Updated 3/25/2003

HISTORY

In May of 2002, after an exploratory meeting of local writers, our PEN Chapter was organized. It is a branch of PEN USA, headquartered in Los Angeles. Like other such Centers and Chapters, we are “children” of International PEN, which was founded in London in 1921 by writer Catherine Amy Dawson (Scott). PEN's first president was John Galsworthy.

P.E.N. is the only worldwide association of writers.
Its aims are to:
1. Promote intellectual co-operation and understanding among writers.
2. Create a world community of writers that would emphasize the central role of literature in the development of world culture.
3. Defend literature against the many threats to its survival which the modern world poses.

And because international cultural co-operation in the field of literature and the development of understanding cannot exist without freedom of expression, P.E.N. acts as a powerful voice in opposing political censorship and speaking for writers harassed, imprisoned, sometimes murdered for the expression of their views. P.E.N. is strictly non-political, holding Category A status at UNESCO and consultative status within the UN roster category.

P.E.N. in its early years had Centers only in Europe, but writers of other nations joined P.E.N. enthusiastically and, in 1926, members from fifteen nations met in Berlin. Today P.E.N. is composed of 30 Centers in 91 countries. Its membership is open to all published writers regardless of nationality, language, race, colour or religion. Each Center acts as an autonomous cultural and intellectual organization within its own country; individual Centers organize regional conferences and seminars; and all Centers maintain links with each other through P.E.N.'s headquarters. Among early members were Joseph Conrad, George Bernard Shaw and H.G. Wells. Centers were soon started in Europe, with such writers as Anatole France, Paul Valery, Thomas Mann, Benedetto Croce and Karel Capek playing active parts in the life and work of P.E.N. Over the years members have included Nobel Prize winners and other eminent writers from all over the world; among P.E.N.'s Presidents have been Alberto Moravia, Heinrich Böll, Arthur Miller, Pierre Emmanuel, Mario Vargas Llosa and György Konrád. P.E.N.'s highest Authority, the Assembly of Delegates, consisting of representatives from each Center, meets at the annual P.E.N.Congress, where, in addition to the work of the Assembly, cultural events and literary forums are held, through which P.E.N. seeks to mobilize the intelligence and imagination of its members in support of its ideals. The international and diverse character of International P.E.N. is reflected in its Executive Committee, which consists of the President, the Treasurer and seven members elected from among P.E.N.'s worldwide membership.

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