PEN UDHR
PEN International actively participated in the establishment of the United Nations (1945) and UNESCO (1946), and contributed from the very beginning to the drafting of the Universal Declaration of...
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 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...
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 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 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...
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.
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...
Day of the Imprisoned Writer 2004
Poster by the Catalan Centre advertising the Day of the Imprisoned Writer 2004, which is commemorated every year on the 15 November.
Day of the Imprisoned Writer 2009
Poster by the Catalan Centre advertising the Day of the Imprisoned Writer 2009, which is commemorated every year on the 15 November.
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...
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.
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.
1990 PEN Congress poster
Poster advertising the 55th PEN International Congress in Funchal, Portugal, which was held on 6-12 May 1990 and titled Language And Literatures: Unity And Diversity.
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...
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...
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....
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...
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...
PEN International's Committee minutes, 1922
Handwritten minutes from the first meeting held by PEN International (here called the 'International PEN Committee') on 26 February 1922, f. 1. This page notes that this meeting was...
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...
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,...
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...
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...
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...
IFEX's Day to End Impunity logo
Logo of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange's (IFEX) International Day to End Impunity. This annually observed day - selected to be 23 November - was offically established by...
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...
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...
Croatian Day of the Imprisoned Writer poster
Poster created by the Croatian Centre for Day of the Imprisoned Writer in 2011 and the 50th anniversary of PEN International's Writers in Prison Committee. PEN started the annually...
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...
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,...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Women Writers Committee at Asia conference
Photograph of the Women Writers Committee at the 2007 International PEN Asia and Pacific Regional Conference, which was held in Hong Kong on 2-5 February 2007. Among them are:...
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...
Press conference in Foreign Correspondents' Club
Photograph of panellists at a press conference held at the Foreign Correspondents' Club in Hong Kong during the 2007 International PEN Asia and Pacific Regional Conference, which was held...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Football card for Iran
A 'Football Card' designed by PEN International to raise awareness of freedom of the word in Iran. Inspired by the FIFA World Cup held in Brazil in 2014, PEN...
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...
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...
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.
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...
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...
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...
Article in Charlie Hebdo no. 1189
Pages 8 and 9 of Charlie Hebdo, no. 1189, Paris: 6 May, 2015 showing an article titled Anti-Charlie de tous les pays, unissez-vous!, which is surrounded by cartoons by...
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...
Takeaki and delegates in Bled
Photograph of Takeaki Hori, international secretary of PEN International (2010-16), standing on the right, with delegates who attended the 71st PEN International Congress, which took place on 14-21 June...
Ljubljana Castle reception
Photograph of delegates attending a reception at Ljubljana Castle, on 17 June 2005, during the 71st PEN International Congress, which took place on 14-21 June 2005 in Bled, and...
Committee meeting at the 71st Congress
Photograph of a Committee meeting, most likely the Writers in Prison Committee, taken on 16 June 2005 during the 71st PEN International Congress, which took place on 14-21 June...
Panel at the 71st Congress
Photograph of a panel at the 71st PEN International Congress, which took place on 14-21 June 2005 in Bled, and was titled The Tower of Babel: a Blessing or...
Delegates of the African Centres in Bled
Photograph of delegates from African Centres in conversation during the 71st PEN International Congress, which took place on 14-21 June 2005 in Bled, and was titled The Tower of...
Welcoming party at Bled Castle
Photograph of delegates attending a welcoming party at Bled Castle on 14 June 2005, during the 71st PEN International Congress, which took place on 14-21 June 2005 in Bled,...
Delegates at the welcoming party in Bled
Photograph of delegates attending a welcoming party at Bled Castle on 14 June 2005, during the 71st PEN International Congress, which took place on 14-21 June 2005 in Bled,...
Delegates at Bled Castle
Photograph of delegates attending a welcoming party at Bled Castle on 14 June 2005, during the 71st PEN International Congress, which took place on 14-21 June 2005 in Bled,...
Bled Island during the 71st Congress
Photograph of the Church of the Mother of God on the lake, Bled Island, taken during the 71st PEN International Congress, which took place on 14-21 June 2005 in...
Lucina Kathmann and Eric Lax in Bled
Photograph of Lucina Katmann, former president of the San Miguel de Allende Centre, vice-president emerita of PEN International (2003-) and chair of the Women Writers Committee (1996-2000), on the...
Hans Magnus Enzensberger at the 43rd Congress
Photograph of German poet, writer and editor Hans Magnus Enzensberger, first on the left, taken during the 43rd PEN International Congress which took place on 21-27 May 1978 in...
Per Wästberg at the 43rd Congress
Photograph of Per Wästberg, president of PEN International (1979-86;1989-90), first on the right, during the 43rd PEN International Congress which took place on 21-27 May 1978 in Stockholm, and...
Takeaki, Dussault and Jolicoeur in Ourense
Photograph of PEN members during the 82nd PEN International Congress, which took place from 26 September to 2 October 2016 in Ourense and was titled Building literary bridges. From...
Heinrich Böll at the 43rd Congress
Photograph of Heinrich Böll, president of PEN International (1971-74), in the middle, during the 43rd PEN International Congress which took place on 21-27 May 1978 in Stockholm, and was...
Joanne Leedom-Ackerman at the 73rd Congress
Photograph of Joanne Leedom-Ackerman, international secretary (2004-07) and vice-president emeritus of PEN International, speaking to the Assembly of Delegates during the 73rd PEN International Congress, which took place on...
Global Language Park delegates messages
Photograph of delegates signing a billboard, at the Savitribai Phule Pune University, on 28 September 2018, as part of the Global Language Park project, where every Centre planted a...
TLRC presentation in Ourense
Photograph of a panel given by the Translation and Linguistic Rights Committee (TLRC) during the 82nd PEN International Congress, which took place from 26 September to 2 October 2016...
Clement, Sönmez and Kaldmaa in Lviv
Photograph of Jennifer Clement, president of the Mexican Centre (2009-12) and president of PEN International (2015-), Burhan Sönmez, Board member of PEN International (2018-), and Kätlin Kaldmaa, president of...
Minute of silence in Pune
Photograph of delegates observing a minute of silence at the memorial of Mahatma Gandhi, in the gardens of the Aga Khan Palace in Pune, during the 84th PEN International...
Attendance to a panel at the 83rd Congress
Photograph of delegates attending a panel at the Lviv University during the 83rd PEN International Congress, which took place on 18-22 September 2017, in Lviv, and was titled Reclaiming...
Simona Škrabec's report at the 82nd Congress
Photograph of Simona Škrabec, chair of the Translation and Linguistic Rights Committee (2014-20), giving her report at the 82nd PEN International Congress, which took place from 26 September to...
Sara Whyatt and John R. Saul at the 56th Congress
Photograph of Sara Whyatt, programme director (1990-2013) and interim executive director (2010-11) of PEN International, and John Ralston Saul, president of the Canadian Centre (1990-92) and president of PEN...
Delegates at the 2006 Berlin Congress
Photograph of the delegates at the 72nd PEN International Congress in Berlin, which took place on 22-28 May 2006 and was titled Writing in a World Without Peace. This...
International secretary candidates at the 73rd Congress
Photograph of the candidates to the international secretary of PEN International position taken during the 73rd PEN International Congress, which took place on 4-11 July 2007 in Dakar and...
Angela Merkel's speech at the 72nd Congress
Photograph taken on 24 May 2006 of Angela Merkel giving a speech in front of the PEN Centres delegates at the Federal Chancellery during the 72nd PEN International Congress...
Günter Grass with delegates at the 72nd Congress
Photograph of Nobel of Literature Günter Grass, third from the right, surrounded by PEN delegates during the 72nd PEN International Congress in Berlin, which took place on 22-28 May...
Grass and Aridjis at the 72nd Congress
Photograph of Nobel of Literature Günter Grass, facing the camera, on the left, and Homero Aridjis, president of PEN International (1997-2003), standing, during the 72nd PEN International Congress in...
Günter Grass at the 72nd Congress
Photograph of Nobel of Literature Günter Grass pronouncing a keynote speech during the 72nd PEN International Congress in Berlin, which took place on 22-28 May 2006 and was titled...
Delegates at the 72nd Congress in Berlin
Photograph of the delegates attending the 72nd PEN International Congress in Berlin, which took place on 22-28 May 2006 and was titled Writing in a World Without Peace. Among...
Free the Word! at the 85th Congress
Photograph of the Free the Word! event, which took place at the Cultural Centre of the Philippines, in Manila, on 2 October 2019 during the 85th PEN International Congress,...
Francisco Sionil José at the National Museum of the Philippines
Photograph of Francisco Sionil José, founder and first president of the Philippines Centre, on the left, Komal Bahadur Chitrakar, member of the Nepalese Centre, in the middle, and Marianne...
Words Crossing Worlds: Translation/Transliteration panel
Photograph taken during the panel titled Words Crossing Worlds: Translation/Transliteration, which took place at the National Museum of the Philippines on 3 October 2019 during the 85th PEN International...
Škrabec at UN panel discussion
Photograph of a panel discussion held at the United Nations headquarters in New York on 11 December 2019. This event, titled #ProtectLinguists, aimed to raise awareness of the pressing...