasingly belligerent. In remarks intended to justify this invasion, President Vladimir Putin indicates that he considers Ukrainians to be part of the Russian nation and Ukrainian statehood to be illegitimate. To turn back the clock and destroy the Ukrainian state, he has compiled “kill lists” and made broader plans of repression to rein in what he calls “Nazism and extremism.” In reality, he is targeting the democratically elected Ukrainian government, the independent media, and various civil rights activists, including LGBTQ rights advocates. He also seeks to silence scholars who have researched Stalinist atrocities such as the Holodomor, the complexities of World War II, and other subjects that do not correspond with Putin’s affirmative view of Soviet history. His plans for repression in Ukraine reveal that Putin will use this military invasion to destroy groups and institutions that have fought hard for human rights, media freedom, and other democratic advances in Ukraine, just as he has done at home, where he has used violence against reformers and activists attempting to promote human rights and civil society in Russia.
We call on all of you to join with Ukrainians in solidarity, rejecting the illegal efforts of the Russian government to destroy an independent sovereign state with a democratically elected government in Ukraine.
Signed,
The American Association for Ukrainian Studies (AAUS)
The Shevchenko Scientific Society in the U.S. (NTSh-A)
Writers for Democratic Action
Halyna Hryn, Harvard University (President, NTSh-A)
Oxana Shevel, Tufts University (President, AAUS)
NTSh-A Board Members
Virko Baley, University of Nevada Las Vegas
Laada Bilaniuk, University of Washington
Ivanna Bilych, lawyer
Margarita Balmaceda, Seton Hall University
Roman Brukh, Rutgers University
Lev Chaban, Harvard University
Vitaly Chernetsky, University of Kansas
Andriy Danylenko, Pace University
Jurij Dobczansky, Shevchenko Scientific Society
Pavlo Gintov, pianist
George Grabowicz, Harvard University
Adriana Helbig, University of Pittsburgh
Alexandra Hrycak, Reed College
Solomiya Ivakhiv, University of Connecticut
Martha Kichorowska Kebalo, World Federation of Ukrainian Women’s Organizations
Albert Kipa, Muhlenberg College
Oleh Kotsyuba, Harvard University
Askold Melnyczuk, writer, University of Massachusetts, Boston
Olena Nikolayenko, Fordham University
Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern, Northwestern University
Serhii Plokhy, Harvard University
Anna Procyk, Kingsborough Community College
Roman Shirokov, Rutgers University
Andrew Sorokowski, lawyer and independent scholar
Myron Stachiw, historian and independent scholar
Zenon Wasyliw, Ithaca College
Vasyl Zayachkivsky, Ph.D.
NTSh-A Audit Committee
Leonid Hrabovsky, Shevchenko Scientific Society
Melania Nynka
Orest Deychakiwsky
Kathy Nalywajko
AAUS Board Members
Emily Channell-Justice, Harvard University
Paul D’Anieri, University of California, Riverside
Ostap Kin, Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University
Sophia Wilson, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Myroslava Tomorug Znayenko, Rutgers University
Press Kit
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Impact Statement
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Book the Vote: Press Release
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Writers for Democratic Action Logo
Archive
“Exile”: For Ilya Kaminsky, A Poem by Carolyn Forché
Literary Hub — Carolyn Forché, Founding Member
March 28, 2022
All That We have Is A Voice: Writers from Ukraine Speaking to Writers in Boston
Goethe-Institut with Brookline Booksmith's Transnational Series & Agni Magazine — Askold Melnyczuk, Founding Member
March 25, 2022
Line / Break: An Interview with Carolyn Forché
Copper Canyon Press — Ryo Yamaguchi and Carolyn Forché, Founding Member
March, 2022
A Call to Southern Writers: Register People to Vote at Literary Events
Literary Hub — Belle Boggs, Robin Davidson, and Jill McCorkle
March 21, 2022
Carolyn Forché Elected Chancellor of Academy of American Poets
Georgetown University
March 14, 2022
Lines for Ukraine: “If there is ink.”
The Massachusetts Review — Carolyn Forché, Founding Member
March 5, 2022
Dr. Olha Poliukhovych & Askold Melnyczuk on the War in Ukraine: In Conversation with Mitchell Kaplan on The Literary Life Podcast
Literary Hub — Askold Melnyczuk, Founding Member, and Olha Poliukhovych
March 4, 2022
With Madonna in Kyiv
AGNI — Askold Melnyczuk, Founding Member
March 2, 2022
Ilya Kaminsky on Ukrainian, Russian, and the Language of War
Literary Hub — Ilya Kaminsky
February 28, 2022
Auden’s foreboding poem ‘September 1, 1939,’ captures today’s mood, too
The Washington Post — Peter Balakian, Founding Member
February 28, 2022
The Sound of Truth: Writers for Democratic Action, Here and Elsewhere
In Memory of Todd Gitlin
Arrowsmith Journal — Askold Melnyczuk, Founding Member
February 22, 2022
NC political maps unconstitutionally gerrymandered, Supreme Court rules
The News & Observer — Tim Doran
February 4, 2022
Poet & WDA Founding Member, Carolyn Forché Named Newest Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets
Monday, January 17, 2022
An Open Letter Calling for Immediate Passage of Voting Rights Legislation
Published in POLITICO
Monday, January 17, 2022
( See ad in Politico.com and sign the letter HERE. )
Steve Bannon Is On To Something
The New York Times — Ezra Klein
January 9, 2022
Sarasota Poetry Event For Students Nixed After Parents Complain
PATCH — Tiffany Razzano
December 30, 2021
from Letters from an American
Heather Cox Richardson
December 26, 2021
The Challenge of Chile
The Nation — Ariel Dorfman
December 21, 2021
Arizona Students Stage Hunger Strike to Urge Sinema to Support Voting Reform
The Guardian — Audra Jane Heinrichs
December 11, 2021
from Letters from an American
Heather Cox Richardson
December 7, 2021
The Scapegoat: Siri Hustvedt on the Torture and Murder of Sylvia Likens: An Essay from her new book, Mothers, Fathers, and Others
Literary Hub — Siri Hustvedt, Founding Member
December 7, 2021
An Open Letter to the School Districts of the State of Texas
Members of the Texas Institute of Letters
November 4, 2021
An Open Letter in Defense of Democracy
The New Republic — Todd Gitlin (Founding Member), Jeffrey C. Isaac, and William Kristol
October 27, 2021
Look What’s Inside the Bill, Please: The Details of the $3.5 Trillion Package
New York Daily News — Todd Gitlin, Founding Member
October 5, 2021
Why My Favorite Characters to Write Are Often Unsympathetic & Unforgivable: Askold Melnyczuk on the Importance of Moral Complexity in Fiction
Literary Hub — Askold Melnyczuk, Founding Member
September 27, 2021
9/11 and the American Psyche
“The Weekend Essay,” Financial Times — Siri Hustvedt, Founding Member
September 11, 2021
Meet the Legal Strategist Behind the Texas Abortion Ban
Texas Monthly — Mimi Swartz
September 5, 2021
Lebanon as We Once Knew It Is Gone
The New York Times — Lina Mounzer
September 3, 2021
Poet & WDA Founding Member Carolyn Forché wins 2021 American Book Award for In the Lateness of the World
The American Book Awards / Before Columbus Foundation
August 23, 2021
Hateful Fictions: Siri Hustvedt on the Weaponization of Free Speech
Literary Hub — Siri Hustvedt, Founding Member
August 11, 2021
Newsletter from Writers for Democratic Action
July 7, 2021
Freedom Summer, Then and Now: Do Voting Rights Still Matter?
New York Daily News — Todd Gitlin, Founding Member
June 23, 2021
More Than 300 Groups Sign Letter Asking Biden To Push For Passage of For the People Act
The Hill — Lexi Lonas
June 8, 2021
Statement of Concern: The Threats to American Democracy and the Need for National Voting and Election Administration Standards
New America
June 1, 2021
How Theater Can Help Us Survive
The Nation — Ariel Dorfman
May 6, 2021
To Armenians, Biden’s Recognition of the Genocide Means the World
The Washington Post — Peter Balakian, Founding Member
April 24, 2021
Newsletter from Writers for Democratic Action
March 22, 2021
How Spanish Can Help Us Survive Viral Times: A Journey into the Heart of a Language We Need Now More Than Ever
TomDispatch — Ariel Dorfman
February 14, 2021
Open Letter to Republican Legislators
February 11, 2021
Introducing Writers for Democratic Action
January 24, 2021
A Reality-Show Coup With Real Fascists Inside: The MAGA insurrection will be a forever reality show for recruiting new right-wing activists
Public Seminar — Todd Gitlin, Founding Member
January 18, 2021
Trump mob attack on the Capitol: 10 urgent security questions that need answers
USA Today — Todd Gitlin, Founding Member
January 8, 2021
Statement from Writers Against Trump
January 7, 2021
The Democratic left needs Biden to succeed. Stop trashing the winner and help him deliver.
USA Today — Todd Gitlin, Founding Member
December 20, 2020
Newsletter from Writers Against Trump
November 12, 2020
We must dare to unleash our courage, energy and compassion
CNN — Ariel Dorfman
November 9, 2020
“Ja, ich habe Angst”
Deutschlandfunk Kultur
Siri Hustvedt, Founding Member, in conversation with Dieter Kassel
November 3, 2020
WAT Post-Election Events (Newsletter)
October 31, 2020
Balakian Is Founding Member of Writers Movement Against Trump
The Armenian Mirror Spectator — Aram Arkun
October 29, 2020
A New Constitution: What the United States Can Learn from Chile
The Nation — Ariel Dorfman
October 26, 2020
On Voting: It’s Always the Most Important Election of Your Life
Lit Hub — Todd Gitlin, Founding Member
October 21, 2020
Video: Schriftsteller gegen Trump
Das Erste — TTT - Titel, thesen, temperamente
October 18, 2020
Siri Hustvedt: “Le Climat Politique Actuel Est Dominé Par Une Rhétorique Malsaine”
Libération — Alexandra Schwartzbrod
October 16, 2020
Newsletter from Writers Against Trump
October 14, 2020
When it comes to COVID-19, Republicans don’t need no stinkin’ science. They invent their own
Florida Phoenix — Diane Roberts
October 12, 2020
Riding With Cassandra
Stansbury Forum — Mariana McDonald
October 10, 2020
It’s Our Turn Now: Writers Against Trump on the Fight for Democracy
Lit Hub and The Literary Life Podcast — Mitchell Kaplan
In conversation with Diane Roberts & Founding Members
Todd Gitlin and Carolyn Forché
October 9, 2020
Présidentielle US: Écrivains vs Trump
Livres Hebdo — Pauline Gabinari
October 9, 2020
Writers Against Trump Newsletter
October 6, 2020
How Ordinary People Can Save Their Country
The Atlantic — Ariel Dorfman
October 5, 2020
1968 and Now
Solstice: A Magazine of Diverse Voices — Michael Ansara
October 2020
Parable of the Drowning Man
Arrowsmith Online — Paul Auster, Founding Member
September 30, 2020
As a Matter of Fact
Arrowsmith Online — Jill McCorkle
September 30, 2020
Writers Against Trump Newsletter
September 29, 2020
First, stanch the Trump bleeding. Whatever progressives think of Biden, we can't sit out 2020.
USA Today — Todd Gitlin, Founding Member
September 21, 2020
President Lincoln’s Republican Party Was the Original Party of Big Government
Lit Hub — Peter Balakian, Founding Member
September 17, 2020
Writers Against Trump Newsletter
September 15, 2020
Civility and So-Called Objectivity is No Way to Contain a Plague of Lies
Lit Hub — Siri Hustvedt, Founding Member
September 15, 2020
Open Letter to News Executives
September 14, 2020
Writers who want to ‘save’ America from Trump
Al Día News — Beatriz García
September 7, 2020
US-Autoren protestieren gegen Trump
Börsenblatt
September 7, 2020
Escritores contra Trump: “La democracia está amenazada”
Pagina 12 — Silvina Friera
September 6, 2020
Schriftsteller formieren sich gegen Trump
Tagesschau — Peter Mücke
September 5, 2020
“Writers Against Trump”: US-Autoren um Paul Auster protestieren
Redaktionnetzwerk Deutschland
September 4, 2020
Paul Auster y su coalición de escritores, contra el leviatán Donald Trump
Nius Diario — Urko Gabilondo
September 2, 2020
Writers Against Trump Newsletter
September 2, 2020
Lessons for Kenosha and elsewhere: What we can do to keep protests peaceful
USA Today — Todd Gitlin, Founding Member
September 2, 2020
Donald Trump, The Immoralist
NY Daily News — Robert Jay Lifton & Nancy Rosenblum, Members
August 31, 2020
Group Forms Writers Against Trump
Kirkus Reviews — Michael Schaub
August 27, 2020
Writers Against Trump wants to mobilize the literary community in advance of the election
Lit Hub — Corrine Segal
August 25, 2020