Authors’ new safety net

Writers who go on book tour now sometimes worry about the hotel desk as much as the audience. PEN America said some authors have faced threats online and at live events badly enough that it is launching a new U.S. Safety Program on April 10, 2026. (pen.org) The new program is built like a professional emergency kit for authors. PEN America says it will offer safety training, threat assessments, mental health support, and practical help for abuse that starts on social media and spills into bookstores, schools, and speaking venues. (pen.org) This did not come out of nowhere. Associated Press reported that PEN America and publishers are responding to a rising pattern of harassment across the literary world, with authors, illustrators, and translators increasingly targeted during a broader wave of censorship fights. (apnews.com) PEN America has spent years doing similar work for journalists and other public-facing writers. The group says this author program grows out of its existing online abuse and digital safety work, which covers threats like doxing, stalking, sexual harassment, and violent messages. (pen.org) The publishing industry is not treating this like a side project. Hachette Book Group, Macmillan Publishers, and Penguin Random House are among the companies helping fund the effort, and PEN America says it has raised nearly $1 million for the program so far. (hachettebookgroup.com, apnews.com) Some of the money is coming from the writers themselves. Associated Press reported that Jodi Picoult, Jennifer Egan, and Lee Child are among the authors auctioning off character names in future novels, with proceeds going to the safety program. (apnews.com) The pressure point is often a public appearance, not just a comment thread. In a 2025 PEN America discussion, novelist Samira Ahmed said she had started checking into hotels under an alias during book tours after someone called hotels in cities where she was scheduled to speak to ask where she was staying. (pen.org) That shift changes what “author support” means. A publisher used to think about editing, printing, and publicity; now the industry is also paying for risk planning, event security guidance, and advice on how a writer keeps working when abuse follows them from a screen into a room. (hachettebookgroup.com, pen.org) PEN America says the goal is simple: keep writers writing. The new safety program turns what used to be ad hoc help into a standing system, backed by major publishers, for U.S. authors who now need the kind of protection once associated more with reporters and political figures than with novelists. (pen.org, apnews.com)