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PEN America
PEN America (formerly PEN American Center), founded in 1922, and headquartered in New York City, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose goal is to raise awareness for the protection of free expression in the United States and worldwide through the advancement of literature and human rights. PEN America is the largest of the more than 100 PEN centers worldwide that together compose PEN International. PEN America has offices in New York City, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and since late 2023 also in Florida.
PEN America's advocacy includes work on educational censorship, press freedom and the safety of writers, campus free speech, online harassment, artistic freedom, and support to regions of the world with challenges to freedom of expression. PEN America also campaigns for individual writers and journalists who have been imprisoned or come under threat for their work and annually presents the PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award.
PEN America hosts public programming and events on literature and human rights, including the PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature and the annual PEN America Literary Awards, sometimes referred to as the "Oscars of Books." PEN America also works to amplify underrepresented voices, including emerging authors and writers who are undocumented, incarcerated, or face obstacles in reaching audiences.
The organization's name was conceived as an acronym for "Poets, Essayists, Novelists" (later broadened to "Poets, Playwrights, Editors, Essayists, Novelists"). As its membership expanded to include a more diverse range of people involved in literature and freedom of expression, the United States branch of the organization decided it would no longer treat PEN as an acronym.
PEN America was formed on April 19, 1922, in New York City, and included among its initial members writers such as Willa Cather, Eugene O'Neill, Robert Frost, Ellen Glasgow, Edwin Arlington Robinson, and Robert Benchley. Booth Tarkington served as the organization's first president.
PEN America's founding came after the launch of PEN International in 1921 in London by Catherine Amy Dawson-Scott, a British poet, playwright, and peace activist, who enlisted John Galsworthy as PEN International's first president. The intent of PEN International was to foster international literary fellowship among writers that would transcend national and ethnic divides in the wake of World War I. PEN America subscribes to the principles outlined in the PEN International Charter.
PEN America presidents have included current president Jennifer Finney Boylan, Ayad Akhtar, Kwame Anthony Appiah, Louis Begley, Ron Chernow, Joel Conarroe, Jennifer Egan, Frances FitzGerald, Peter Godwin, Francine Prose, Salman Rushdie, Michael Scammell, and Andrew Solomon.
In 2018, the organization filed suit against President Trump for allegedly using the powers of his office to retaliate against unfavorable reporting. In 2023, it filed suit against the school district in Escambia County, Florida, over book bans, joined by publisher Penguin Random House, several banned authors, and parents in the district.
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PEN America
PEN America (formerly PEN American Center), founded in 1922, and headquartered in New York City, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose goal is to raise awareness for the protection of free expression in the United States and worldwide through the advancement of literature and human rights. PEN America is the largest of the more than 100 PEN centers worldwide that together compose PEN International. PEN America has offices in New York City, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and since late 2023 also in Florida.
PEN America's advocacy includes work on educational censorship, press freedom and the safety of writers, campus free speech, online harassment, artistic freedom, and support to regions of the world with challenges to freedom of expression. PEN America also campaigns for individual writers and journalists who have been imprisoned or come under threat for their work and annually presents the PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award.
PEN America hosts public programming and events on literature and human rights, including the PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature and the annual PEN America Literary Awards, sometimes referred to as the "Oscars of Books." PEN America also works to amplify underrepresented voices, including emerging authors and writers who are undocumented, incarcerated, or face obstacles in reaching audiences.
The organization's name was conceived as an acronym for "Poets, Essayists, Novelists" (later broadened to "Poets, Playwrights, Editors, Essayists, Novelists"). As its membership expanded to include a more diverse range of people involved in literature and freedom of expression, the United States branch of the organization decided it would no longer treat PEN as an acronym.
PEN America was formed on April 19, 1922, in New York City, and included among its initial members writers such as Willa Cather, Eugene O'Neill, Robert Frost, Ellen Glasgow, Edwin Arlington Robinson, and Robert Benchley. Booth Tarkington served as the organization's first president.
PEN America's founding came after the launch of PEN International in 1921 in London by Catherine Amy Dawson-Scott, a British poet, playwright, and peace activist, who enlisted John Galsworthy as PEN International's first president. The intent of PEN International was to foster international literary fellowship among writers that would transcend national and ethnic divides in the wake of World War I. PEN America subscribes to the principles outlined in the PEN International Charter.
PEN America presidents have included current president Jennifer Finney Boylan, Ayad Akhtar, Kwame Anthony Appiah, Louis Begley, Ron Chernow, Joel Conarroe, Jennifer Egan, Frances FitzGerald, Peter Godwin, Francine Prose, Salman Rushdie, Michael Scammell, and Andrew Solomon.
In 2018, the organization filed suit against President Trump for allegedly using the powers of his office to retaliate against unfavorable reporting. In 2023, it filed suit against the school district in Escambia County, Florida, over book bans, joined by publisher Penguin Random House, several banned authors, and parents in the district.