J.K. Rowling held up Donald Trump as an example of the importance of freedom of expression in her remarks Monday night at the PEN America Literary Gala, a glittery soiree at the American Natural History Museum in Manhattan, where she received the 2016 PEN/Allen Foundation Literary Service Award.

Other honorees included Lee-Anne Walters and Mona Hanna-Attisha -- who brought attention to the lead poisoning of the water supply in Flint, Mich. — and Ahmed Naji, an Egyptian author sentenced to two years in prison for “violating...