PEN International

A Brief History of PEN

PEN International, founded in London in 1921, has served as a means of communication, dialogue, and unity for writers all over the world, fighting for the advancement of literature and freedom of expression. Its federation consists of more than 144 independent centers of various nationalities, with tens of thousands of members worldwide.

The establishment of the Kurdish PEN was suggested by Kurdish writer Hüseyin Erdem and voted into existence during the International PEN conference in Cambridge, UK in April 1988. Since then, the Kurdish PEN Center has held its conference every three years and each time elected a new committee to carry out its work. The Kurdish PEN’s headquarters is located in Amed, as was decided at the 8th conference in mid-May 2013.

The PEN International conference is held annually and its three official languages are ​​English, French and Spanish.

The PEN International chart

The following are the decisions proposed and accepted at the PEN International conference:

1. Literature knows no frontiers and must remain common currency among people in spite of political or international upheavals.
2. In all circumstances, and particularly in time of war, works of art, the patrimony of humanity at large, should be left untouched by national or political passion.
3. Members of PEN should at all times use what influence they have in favour of good understanding and mutual respect between nations and people; they pledge themselves to do their utmost to dispel all hatreds and to champion the ideal of one humanity living in peace and equality in one world.
4. PEN stands for the principle of unhampered transmission of thought within each nation and between all nations, and members pledge themselves to oppose any form of suppression of freedom of expression in the country and community to which they belong, as well as throughout the world wherever this is possible. PEN declares for a free press and opposes arbitrary censorship in time of peace. It believes that the necessary advance of the world towards a more highly organised political and economic order renders a free criticism of governments, administrations and institutions imperative. And since freedom implies voluntary restraint, members pledge themselves to oppose such evils of a free press as mendacious publication, deliberate falsehood and distortion of facts for political and personal ends.
5. Membership in PEN is open to all writers, translators, editors and publishers who can work for these purposes, regardless of nationality, language, race, color, or religion.

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https://www.pen-international.org