The PEN World
The PEN World series showcases the important work of the more than 140 centers that form PEN International. Each PEN center sets its own priorities, but they are united by their commitment to advocate for imperiled writers, promote literature from all cultures and in all languages, and advance the right of every individual to speak freely.
In this series, PEN America interviews the leaders of different PEN centers from the global network to offer a window into the literary accomplishments and free expression challenges of their respective countries.
Romanian PEN Center: “We Are a Country of Poets”
"We also have many good poets; it is said that we are a country of poets. There is a proverb in Romania that says: All Romanians are born poets." More
Macedonian PEN Center: Fostering Culture and Community
In this month's PEN World, we present an audio interview conducted by Polina Kovaleva with the President of Macedonian PEN, Ermis Lafazanovski. More
PEN Haiti: A Sanctuary for Writers
PEN Haiti began in 2002 and is part of PEN International, a global organization that promotes freedom of expression as a way to advance human rights. The house was… More
Polish PEN Center: Reckoning with History and Honoring Literature
The deepest problem of Poland, Polish culture, is the Holocaust. This happened on Polish land and had a colossal, although very complicated, influence on the entire Polish society. Although… More
PEN Nepal: Increasing Access to Literature for Young Readers
The key free expression challenges faced by PEN Nepal are limited sources of income...physical dangers faced by writers, and impunity faced by those who are engaged in violence against… More
Norwegian PEN: Overcoming Free Expression Challenges Globally
I would say there is a tendency to write in an autobiographical manner. This is an old tradition, from a stream of bohemian literature in the 1890s. Proponents would… More
St. Petersburg PEN: “This City is Ours!”
The main challenge that St. Petersburg PEN faces is that the Russian authorities have currently set themselves the task of "provincializing Petersburg.". . . More
PEN Québec: A New Generation on a Familiar Quest for Literary Identity
There’s always a quest for identity. Whichever way you look at it, I feel that every writer in Québec is somehow drawn to this question. More
PEN Uyghur Center: Powerful Literature in a Fleeting Language
As a Uyghur writer, I cannot truly understand or write any novel, story, or poem in Chinese. It isn’t possible because Chinese is not my language… More
Swiss German PEN: Raising Awareness for Lesser-Known Cases
Our work doesn’t only deal with the more mainstream cases … There are many other names that should be mentioned. We try to spread awareness about those less spoken… More
Support for the freedom to read with exclusive designs by Todd Parr, Mike Curato, Art Spiegelman, and more!
