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PEN International Archives

Empty Chair for Vladimir Kozlov

Poster used for the empty chair dedicated to Kazakh journalist Vladimir Kozlov, and signed by the members of various Centres during the biennial ICORN Network Meeting and PEN International...

P.E.N. Im Exil

Poster by artist Gunter Rambow and commissioned by the German Exile Archive of the German National Library for the 1983 Bonn exhibition P.E.N. Im Exil. The image used in the...

Empty Chair for Oleg Sentsov

Poster used for the empty chair dedicated to Ukrainian writer and filmmaker Oleg Sentsov, and signed by the members of various Centres during the biennial ICORN Network Meeting and...

Empty Chair for Raif Badawi

Poster used for the empty chair dedicated to Saudi blogger and editor Raif Badawi, and signed by the members of various Centres during the biennial ICORN Network Meeting and...

Empty Chair for Razan Zaitouneh

Poster used for the empty chair dedicated to Syrian blogger and human rights activist Razan Zaitouneh, and signed by the members of various Centres during the biennial ICORN Network...

Empty Chair for Idris Said Aba Arre

Poster used for the empty chair dedicated to Eritrean writer Idris Said Aba Arre, and signed by the members of various Centres during the biennial ICORN Network Meeting and...

Empty Chair for Ilham Tohti

Poster used for the empty chair dedicated to Uyghur writer Ilham Tohti, and signed by the members of various Centres during the biennial ICORN Network Meeting and PEN International...

Empty Chair for Aslı Ceren Aslan

Poster used for the empty chair dedicated to Turkish editor Aslı Ceren Aslan, and signed by the members of various Centres during the biennial ICORN Network Meeting and PEN...

Empty Chair for Dawit Isaak

Poster used for the empty chair dedicated to Eritrean journalist Dawit Isaak, and signed by the members of various Centres during the biennial ICORN Network Meeting and PEN International...

Paraules i Futur

Poster advertising Paraules i Futur: PEN Català Fòrum 2004, (Words and Future: Catalan PEN Forum 2004) an event organised by the Catalan Centre which took place on 16-21 May...

Free the Word! 2010

Poster advertising the Free the Word! 2010 festival, organised by PEN International and held on 14-18 April 2010 in multiple venues in London.

2006 PEN Congress poster

Poster advertising the 72st PEN International Congress, which was held on 22-28 May 2006 in Berlin, Germany, and titled Writing in a World Without Peace.

2005 PEN Congress poster

Poster advertising the 71st PEN International Congress, which was held on 14-21 June 2005 in Bled, Slovenia, and titled The Tower of Babel: a Blessing or a Curse?, Language...

2003 PEN Congress poster

Poster advertising the 69th PEN International Congress, which took place on 22-28 November 2003, in Mexico City, Mexico, and titled Cultural Diversity and Freedom of Expression.

PEN's first Case List

Typed appendix containing PEN International's first Case List, 1960, Rio de Janeiro, f. 1. Until the mid-1980s, PEN's Case Lists were published as an addendum to the minutes of...

PEN, ICORN, and Eaten Fish

Photograph of PEN and ICORN (International Cities of Refuge Network) members with Iranian cartoonist Ali Dorani (known as 'Eaten Fish') outside PEN International's former offices in London in 2018....

Marjorie-Ann Watt's letter to Torner

Typed and handwritten letter from Marjorie-Ann Watts to Carles Torner, London, 28 May 2019, f. 1. In this letter Marjorie-Ann Watts, granddaughter of PEN International's founder Catharine Amy Dawson...

Catharine Amy Dawson Scott

Portrait of Catharine Amy Dawson Scott, founder of PEN International. Dawson-Scott founded PEN in London in October 1921, enlisting a group of fellow writers to join her in creating...

Portrait of Hermon Ould

Portrait of Hermon Ould, first secretary of the English Centre (1921-51) international secretary of PEN International (1926-51) and president of PEN International (1941-47). The poet and dramatist Hermon Ould...


Date:[1920]
Format:
Language:n/a

1993 PEN Congress poster

Poster advertising the 60th PEN International Congress in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, which was held on 6-12 September 1993 and titled Roads of Literature. This Congress was hosted by...

William Nygaard's speech on self-censoriship

Video of William Nygaard, president of the Norwegian Centre (2013-19), speaking at the International Publishers Association Congress, which was held in New Delhi, India, on 10-12 February 2018. In...

1999 PEN Congress poster

Poster advertising the 66th PEN International Congress in Warsaw, Poland, which was held on 15-20 June 1999 and titled Farewell to the Twentieth Century. This Congress was hosted by...

1997 PEN Congress poster

Poster advertising the 64th PEN International Congress in Edinburgh, Scotland, which was held on 5-11 August 1997 and titled Identity and Diversity. This Congress was hosted by the Scottish...

2008 PEN Congress poster

Poster advertising the 74th PEN International Congress in Bogotá, Colombia, which was held on 17-22 September 2008 and titled The Role of the Word. This Congress was hosted...

PEN Emergency Fund members in Spain

Photograph of members of the PEN Emergency Fund in Ourense for the 82nd PEN International Congress held there on 26 September to 2 October 2016 under the title Building...

2002 PEN Congress poster

Poster advertising the 68th PEN International Congress in Ohrid, Macedonia, which was held on 17-24 September 2002 and titled Borders of Freedom/Freedom of Borders. This Congress was hosted by...

Swedish Centre's Empty Chair

Sculpture of a PEN Empty Chair commissioned by the Swedish Centre in 2011. Since the 1980s PEN International has used the Empty Chair at events to symbolise writers who...


Date:[2011]
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Language:n/a

Nadine Gordimer at home

Photograph of PEN members with Nobel laureate Nadine Gordimer (third from the right at the front), former vice-president of PEN International, in the garden of her home in Johannesburg...

Panel discussion at United Nations

Photograph of a panel discussion held at the United Nations Office in Geneva in 2011. From left to right are: Alexis Krikorian, director of Freedom to Publish at the...

Ron Butlin on Day of the Imprisoned Writer

Photograph of the Scottish author Ron Butlin taking part in a protest event held outside Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh on PEN International's Day of the Imprisoned Writer, 15 November,...

Night of the Imprisoned Writer event

Flyer for an event organised by the English Centre in collaboration with ice&fire theatre company titled Night of the Imprisoned Writer, which was held in London on 15 November...

Swedish Centre's letter-writing session

Photograph of PEN members at a letter-writing session organised by the Swedish Centre for PEN International's Day of the Imprisoned writer on 15 November 2011. Among them is Eugene...

Day of the Dead logo

Poster designed for PEN International's Day of the Dead by the Guadalajara Centre, with artwork by Maxine Young. On 2 November 2011, members of the public, members of staff...

First Day of the Dead event in London

Photograph of PEN members at the inaugural protest event held for PEN International's Day of the Dead. On 2 November 2011, members of the public, members of staff from...

IFEX's Day to End Impunity poster

The winning poster of a competition held by the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) for the International Day to End Impunity, which was established by the General Assembly...

Xiaobo bookstand at Tokyo Congress

Photograph of a stand set up to sell books by Liu Xiaobo, co-founder and president of the Independent Chinese Centre (2003-07), at the 76th PEN International Congress in Tokyo,...

Krikorian, Onderoglu and Whyatt at the UN

Photograph of human rights defenders outside the United Nations Office at Geneva in 2010. From left to right are: Alexis Krikorian, director of Freedom to Publish at the International...

Liu Xiaobo's Nobel Prize ceremony

Photograph of Salil Shetty, on the left, Secretary General of Amnesty International (2010-18), and John Ralston Saul, on the right, president of PEN International (2009-15) at the Nobel Prize...

Liu Xiaobo's Nobel empty chair

Photograph of an empty chair in transit to the Nobel Prize ceremony held at Oslo City Hall in Norway on 10 December 2010. This chair was sent to the...

Stoppard, Gruša and Stránský in Prague

Photograph of members of the Czech Centre in Prague in 2005. From left to right are: Tom Stoppard; Jiří Gruša, president of PEN International (2003-09); and Jiří Stránský, president...

PEN members at UNESCO

Photograph of PEN members outside the UNESCO headquarters in Paris in 2007. From left to right are: Joanne Leedom-Ackerman, international secretary (2004-07) and vice-president emeritus of PEN International; Eugene...

Shafak, Whyatt, Leedom-Ackerman

Photograph of PEN members at a meeting held before the 2007 Gathering in Istanbul for Freedom of Expression. From left to right are: the British-Turkish writer Elif Shafak, who...

PEN meeting in Cairo

Photograph of PEN members gathered in Cairo for a meeting held there in 2006. Among them are: Ekbal Baraka, end on the left at the back, president of the...

Şanar Yurdatapan at Istanbul University rally

Photograph of the Turkish journalist Şanar Yurdatapan speaking at a protest rally held at Istanbul University on 11 March 1997. Standing just behind Yurdatapan is Joanne Leedom-Ackerman, international secretary...

Leedom-Ackerman at Istanbul Conference

Photograph of Joanne Leedom-Ackerman, international secretary (2004-07) and vice-president emeritus of PEN International, speaking on the panel of the Initiative for Freedom of Expression during a conference at the...

Rally at Istanbul University

Photograph of Joanne Leedom-Ackerman, international secretary (2004-07) and vice-president emeritus of PEN International, speaking at a protest rally held at Istanbul University on 11 March 1997. To Leedom-Ackerman's left...

PEN members at Istanbul University rally

Photograph of PEN members at a protest rally held at Istanbul University on 11 March 1997. Among them are: Alexander Tkachenko, founding member and general secretary of the Russian...

PEN Board Meeting in Vienna

Photograph of members at a PEN International Board meeting that was held in Vienna in January 2007. Among them are: Eugene Schoulgin, end on the left, member of the...

PEN Conference in Accra

Photograph of PEN members at a conference held in Accra in 2005 in preparation for the 73rd PEN International Congress in Dakar, Senegal, 4-7 July 2007, titled The World...

Members during conference in Accra

Photograph of PEN members at a conference held in Accra in 2005 in preparation for the 73rd PEN International Congress in Senegal, 4-7 July 2007, titled The World and...

Hasenkeyf before the floods

Photograph of the ancient town of Hasenkeyf in Turkey in 2005. In this year a delegation from PEN International visted Turkey for the International PEN Diyarbakir Seminar on Cultural...

Dinner at the Guadalajara Book Fair

Photograph of PEN members at a dinner held during the Guadalajara International Book Fair (FIL Guadalajara) in 2006. Seated from left to right are: the Mexican-American filmmaker Moisés Zamora;...

Conference in Accra

Photograph of PEN members at a conference held in Accra in 2005 in preparation for the 73rd PEN International Congress in Dakar, Senegal, 4-7 July 2007, titled The World...

PEN members in Hasenkeyf

Photograph of members from PEN International and the Kurdish and Turkish Centres gathered in the ancient town of Hasenkeyf, Turkey, in March 2005. The three delegates standing at the...

Writers and PEN members in Hasenkeyf

Photograph of PEN members with Kurdish and Turkish writers gathered in the ancient town of Hasenkeyf, Turkey, in March 2005. Joanne Leedom-Ackerman, international secretary (2004-07) and vice-president emeritus of...

Spender and Leedom-Ackermann in Turkey

Photograph of Joanne Leedom-Ackerman, on the left, international secretary (2004-07) and vice-president emeritus of PEN International, with Jane Spender, on the right, programme director at PEN International (1997-2009) and...

Poster for Oleg Sentsov

Poster created for PEN International's campaign to support the case of the Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov. In May 2014, Sentsov was imprisoned in Russia for protesting against the annexation...

Performer at PEN Congress in Senegal

Photograph of a performer at the 73rd PEN International Congress in Dakar, Senegal, which was held on 4-11 July 2007 and titled The World and Human Values.

Day of the Dead Campaign illustration

Illustration by Maxine Young for PEN International's Day of the Dead campaign. The Day of the Dead campaign was launched on 2 November 2011 to commemorate Mexican journalists and...


Date:02/11/2000
Format:
Language:n/a

Postcard for Daphne Caruana Galizia

Campaign postcard concerning the case of the Maltese writer, journalist, blogger and anti-corruption activist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was murdered on 16 October 2017. The postcard is designed to...


Date:[2017]
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Language:n/a

H. G. Wells

Photograph of H. G. Wells (second from the left), president of PEN International (1933-36) and PEN's Wartime International Presidential Committee (1941-46). This photograph was most likely taken when Wells...

Performance at PEN Congress in Senegal

Photograph of a performance taking place during the 73rd PEN International Congress in Dakar, Senegal, which was held on 4-11 July 2007 and titled The World and Human Values.

Bill and Kathy Barazetti

Photograph of Bill Barazetti, international treasurer of PEN International (1991-96) holding his daughter Kathy, who went on to be a finance administrator at PEN International in the 2000s. Bill...

Galsworthy, Dawson-Scott and Ould

Photograph of three core and founding members of PEN in the late 1920s. From left to right are: John Galsworthy, first president of PEN International and the English Centre...

Charlie Hebdo no. 1189

Front cover of Charlie Hebdo, no. 1189, Paris: 6 May, 2015. This cover of the French weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo shows an illustration by the artist Riss captioned 'Crève...

Ten year sentence' cartoon by Haldane

Cartoon by the British cartoonist and illustrator David Haldane, which featured in Publish and be Damned!, a book of cartoons for PEN International that was edited by Mark Bryant...