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

    Writers for Peace

    Delegates of the Writers for Peace annual Bled meeting in Ljubljana, 2003

    Delegates of the Writers for Peace annual Bled meeting in Ljubljana, 2003

    The Writers for Peace Committee was created in 1984, an era during which writers found it especially difficult to collaborate across the East–West divide of the Cold War. The committee’s founding members recognised the need to bring writers together to exchange ideas, especially when most other doors were closed. It became a haven throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s (during the Balkan wars and other political conflicts) for writers who wished to tell their stories with the knowledge that their voices would be heard. Every spring the committee meets in Bled, Slovenia, for its annual conference. PEN writers from around the world come together there to discuss issues of conflict, peace and freedom of expression, and to create a space for dialogue between writers from all parts of the world – especially from regions in conflict.

    The current chair is Edvard Kovac and is based at the Slovene PEN Centre. You can contact him at edvard.kovac@guest.arnes.si.

    To find out more about the Writers for Peace Committee, click here

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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.