| Formation | 1921; 104 years ago (1921) |
|---|---|
| Type | Literary society,human rights organization |
| Legal status | Non-governmental organization |
Official language | English |
Key people | Board of Trustees[1] |
| Website | www |
Founded in 1921,English PEN is one of the world's firstnon-governmental organisations and among the first international bodies advocating for human rights.[2] English PEN was the founding centre ofPEN International, a worldwide writers' association with 145 centres in more than 100 countries.[3] The President of English PEN isMargaret Busby, succeedingPhilippe Sands in April 2023.[4][5] The Director isDaniel Gorman.[6] The Chair isRuth Borthwick.[1]
English PEN celebrates the diversity of literature and envisions a world with free expression and equity of opportunity for all by supporting writers at risk and campaigning for freedom of expression nationally and internationally.[7] English PEN also hosts events and prizes to champion international literature, showcase the diversity of writing, and celebrate literary courage.[8] By supporting literature in translation into English and developing opportunities for publishers, translators and translated voices, English PEN aims to encourage diversity in the literary landscape.[9]
English PEN was founded in London by novelistCatherine Amy Dawson Scott in 1921, withJohn Galsworthy as president, andMay Sinclair,Radclyffe Hall,Vera Brittain,Bertrand Russell,E. M. Forster,W. B. Yeats,Joseph Conrad andH. G. Wells as founding members.[10]
The acronym behind the P.E.N. Club, as it was then known, stood for: Poets, Playwrights, Editors, Essayists and Novelists. Dawson Scott envisioned a club that would connect writers worldwide to create a common meeting ground in every country for all writers.[3]
Dawson Scott's hopes of establishing an international network of writers were swiftly realised. Within three years, there were 19 PEN clubs around the world. The first meeting of what would become the annual PEN Congress was held in London in May 1923, and was attended by representatives from 11 countries.[11] With an ever-growing number of members worldwide, it became necessary to establish some guiding principles for the organisation, and the first version of the PEN Charter[12] principles was passed at the 1927 Congress in Brussels.[3]
In 1940, English PEN published its "Appeal to the Conscience of the World" letter, a plea for the protection of freedom of expression written by English PEN's first woman president,Storm Jameson, and co-signed by English writers includingVita Sackville-West,E. M. Forster,H. G. Wells,Vera Brittain, andRebecca West.[13]
Following the World War II, English PEN played a significant role in the emerging discourse around human rights, and was the first organisation to frame freedom of expression as a necessary precondition to literary creation.[14]PEN International gained advisory status to theUnited Nations and worked withUNESCO on various initiatives. It continued to expand with new centres opening across the world, and continued to fight for the rights of imprisoned writers, writers in exile, and censored writers.[10]
English PEN celebrated its centenary in 2021. "Common Currency", the title of the centenary events, is taken from the PEN Charter: "Literature knows no frontiers and must remain a common currency among people in spite of political or national upheavals."[15] The centenary programme includes events, residencies and workshops online and across the UK, culminating with a three-day festival of free thinking at London'sSouthbank Centre in September 2021.[16]
In December 2021, having served as a trustee of English PEN since 2019,Ruth Borthwick was named as its chair,[17] taking over the position fromMaureen Freely, withAki Schilz as vice-chair, taking over fromClaire Armitstead.[18]
The PEN Charter has guided PEN members for over 60 years, since it was approved at the 1948 PEN Congress inCopenhagen.[19] Like theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights, the PEN Charter was forged amidst the harsh realities ofWorld War II.[20]
The Charter was amended at the 83rd PEN Congress inLviv in 2017 for the first time since it was adopted 90 years earlier. The Assembly voted for a wider formulation, namely counteracting hate and not only based on race, class or nationality but also gender, religion and other categories of identity. Consequently, Article 3 of the Charter reads as follows: "PEN members should at all times use their impact for mutual understanding and respect between nations; they commit to do everything to dispel all types of hate and support the ideal of unified humanity living in peace."[21]
English PEN is a membership organisation, with a community of more than 1,000 members including novelists, journalists, nonfiction writers, editors, poets, essayists, playwrights, publishers, translators, agents, human rights activists, and readers.[22] English PEN membership is open to all who subscribe to the aims outlined in the PEN Charter.[23]
English PEN is governed by a board of trustees that is elected from and by members, and chaired byRuth Borthwick, former chief executive and artistic director of theArvon Foundation.[1]
Current trustees include:
| English PEN Centre presidents | |
|---|---|
| John Galsworthy | 1921–32 |
| H. G. Wells | 1932–36 |
| J. B. Priestley | 1937 |
| Henry W. Nevinson | 1938 |
| Margaret Storm Jameson | 1939–44 |
| Desmond MacCarthy | 1945–50 |
| Veronica Wedgwood | 1951–57 |
| Richard Church | 1958 |
| Alan Pryce-Jones | 1959–61 |
| Rosamond Lehmann | 1962–66 |
| L. P. Hartley | 1967–70 |
| V. S. Pritchett | 1971–75 |
| Kathleen Nott | 1975 |
| Stephen Spender | 1976–77 |
| Lettice Cooper | 1977–78 |
| Francis King | 1979–85 |
| Michael Holroyd | 1986–87 |
| Antonia Fraser | 1988–90 |
| Ronald Harwood | 1990–93 |
| Josephine Pullein-Thompson | 1994–97 |
| Rachel Billington | 1998–2000 |
| Victoria Glendinning | 2001–03 |
| Alastair Niven | 2003–07 |
| Lisa Appignanesi | 2008–10 |
| Gillian Slovo | 2010–13 |
| Raficq Abdulla (acting president) | 2013–14 |
| Maureen Freely | 2014–2018 |
| Philippe Sands | 2018–2023 |
| Margaret Busby | 2023– |
Acast-iron sculpture entitledWitness, commissioned by English PEN to mark their 90th anniversary and created byAntony Gormley, stands outside theBritish Library inLondon. It depicts an empty chair, and is inspired by the symbol used for thirty years by English PEN to represent imprisoned writers around the world. The memorial was unveiled on 13 December 2011.[24]
English PEN runs three annual awards – thePEN Pinter Prize, the PENHessell-Tiltman Prize, and thePEN Heaney Prize. Until 2023 it also ran thePEN/Ackerley Prize. Funded by and in honour of former PEN members and significant literary figures, these prizes recognise excellence in historical nonfiction, literary autobiography, and a courageous and unflinching approach to the written word.[8]
Established in 2009 in memory ofNobel Laureate playwrightHarold Pinter, thePEN Pinter Prize is awarded annually to a writer from Britain, the Republic of Ireland, or the Commonwealth who, in the words of Harold Pinter's Nobel speech, casts an "unflinching, unswerving" gaze upon the world, and shows a "fierce intellectual determination ... to define the real truth of our lives and our societies".[25]
The prize is shared with an international writer of courage selected by the winner in association with English PEN's Writers at Risk programme.[26]
Winners of the PEN Pinter Prize:Tony Harrison (2009),[27]Hanif Kureishi (2010),[28]Sir David Hare (2011),[29]Carol Ann Duffy (2012),[30]Tom Stoppard (2013),[31]Salman Rushdie (2014),[32]James Fenton (2015),[33]Margaret Atwood (2016),[34]Michael Longley (2017),[35]Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2018),[36]Lemn Sissay (2019),[37]Linton Kwesi Johnson (2020),[38]Tsitsi Dangarembga (2021),[39]Malorie Blackman (2022),[40]Michael Rosen (2023),[41] andArundhati Roy (2024).[42][43]
International Writers of Courage: "Zarganar" Maung Thura (2009),[44]Lydia Cacho (2010),[45]Roberto Saviano (2011),[46]Samar Yazbek (2012),[47]Iryna Khalip (2013),[48]Mazen Darwish (2014),[49]Raif Badawi (2015),[50]Ahmedur Rashid Chowdhury (Tutul) (2016),[51] Mahvash Sabet (2017),[52]Waleed Abulkhair (2018),[53]Befeqadu Hailu (2019),[54]Amanuel Asrat (2020),[55]Kakwenza Rukirabashaija (2021),[56]Abduljalil al-Singace (2022),[57] andRahile Dawut.[58]
The PENHessell-Tiltman Prize of £2,000 is awarded annually for a non-fiction book of specifically historical content.[59]
Past winners include:Anita Anand'sThe Patient Assassin (2020),[60]Edward Wilson-Lee'sThe Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books (2019),[61] S. A. Smith'sRussia in Revolution (2018),[62]David Olusoga'sBlack and British (2017),[63]Nicholas Stargardt'sThe German War (2016),[64] Jessie Child'sGod's Traitors (2015),[65]David Reynolds'The Long Shadow (2014),[66] Keith Lowe'sSavage Continent (2013),[67]James Gleick'sThe Information (2012),[68]Toby Wilkinson'sThe Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt (2011),[69]Diarmaid MacCulloch'sA History of Christianity (2010),[70]Mark Thompson'sThe White War (2009),[71]Clair Wills'That Neutral Island (2008),[72]Vic Gatrell'sCity of Laughter (2007),[73]Bryan Ward Perkins'The Fall of Rome (2006),[74]Paul Fussell'sThe Boys' Crusade (2005),Richard Overy'sThe Dictators (2005),[75]Tom Holland'sRubicon (2004),[76]Jenny Uglow'sThe Lunar Men (2003),[77] andMargaret Macmillan'sPeacemakers (2002).[78]
The PEN Heaney Prize, launched in 2024, is run as a partnership between English PEN,Irish PEN and the estate ofSeamus Heaney. The annual award of £5,000 is bestowed on a volume of poetry "of outstanding literary merit" which "engages with the impact of cultural or political events on human conditions or relationships."[79]
The first winner of the PEN Heaney prize wasSusannah Dickey'sISDAL.[80]
TheAckerley Prize (known as the PEN/Ackerley Prize until 2023, when its association with English PEN ended) is awarded inJ. R. Ackerley's memory for a literary autobiography of excellence. The prize is judged by the trustees of the J. R. Ackerley Trust.[81]
Past winners include:Alison Light'sA Radical Romance (2020),[82]Yrsa Daley-Ward'sThe Terrible (2019),[83]Richard Beard'sThe Day That Went Missing (2018),[84] Amy Liptrot'sThe Outrun (2017),[85]Alice Jolly'sDead Babies and Seaside Towns (2016),[86]Henry Marsh'sDo No Harm (2015),[87]Sonali Deraniyagala'sThe Wave (2014),[88]Richard Holloway'sLeaving Alexandria (2013),[89]Duncan Fallowell'sHow To Disappear (2012),[90]Michael Frayn'sMy Father's Fortune (2011),[91]Gabriel Weston'sDirect Red (2010),[92]Julia Blackburn'sThe Three of Us (2009),[93]Miranda Seymour'sIn My Father's House (2008),[94] Brian Thompson'sKeeping Mum (2007),[95]Alan Bennett'sUntold Stories (2006),Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy'sHalf an Arch (2005),[96]Bryan Magee'sClouds of Glory (2004),Jenny Diski'sStranger on a Train (2003), Michael Foss'Out of India (2002),Lorna Sage'sBad Blood (2001), Mark Frankland'sChild Of My Time (2000),Margaret Forster'sPrecious Lives (1999), Katrin Fitzherbet'sTrue To Both My Selves (1998),Tim Lott'sThe Scent of Dried Roses (1997),Eric Lomax'sThe Railway Man (1996),Paul Vaughan'sSomething in Linoleum (1995),Blake Morrison'sAnd When Did You Last See Your Father? (1994),Barry Humphries'More Please (1993),John Osborne'sAlmost a Gentleman (1992), Paul Binding'sSt Martin's Ride (1991),Germaine Greer'sDaddy, We Hardly Knew You (1990),John Healy'sThe Grass Arena (1989),Anthony Burgess'Little Wilson and Big God (1988),Diana AthillAfter a Funeral (1987),Dan Jacobson'sTime and Time Again (1986),Angelica Garnett'sDeceived with Kindness (1985),Richard Cobb'sStill Life (1984),Kathleen Dayus'Her People (1982),Ted Walker'sHigh Path (1983), andEdward Blishen'sShaky Relations (1982).[81]
Founded in 1960, English PEN's Writers at Risk Programme (formerly the Writers in Prison Committee) is one of the world's longest running campaigns for freedom of expression.[97] English PEN campaigns on behalf of writers, literary professionals, journalists, artists, cartoonists and musicians who are unjustly persecuted, harassed, imprisoned, and even murdered in violation of their right to freedom of expression.[98]
English PEN's Writers in Residence programme aims to provide international writers facing persecution or censorship with a period of respite.[99] Former residents includeZehra Doğan[100] andNurcan Baysal.[101]
In 2009, English PEN andIndex on Censorship ran a year-long Libel Inquiry. The phenomenon oflibel tourism was chilling the work of investigative journalists around the world, and scientific debate was being stifled.[102] The final report of the Inquiry,Free Speech Is Not For Sale, identified the central problems with the current libel system, and offered ideas for reform.[103] This led to the launch of the Libel Reform Campaign withSense about Science.[104] The campaign secured the support of more than 60,000 people and 60 prominentNGOs, Royal Colleges, and associations.[105] A Defamation Bill was introduced by the coalition government in 2012[106] and theDefamation Act was givenroyal assent on 25 April 2013.[107]
In 2018, English PEN ran a successfulcrowdfunding campaign to keep the judge's trial copy ofLady Chatterley's Lover used in the 1960s landmark obscenity trial in the UK.[108] It was finally acquired by theUniversity of Bristol in 2019.[109]
The PEN Translates grant programme was launched in 2012 to encourage UK publishers to acquire more books from other languages. The award is supported byArts Council England to help UK publishers to meet the costs of translating new works into English – while ensuring that translators are acknowledged and paid properly for their work.[110] The programme has supported more than 250 books, in 53 languages, and awarded over £1,000,000 of funding.[111]Titles supported by PEN Translates have featured on the last threeInternational Booker Prize shortlists.[112]
PEN Transmissions is English PEN's online magazine for international and translated voices.[113] It features interviews with and personal essays from established and emerging writers. Contributors includeSvetlana Alexievich,Tsitsi Dangarembga,Priyamvada Gopal,Olga Tokarczuk,Irenosen Okojie,[114] andEdmund de Waal.[115]
English PEN's outreach programme, Readers & Writers, is for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, refugees and asylum seekers, and prisoners and young offenders.[116] It offers vulnerable, often marginalised and unheard people the opportunity to express their voices by taking part in imaginative and transformative creative writing and reading projects. They also have the chance to explore world literature and free speech.[117]
Thanks to funding fromJohn Lyon's Charity and the Limbourne Trust, English PEN ran Brave New Voices 2.0, a three-year creative writing and translation project with young refugees and asylum seekers celebrating multilingualism and self-expression.[118]
In 2018, English PEN collaborated with theBBC Proms for the Brave New Voices programme, featuring more than 90 concerts over eight-weeks during the Proms.[119]
In March 2020, English PEN with the T. S. Eliot Foundation was among the founding partners of the "Authors' Emergency Fund". led by theSociety of Authors, along with theAuthors' Licensing and Collecting Society, theRoyal Literary Fund, andAmazon UK.[120] The fund was set up to support authors and booksellers affected financially as a result of the coronavirus outbreak with a £330,000 emergency fund to be distributed as small grants.[121]
In May 2018,Private Eye identified two lawyers who were members of English PEN's Board of Trustees but who, in the course of providing legal services to their clients, were accused of being in conflict with English PEN's primary aim to defend and promote freedom of expression.[122]
Anthony Julius is Deputy Chairman ofMishcon de Reya, a British law firm. The Maltese bloggerDaphne Caruana Galizia was accused of libel by Mishcon de Reya "on the instruction of both Malta's prime minister and Henley & Partners", prior to her death in 2017. English PEN's public statement on 1 May 2018 about Caruana Galizia says:[123]
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat is also pursuing a libel case against Caruana Galizia's son Matthew Caruana Galizia.The Shift News, an independent media outlet launched after Caruana Galizia's assassination which has pursued a number of her stories, is currently facing the threat of a financially crippling SLAPP (strategic lawsuit against public participation) from the Jersey-based firm Henley & Partners, who had taken legal proceedings against Daphne Caruana Galizia prior to her death.
PEN is seriously concerned about the fact that senior government officials including Prime Minister Joseph Muscat are insisting on trying 34 libel cases against Daphne Caruana Galizia, which have now been assumed by her family. PEN believes that these proceedings are in direct reprisal for her work in investigating corruption within the current Maltese government.
Geraldine Proudler is a lawyer and partner atOlswang, a London-based law firm, where she is Head of the Reputation and Media Litigation practice.[124] Proudler represented Pavel Karpov, a former Russian Interior Ministry officer, for a 2012 libel action in London againstBill Browder after Browder accused Karpov of involvement in the 2009 death ofSergei Magnitsky. Karpov lost the case and was ordered to pay over £800,000 in costs. In 2016, Karpov was additionally sentenced to three months in prison for contempt of court for non-payment of costs. More than £660,000 of that amount remains unpaid.[125]
InThe Guardian, journalistNick Cohen wrote:[126]
I know Anthony Julius vaguely and Geraldine Proudler, one of the Olswang lawyers who went for Browder, was on the board of the Scott Trust that oversees theGuardian andObserver. (She is now on the board of an English PEN that never seems to learn.) I'm sure that in private they love investigative journalism, freedom of thought and expression, democracy and the right to hold the powerful to account. Perhaps the firms to which they belong love money more.
On 5 October 2020, English PEN released a joint statement on online harassment (co-signed by 19 PEN centres, including PEN America, and PEN International), stating: "PEN stands firmly against both offline and online harassment" and "We support the right to hold and express strong views, provided that such expression does not undermine the internationally recognised human rights of others, incite hatred, nor engender the threat or use of violence."[127] PEN also stated: "We are listening to and taking seriously those with experience of harassment and working with organisations to better support and protect individuals facing harassment. Additionally we will continue to put pressure on platforms to better protect and support users facing harassment."[127]
In the 9–22 October 2020 edition,Private Eye criticised English PEN for not speaking out in defence ofJ. K. Rowling, after she faced online harassment following her comments about transgender people:[128][129][130]
Thousands of Twitter users wish an author dead. Others send her rape-threats.Newsweek reports that burnings of her books are being shared on TikTok ... In 2013, Rowling gave English PEN, which defends freedom of speech, aHarry Potter first edition that was auctioned for £150,000. Last week, theEye asked PEN repeatedly whether it defended her against the campaign of intimidation. All PEN would say was that it was "following the situation closely".
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