Prize-winning author Phil Klay takes over at PEN America amid Israel-Hamas war rifts

NEW YORK (AP) — Prize-winning author Phil Klay has been named the new president of PEN America , taking on the role as the literary and free expression organization continues to be torn by disagreements stemming from the Israel-Hamas war . Klay succeeds Dinaw Mengestu, who resigned in July in the wake of a PEN report that drew upon interviews with dozens of Jewish and Israeli writers about the “widening cultural isolation” they had faced since the war began. The CEO at the time, Suzanne Nossel, has since left, replaced by co-CEOs Clarisse Rosaz Shariyf and Summer Lopez. Klay is an Iraq War veteran whose debut book, the story collection “Redeployment,” won the National Book Award for fiction in 2014. He has expressed support for the PEN study on Israeli and Jewish writers, but has criticized Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.

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