Overview
- PEN America unveiled a U.S. Safety Program for writers facing threats, offering trainings, consultations, digital-security resources and peer support.
- The group said publishers have contributed nearly $1 million to launch the effort, including Hachette Book Group, Macmillan Publishers and Penguin Random House.
- To help fund ongoing services, authors such as Jodi Picoult, Jennifer Egan and Lee Child will auction the right to name characters in future novels.
- Major publishers issued public support, with Hachette CEO David Shelley saying threats to authors’ safety are at a high point in the United States.
- PEN reports that harassment that first spiked for journalists has spread to writers and educators, and it will build on 2023 digital-safety workshops run for Hachette authors.