Suzanne Nossel has stepped down as CEO of PEN America to take the helm of human rights nonprofit Freedom House, starting January 7. PEN America has elevated chief program officers Summer Lopez and Clarissa Rosaz Shariyf to the interim positions of co-CEO, effective immediately, while the free speech organization conducts a nationwide search for its next leader. Nossel will stay on to assist with the transition.
Nossel was appointed to lead PEN America in 2013 following years in the nonprofit sector, as COO of Human Rights Watch and executive director of Amnesty International USA; prior to those roles, she served as deputy assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of International Organization Affairs during the Obama administration. Under her leadership, PEN saw a period of significant growth—its revenue increased nearly sixfold, according to tax filings—as well as an expanded budget, staff, and membership. Nossel also oversaw PEN's merger with PEN Center USA in Los Angeles and the establishment of offices in Washington, D.C., and Miami.
Over the course of the last decade, Nossel has become one of the most visible proponents of freedom of expression in or around the American book business. In 2016, she was named one of PW's notable people of the year, and her profile grew further following Trump's election—the organization sued him in 2018—and as book bans have become a pressing free speech issue.
Nossel's tenure, particularly in the last few years, has also courted controversy. In 2015, PEN's decision to award its PEN/Toni and James C. Goodale Freedom of Expression Courage Award to Charlie Hebdo magazine drew criticism that resulted in an open letter which received 242 signatures. And since last fall, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza has put unprecedented pressure and scrutiny on both PEN and its CEO.
This year, PEN America canceled both its annual Literary Awards and World Voices festival due to criticism over its coverage of the conflict in the Middle East, with some alleging that the organization's response to attacks on Palestinian civilians has been inconsistent with its strong condemnations of attacks on Israeli and Ukrainian civilians. In April, ahead of the PEN Literary Awards, more than two dozen authors either refused awards or withdrew longlisted books from consideration. As a result, PEN canceled the award ceremony, which had been scheduled for April 29; it later canceled its 20th annual World Voices Festival, slated for May 8-11, due to mass withdrawals from participating authors.
In response, PEN America board president Jennifer Finney Boylan committed to conducting a "review" of PEN's work "going back a decade." Chief officer of literary programming Clarisse Rosaz Shariyf also pledged to host a town hall "to create a space to wrestle with the issues gripping the literary community and our own organization."
Under Nossel, PEN employees also formed a union, PEN America United, in 2022, and after 21 months of bargaining, as well as a strike authorization, the union reached its first collective bargaining agreement with management this summer. (At a March rally of unionized staff, one demonstrator's sign compared Nossel's salary with PEN's proposed minimum salary proposal, noting the former was nearly ten times greater than the latter.)
“We are thrilled to have Summer and Clarisse take the helm of PEN America as interim co-CEOs," said Boylan in a statement, noting the pair's commitment to our mission of elevating writers and literature and protecting free expression, along with a track record of excellence in leadership.” Boylan added: “We are also grateful to Suzanne Nossel, to whom we wish success in her future endeavors.”