In Focus

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      Every year, PEN International hosts a number of events around the world promoting freedom of expression and celebrating literature in a variety of ways. PEN Centres stage events such as literary festivals large and small, storytelling sessions with families and children, book clubs and everything in between. One important occasion to mark is the annual Day of the Imprisoned Writer, 15 November, which gives the entire PEN community a chance to celebrate our work across the world as well as drawing attention to the ongoing persecution faced by many writers today.

    • 25 Feb 2012 Addis Ababa
      Ethiopian PEN Writers’ Congress
    • 29 Feb 2012 san miguel de allende
      San Miguel de Allende Writers Aloud event series
    • 14 Mar 2012 san miguel de allende
      San Miguel de Allende Writers Aloud event series

    Women Writers

    Members of the Women Writers Committee

    Women Writers Committee meeting

    The Women Writers’ Committee was set up in 1991 to promote certain issues faced by women writers around the world – challenges at family and national levels such as unequal education, unequal access to resources and actual prohibition from writing.

    The committee reaches out to both aspiring and practising women writers through PEN Centres and other organisations and networks, and works with the Writers in Prison Committee on behalf of incarcerated or endangered women writers.

    Representatives from the committee attend meetings of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. The committee has held conferences in countries such as Nepal, Kyrgyzstan and Senegal, and has published special newsletters. It uses Facebook to connect the work of women writers to the world.

    Please contact Lucina Kathmann at: lucina.kathmann@gmail.com

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    PEN International celebrates literature and promotes freedom of expression. Founded in 1921, our global community of writers now spans more than 100 countries. Our campaigns, events, publications and programmes aim to connect writers and readers wherever they are in the world.