History of PEN
International PEN was founded in London in 1921, originally as an English dining club where members could entertain foreign writers.
PEN originally stood for 'Poets, Essayists and Novelists', but now includes journalists, translators, editors and publishers, with Associated membership offered to anyone who support PEN's mission.
As writers from other nations joined PEN, Centres appeared all over Europe and America. The club grew quickly and transmuted into an worldwide organisation that promotes the need for the universality of literature, and opposes censorship and the suppression of freedom of expression, in times of peace and especially in times of war or political unrest. Today there are 145 centres in 104 countries.
Early PEN members included Joseph Conrad, George Bernard Shaw, Anatol France, H.G. Wells, and John Galsworthy, who was its first President. Over the years Nobel Prize Laureates and acclaimed writers from all over the world have become members of International PEN.
In 2004, PEN in Australia won a prestigious human rights award from the Human Rights & Equal Opportunities Commission, which described PEN as a ‘local champion’ bringing national and international pressure to bear in seeking the release of asylum seekers in Australia.
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