Danica 3-12-10

Today was a great visit with PEN. Josh, Nathaniel and I went to the PEN American Center offices  for one purpose and came back with  a lot of knowledge in the process. We went to PEN to interview Stacy LEigh an incredible woman who has worked with us through our entire PEN experience. Stacy is the director of Readers and Writers, as well as an advocate for teens and literature. We sat down with her one sunny afternoon to discuss her work, what PEN means to her and any other questions we had lurking in our minds. Stacy entertained all of our questions and shared personal memories. She is amazing. My first questions were pretty simple and basic. I asked what she does at PEN and how she got into her job here at PEN. Stacy told us that her goal for the PEN American Center was “to reach non-traditional audiences” and “break this idea of a writer”. She told us to draw a writer and see the similarities. Even though Josh, Nathaniel and I had different perspectives, they had the same baseline. They want everyone to feel like a writer. “It doesn’t matter what you look like, as long as you’ve got passion and a mind, your a writer”. Stacy started by working with high school students that wanted literature in their lives. She helped them gain opportunities such as meeting famous writers and helping them fine-tune their writing skills. Stacy also worked as Barnes and Noble as the Community Relations Manager which let her explore different aspects of writing at work. Although she was trained as a librarian she wanted something more and that is when she came to PEN. Stacy Leigh proudly said ” It will be 8 years in July working here at PEN”. She has sent authors to explore different parts of life, she has read to kids, set up tours with writers from all over the world, has over seen many book clubs for adults and teens and has had many other accomplishments within her time at PEN. When I asked her about who PEN specifically works with,  she said simply ” Everyone.  The age minimum is 8, because we want people to be literary independent, and we continue our work with senior citizens. We are very broad and we are all about educating people”. According to Stacy “PEN will continue as long as there are people. People who have got something to say, people who have there rights crushed, people who have a fear of words and people who make mistakes.” PEN is 3000 members strong, 1400 associate members and growing.” Stacy truly believes in what she does and I fully support her cause. If you want to become a member please visit pen.org, every person counts, every voice counts.

*Also a special thank you to Stacy Leigh for EVERYTHING!!