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Westchester's Andrew Solomon Named President Of PEN American Center

WESTCHESTER COUNTY, N.Y. – Author Andrew Solomon was elected as PEN’s new president of the board of trustees at its Annual General Members’ Meeting on Wednesday.

Andrew Solomon

Andrew Solomon

Photo Credit: File

Solomon, who spent part of his childhood in Croton-On-Hudson and whose father, Howard Solomon, lives in Bedford, is a writer and lecturer on politics, culture and psychology, and a professor of clinical psychology at Columbia University.

He is the author of “Noonday Demon.” His newest book, “Far From the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity” won the National Book Critics Circle award for nonfiction and more than twenty other national awards.

“This is an urgent time for issues of free expression, and a critical time for PEN,” said Solomon. “In the wake of Charlie Hebdo, revelations about surveillance in the United States, international assaults on open dialogue for gay people, and restrictions on press and Internet in many countries worldwide, our mission could not be more clear: free speech is under siege and its defenders cannot rest.

“PEN has expanded dramatically under the inspired presidency of Peter Godwin and the brilliant leadership of executive director Suzanne Nossel. It is better placed than ever before to remind the world that when discourse is curtailed, there can be no other liberty. I am proud to step in as president of this increasingly crucial organization as it strives to construct a nobler, more just world."

As the new PEN president, Solomon takes over from journalist and award-winning nonfiction writer Peter Godwin.

 

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