PEN America celebrated its centenary in 2022, 100 years after its founding in New York City. What began in the aftermath of World War I as an international literary club with the intent of providing intellectual community among poets, playwrights, editors, essayists, and novelists has evolved into a consequential organization at the forefront of the global defense of free expression. Below are highlights of PEN America’s history and the origins of PEN America.

1921

PEN International Founded in London

PEN (originally short for Poets, Playwrights, Editors, Essayists, and Novelists) was founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and international co-operation among writers everywhere, and to defend literature and free expression wherever they are threatened. The first PEN Club was founded by Catherine Amy Dawson Scott, with John Galsworthy as its first president. Its first members included Joseph Conrad, Elizabeth Craig, George Bernard Shaw, and H.G. Wells. The Club was borne out of Dawson Scott’s “unshakable conviction that if the writers of the world could learn to stretch out their hands to each other, the nations of the world could learn in time to do the same.”

April 19, 1922

PEN America Founded in New York

1926

London Centre Proposes ‘Statement of Aims’

1927

Guiding Principles Approved

1932

First PEN President Awarded Nobel Prize

John Galsworthy, PEN’s first president and champion of free expression, receives the Nobel Prize for Literature. Unable to attend the ceremony due to illness, he dies six months later. In a final act of literary philanthropy, Galsworthy leaves his Nobel Prize money to PEN.

May 25, 1933

German PEN Expelled Following PEN American Resolution

British novelist H. G. Wells, who became PEN’s president in 1933, led a campaign against the burning of books by the Nazis. German PEN failed to protest and tried to prevent exiled German writer Ernst Toller from speaking at the conference. Following a motion put forward by Henry Seidal Canby and the PEN American Center, German PEN had its membership withdrawn. “If German PEN has been reconstructed in accordance with nationalistic ideas,” a statement from PEN read, “it must be expelled.”

In Wells’ 1934 speech to the International Congress, he said, “When Politics reaches up and assaults Literature and the liberty of human thought and expression, we have to take notice of Politics. If not, what will the P.E.N. Club become? A tourist agency — an organisation for introducing respectable writers to useful scenery — a special branch of the hotel industry?”

1936

Dorothy Thompson Leads PEN America

Dorothy Thompson, the first American journalist to be expelled from Nazi Germany, becomes president of PEN America. Thompson is famous for her suffragette activism and political journalism.

1939

American PEN Hosts PEN Congress

To coincide with the World Fair, PEN America hosts the 1939 PEN Congress. The Opening Session takes place at The Hall of Music. The Congress concludes with a banquet at the Plaza Hotel, followed by a delegation of writers to Washington, D.C. to meet with President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt. The 1939 Congress reaffirmed the right to speak and to differ in a world where it seemed to be vanishing, and took place days before the outbreak of WWII. In his opening address, Jules Romain, PEN International President said “we are no longer able to act as if tyranny did not exist…Therefore, we must act that it shall not exist.”

1942-1946

American PEN Reaches Overseas

American PEN hosts a dinner to discuss the future of the organization in the post-war era and agrees to send 1,233 care packages overseas to fellow writers. A history pamphlet was created for the 1946 Congress in Stockholm where Henry Goddard Leach brought forth two resolutions that were later called the “American Resolutions.” The first called on members to “champion the ideals of one humanity living at peace in one world,” and the second supported a free press and opposed “arbitrary censorship in time of peace… we pledge ourselves to oppose such evils of a free press as mendacious publication, deliberate falsehood and distortion of facts for political and personal ends.” It pledged active and public protest against suppression of freedom of expression.

1948

PEN Adopts Its Charter

The PEN Charter is adopted and becomes PEN International’s core document. In addition to the original guiding principles, the charter includes a new clause demanding that Members “do their utmost to dispel race, class and national hatreds and to champion the ideal of one humanity living in peace in one world.” It also adds a new fourth article expressing a commitment to freedom of expression, supporting a free press, opposing censorship, and pledging to oppose deliberate falsehoods and distortion of facts.

1949

PEN Recognized at the United Nations

PEN looked very different at the end of World War II. The original concept behind its creation as a club welcoming writers regardless of race, religion or creed had been fractured by reality. New groups of writers in exile had also been established in London and New York during the war.In 1949, following the passage of a resolution introduced by the PEN American Centre, PEN acquired consultative status at the United Nations as ‘representative of the writers of the world’.

1951

American PEN Sheds Formal Dinners

American PEN introduces less formal buffet and cocktail parties to take the place of formal dinners and cater to the younger generation of members and writers. The first of these informal gathering takes place in Fall 1951 at The Lotos Club. This becomes the dominant format of member gatherings for that time period. Most of the receptions take place at The Algonquin Hotel.

1957

Translators Embraced by PEN

PEN Congress is held in Tokyo where a resolution is adopted on the subject of translation and urges its Centers to”…do all in its power to raise the general status of translators.” John Steinbeck represents American Center.

1959

American PEN Advocates for Imprisoned Writers

American PEN issues one of its first open letters to the Hungarian government with 259 signatories, on behalf of two imprisoned writers, Tibor Dery and Julius Hay. The writers are eventually freed in 1960.

1960

PEN Writers in Prison Committee Established

By the 1950s, PEN members began discussing the idea of a committee to examine cases of writers imprisoned or persecuted around the world for their work and opinions. The Writers in Prison Committee came into being as a result, in April 1960. Despite – or perhaps because of – the Cold War’s polarizing effect on the world, PEN’s influence spread internationally.

1963

PEN America Establishes Literary Awards

February dinner features panel on “The Problems of the Negro Writer”; speakers included Ralph Ellison, Langston Hughes and LeRoi Jones. President John F. Kennedy joins as a member of American PEN; The PEN America Literary Awards are established honoring literacy excellence and celebrating diverse voices across all genres. The first translation prize is issued, subsidized by Book-of-the-Month Club.

1964

Arthur Miller Leads PEN International

Playwright Arthur Miller is the first American appointed President of PEN International. American PEN issues statement on censorship, and creates a Censorship Committee under the auspice of Edgar Johnson. “American Center affirms its opposition to all censorship of literature, whether works of imagination, scholarship, information, or opinion, whether exercised by official bodies or by private pressure groups of individuals.”

1966

American PEN Establishes Grants and Fellowships

At ’66 PEN Congress in New York, delegates from Cuba, Russia and Czechoslovakia face challenges when the U.S. State Department raises concerns over visas based on the activities of their governments. American PEN introduces resolution that disapproves “measures taken by any government which have the effect of preventing P.E.N members from leaving their own country or entering a foreign country.”; American PEN creates first Grant and Awards Committee, which develops the first official list of awards, fellowships, grants and prizes available to writers.

1967

PEN President Arthur Miller Helps Free Wole Soyinka From Prison

In 1967, under the presidency of American playwright Arthur Miller, PEN appealed to Nigeria on behalf of playwright Wole Soyinka, who had been marked for execution by the country’s head of state, General Yakubu Gowon, during the civil war over Biafran secession. The letter was conveyed from PEN to Gowon, who noted the name of its author and asked if he was the same man who had married Marilyn Monroe. When assured that he was, Gowan released the prisoner. Soyinka went on to win the Nobel Prize.

1968

American Center Puts Down Roots

The first permanent headquarters of the American Center is established at 5th and 20th streets in New York City. Office furniture and supplies are donated by members.

1969

Translation Committee Prepares Manifesto

Robert Payne becomes chairman of the Translation Committee, meetings become more frequent, and a “Manifesto on Translation” is prepared for the forthcoming Congress. (In 2023, the Translation Committee created a new manifesto to update the document.)

1970s

American PEN Begins Workshops, Newsletter

American PEN introduces P.E.N. in the City, which “makes the services of P.E.N. members available to informal groups and institutions working with young people in the ghetto” through talks and workshops.” A quarterly newsletter titled The American Pen is launched.

1971

Prison Writing Program Established

In the aftermath of the Attica prison uprising, American PEN establishes the PEN Prison Writing Program to amplify the work of writers who are creating while incarcerated in the United States. The program is later renamed the Prison and Justice Writing Program.

1981

First Day of the Imprisoned Writer

PEN International’s Writers in Prison Committee establishes Nov. 15 as the Day of the Imprisoned Writer to raise awareness of writers jailed for their views around the world. The day is used to take action on behalf of selected writers to ensure they and their families are not forgotten.

1986

PEN Congress Convenes in New York

More than 600 writers from around the world gather in New York City for the 48th International PEN Congress, convened by then-PEN America President Norman Mailer.

1989

The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie is released

In what has been described as “the most significant event in postwar literary history,” in 1989 the Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran issued a fatwā ordering Muslims to kill Rushdie following the publication of his novel, The Satanic Verses. PEN America campaigns for his freedom and safety.

1987

PEN American Center Establishes Freedom to Write Award

Administered by PEN American Center and originally underwritten by PEN trustee Barbara Goldsmith, the Freedom to Write Award honors writers anywhere in the world who have fought courageously in the face of adversity for the right to freedom of expression.

2005

PEN World Voices Festival is founded

In the aftermath of 9/11, PEN America President Salman Rushdie launches with Esther Allen and Michael Roberts the PEN World Voices Festival in New York, a showcase for international literature and new writers that quickly became the premier literary festival of its kind in the United States. It is held each spring in New York with events in Los Angeles as well.

2013

Suzanne Nossel leads PEN America

Suzanne Nossel becomes Executive Director and undertakes strategic planning process that points to American PEN’s unique position at the intersection of literature and human rights. She is later named CEO and writes Dare to Speak: Defending Free Speech for All (2020), a set of principles to chart a course for free speech.

2016

PEN American Center becomes PEN America

PEN America is established as the official name of the organization, alongside a new brand identity that unifies the organization’s expanding range of programming.

2017

PEN America Expands to Washington

PEN America establishes its Washington, D.C. office, which conducts advocacy on behalf of free expression.

2018

PEN America and PEN Center USA Unite

PEN America unifies with PEN Center USA in Los Angeles . Membership reaches 7,300 including representation in all 50 states. PEN America v Trump is filed in federal court in New York.

2020

Ayad Akhtar Becomes President

2022

2023

Salman Rushdie Receives Centenary Courage Award

In his first public appearance since a vicious knife attack in 2022, former PEN America President Salman Rushdie is awarded the Centenary Courage Award at the 2023 PEN America Literary Gala.

Later that year, author and LGBTQ rights advocate Jennifer Finney Boylan is named president of PEN America, taking over from playwright and novelist Ayad Akhtar, and a band of bestselling authors joins together to establish a Florida office to defend the freedom to read and learn in a state on the frontlines of the fight for free speech nationally.

2024

PEN America Relocates

PEN America moves from its headquarters from SoHo to downtown Manhattan and elevates two highly regarded senior leaders, Summer Lopez and Clarisse Rosaz Shariyf, to serve as interim Co-CEOs upon the departure of Suzanne Nossel.