P.E.N., International, is a worldwide organization of writers that promotes freedom of expression. It speaks for writers who have been harassed, imprisoned, or murdered because of their work. The organization also gives financial aid to persecuted writers and their dependents. The letters P.E.N. originally stood for poets, playwrights, essayists, editors, and novelists. But membership is now open to writers engaged in any branch of literature. International P.E.N. is also written as International PEN.
P.E.N. has thousands of members in countries around the world. The members come from many different religious and political backgrounds and include prominent poets, playwrights, essayists, and novelists. The organization’s headquarters are in London.
P.E.N. was founded in 1921 in London by the British writer Catherine Amy Dawson Scott. She founded the organization to welcome writers from other countries to London. John Galsworthy, an English novelist and playwright, served as P.E.N.’s first president. Other early members included the Polish-born writer Joseph Conrad, the British writers H. G. Wells and George Bernard Shaw, and the German novelist Thomas Mann.
