Philomena Polefrone has joined PEN America as senior manager for the Freedom to Read program. She was formerly associate director for advocacy and public policy at the American Booksellers for Free Expression and had joined the American Booksellers Association as advocacy associate manager. She has led bookseller opposition to censorship and created The ABA Right to Read Handbook.
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| Philomena Polefrone | |
At PEN America, she will oversee the Freedom to Read team's research portfolio on book bans and educational censorship in K-12 schools and public libraries, raise awareness about book censorship, and contribute to advocacy and mobilization nationwide.
"PEN America's research on book censorship has been indispensable to understanding the scope of school book bans, the people it hurts, and the danger it presents to education and democracy in the United States," said Polefrone. "I'm excited and honored to join the Freedom to Read team in a moment of historic importance for free expression."
After earning a doctorate in American literature from Columbia University in 2020, Polefrone taught literature, writing, and political philosophy at Columbia until 2023. She is co-author of Alethea, a near-future dystopian audio drama featuring Helen Hunt, Rachel Dratch, and Becca Blackwell.
In 2025-2026, Polefrone was part of the inaugural cohort of Global LGBTQI+ Fellows at the Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, where she conducted research about the revival of queer bookstores in the U.S.