The international writers' organisation
‘Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.’
Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, UN 1948
What is PEN?
The aims of International PEN are to: Read more
'Writing is of you, but it's not YOU'
'I like David Foster Wallace's notion that writer's block is always a function of the writer having set a too-high bar for herself. You know: you type a line, it fails to meet the "masterpiece standard," you delete it in shame, type another line, delete it - soon the hours have flown by and you are a failure sitting in front of a blank screen. Read more