Irish PEN is closely affiliated to International PEN, the worldwide association for writers.
‘In time of division between countries, International PEN is one of the rare institutions to keep a bridge constantly open’ Mario Vargas Llosa
Originally founded in 1921 to promote literature, today International PEN has 145 Centres in 104 countries across the globe. It recognises that literature is essential to understanding and engaging with other worlds; if you can’t hear the voice of another culture how can you understand it?
International PEN’s primary goal is to engage with, and empower, societies and communities across cultures and languages, through reading and writing. They believe that writers can play a crucial role in changing and developing civil society and do this through the promotion of literature, international campaigning on issues such as translation and freedom of expression and improving access to literature at international, regional and national levels.
Membership of International PEN is open to all published writers who subscribe to the PEN Charter regardless of nationality, language, race, colour or religion. International PEN is a non-political organisation and has special consultative status at UNESCO and the United Nations.
As an affliliate to International PEN, Irish PEN have the right to nominate writers for the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Committees and Networks
The Committees of International PEN include the Writers for Peace Committee, Translation & Linguistic Rights Committee, Women Writers’ Committee and the Writers in Prison Committee. Each Committee has an International Chair who reports to the Board of International PEN and is supported in their work by the Secretariat. All of the Committees, except for the Writers’ in Prison Committee, are based in a PEN Centre.
The Committees lead dialogue and programmes on related issues and themes at an international, regional and Centre level. Individual Centres choose which of the Committees’ areas of activity they would like to participate in and nominate a lead representative.
Networks
International PEN works with a number of affiliated organisations that uphold the aims and principles of our organisation, whilst providing support to different areas of our work.
‘For anyone who believes that words can help us chart a path, PEN International is essential reading‘ 
Alberto Manguel
‘Reading in the pages of PEN International we celebrate not just our differences but also our common humanity and universal values‘
Azar Nafisi
PEN International addresses a global audience and features original work by contemporary writers from around the world.
Founded in 1950, the magazine was originally a compendium of reviews of world literature entitled ‘Bulletin of Selected Books’.Over the years, it was expanded to include articles, stories and poems either contributed directly or reprinted from other publications.
The magazine is read by the 144 PEN Centres in 102 countries, as well as readers all over the world.
In 2007, PEN International was relaunched with the ‘Context:’ series, featuring a new design, a dedicated editor and special guest writers. ‘Context:’ showcases writing from different regions of the world with the express goal of introducing the work of new and established writers to each other and to readers everywhere. It has so far covered Africa and the Middle East. ‘Context: Latin America’ will appear in autumn 2008 and ‘Context: Asia/Pacific’ in 2009. A special issue will be published in spring 2008 called ‘The Writer Next Door’, and will be dedicated to International PEN’s annual literary theme of the same name.
Contributors to PEN International have included Adonis, Margaret Atwood, Karel Capek, Siobhan Dowd, Nawal El-Saadawi, Moris Farhi, Antonia Fraser, Nadine Gordimer, Günter Grass, Han Suyin, Liu Hongbin, Chenjerai Hove, Alberto Manguel, Salim Matar, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Ben Okri, Moniro Ravanipour, Salman Rushdie, Wole Soyinka, Hilary Spurling and many others. Previous editors have included Alexandre Blokh and Per Wästberg.
