Lisa Tolin

Editorial Director

Lisa Tolin is the Editorial Director at PEN America, where she has expanded editorial production, launched video, and increased engagement on social media. Previously, Lisa was Head of Special Projects for TODAY Digital at NBC News, where she launched new content verticals and newsletters, oversaw SEO content strategy, and spearheaded new projects to turn the digital presence of the “Today” show into a leading lifestyle brand. She previously served as Supervising Editor for the Health, Wellness and Parents verticals at NBCNews.com and TODAY.com.

Lisa spent more than a decade at The Associated Press, managing departments in lifestyles and entertainment news after providing leadership to a team that launched asap, a vertical focused on the millennial audience, and working as supervising national editor and supervisor on the national news desk.

Lisa’s debut picture book, How to Be a Rock Star, illustrated by Daniel Duncan, published in August 2022 with G.P. Putnam’s Sons. Her next, Can You Imagine? The Life and Art of Yoko Ono, publishes in 2025 with Atheneum.


Articles by Lisa Tolin

World Voices FestivalLiterary Programs
Thursday May 1

2025 PEN World Voices Festival: On Censorship in American Theater

Theater can be “the canary in the coal mine” for censorship. Award-winning playwrights Lynn Nottage, Carlyle Brown, Moisés Kaufman, and Lisa Kron spoke at the PEN World Voices Festival about censorship on stage.

World Voices FestivalLiterary Programs
Thursday May 1

2025 PEN World Voices Festival Opening Night: The PEN and the State

PEN America’s 2025 World Voices Festival Opening Night event featured Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Jennifer Egan, and Burhan Sönmez on the role of novelists in times of crisis.

World Voices FestivalLiterary ProgramsOrganizational
Monday April 28

For the Love of Books: 20 Years of the PEN World Voices Festival

With its origins in the fractious time after 9/11, the PEN World Voices Festival has brought together writers with varying viewpoints from around the world for 20 years.

More Articles by Lisa Tolin

Literary Programs
Friday February 28

‘I’m not Begging for Your Love Anymore. I Simply Expect It’: Jennifer Finney Boylan on Her Evolution in Her New Book, Cleavage

Banned Books
Tuesday February 4

Banned Books List 2025

Banned Books
Friday January 31

‘The Librarians’ Film Shows the Toll of Book Bans

Banned Books
Wednesday January 29

Utah Prevents Students From Bringing Banned Books to School

U.S. Free ExpressionBanned Books
Monday January 27

The 23 Most Banned Picture Books of the 2023-2024 School Year

Disinformation
Tuesday January 21

7 Ways Influencers Are Changing the Media Landscape

Banned Books
Thursday December 12

The 11 Most Banned Books of the 2023-2024 School Year

Organizational
Thursday November 14

The Story of PEN: New Exhibition Shows History as Writers Contemplate Ominous Future

Disinformation
Wednesday October 2

7 Top Election Year Disinformation Dangers, According to Experts

Banned Books
Wednesday October 2

Banned Books Week 2024: PEN America Rallies to Turn the Page on Book Bans

Global Free Expression
Friday August 30

PEN America’s Russian Independent Media Archive: Preserving Words of Those Who Can’t Speak

Campus Free Speech
Wednesday August 28

In Preparing for Protests, Are Campuses Going Too Far?

Banned Books
Friday June 14

Celebrating the Right to Read: Bestselling Authors Stand Up to Censorship

Writing as Craft
Wednesday April 17

Salman Rushdie on His New Memoir: ‘I Had to Face This’

Banned BooksU.S. Free Expression
Thursday February 1

‘The Color Purple’ and 30 Other Banned and Challenged Books You Should Be Watching

Banned BooksU.S. Free Expression
Friday January 26

Khaled Hosseini Shares Heartfelt Letter to Book Banners

Campus Free SpeechU.S. Free Expression
Friday January 19

At Harvard, a Summit for Free Expression

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