Acclaimed novelist Dinaw Mengestu has been elected president of PEN America, the 103-year-old writers organization dedicated to celebrating literature and defending freedom of expression.

The election took place at the organization’s annual general meeting on December 17, 2025. Mengestu, who has served as a PEN America trustee since 2016, assumes the presidency and becomes chair of the Board of Trustees for a two-year term, succeeding Jennifer Finney Boylan.

Born in Ethiopia in 1973, Mengestu came to the United States at age two after his family fled political upheaval during Ethiopia’s “Red Terror.” His literary work explores displacement, migration, and identity across borders. His novels—The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears (2007), How to Read the Air (2010), All Our Names (2014), and Someone Like Us(2024)—have earned him a MacArthur Fellowship, the National Book Foundation’s 5 Under 35 Award, and recognition as one of former President Obama’s favorite authors. Beyond fiction, Mengestu has reported on conflicts in Darfur, Uganda, and eastern Congo for publications including The New York Times and The New Yorker. He directs the Center for Ethics and Writing and the Written Arts Program at Bard College.

Mengestu assumes leadership at a critical moment for free expression. PEN America has intensified its fight against book bans targeting titles about race, LGBTQ+ lives, and contested histories. In his vision statement, Mengestu emphasized both celebration and defense of literature:

“Across the globe, we live in a moment that demands fierce advocacy for free expression and the freedoms to read, write, and speak. Political and cultural forces are trying to define our societies in very singular and restrictive terms. If we do not make room for the plurality and range of voices embodied in our literature, we endanger not only our culture, but our democracy.”

He pointed to PEN America’s World Voices Festival, founded after 9/11 to counter censorship and authoritarianism, as emblematic of the organization’s mission to foster global literary dialogue.

Summer Lopez, PEN America’s interim co-CEO, praised Mengestu’s election:

“Dinaw Mengestu has spent his career illuminating the borders between countries, histories, and identities, and bringing readers into the lives of those too often pushed to the margins. His unwavering commitment to free expression, his advocacy for writers under threat around the world, and his profound belief in literature’s power to humanize across deep divides will guide the organization through this pivotal moment for democracy and the written word.”

Mengestu joins a distinguished line of recent PEN America presidents including Salman Rushdie, Jennifer Egan, and Ayad Akhtar. Congratulations to Mengestu, the newly elected PEN America president!