English PEN

English PEN promotes literature and human rights. A registered charity, our membership is drawn from all those who work with the written word: Poets, Essayists, Novelists, academics, journalists, playwrights, publishers, booksellers, translators and literary agents. We were established in 1921 as the founding centre of an international network of PEN centres. PEN International now has a 144 centres in 102 countries. English PEN defends the rights of persecuted writers abroad, while maintaining a robust defence of free speech in the UK. We promote literature in translation through a major Arts Council funded programme, and run literacy programmes in refugee centres and prisons.