Pen American Center Inc

PEN AMERICAN CENTER, INC. IS AN ASSOCIATION OF WRITERS AND OTHERS IN THE LITERARY COMMUNITY WORKING TO DEFEND FREE EXPRESSION, ADVANCE LITERATURE, AND FOSTER INTERNATIONAL LITERARY FELLOWSHIP.

FREE EXPRESSION PROGRAMS: PEN AMERICA'S FREE EXPRESSION PROGRAMS DEFEND WRITERS AND JOURNALISTS AND PROTECT THE FREE EXPRESSION RIGHTS IN THE UNITED STATES AND AROUND THE WORLD. THIS WORK INCLUDES RESEARCH AND REPORTS ON TOPICAL ISSUES RANGING FROM FRAUDULENT NEWS TO CENSORSHIP IN CHINA; ADVOCACY INTERNATIONALLY AND IN THE UNITED STATES IN DEFENSE OF PRESS FREEDOM AND ON OTHER FREE EXPRESSION CHALLENGES; AND CAMPAIGNS ON POLICY ISSUES AND ON BEHALF OF INDIVIDUAL WRITERS AND JOURNALISTS UNDER THREAT.

PEN WORLD VOICES FESTIVAL PEN WORLD VOICES IS AMERICA'S PREMIER INTERNATIONAL LITERARY FESTIVAL, ATTRACTING THE BEST KNOWN WRITERS FROM ACROSS THE GLOBE. SINCE ITS FOUNDING, THE FESTIVAL HAS PRESENTED MORE THAN 1,800 WRITERS AND ARTISTS FROM 118 COUNTRIES SPEAKING 56 LANGUAGES IN VENUES ACROSS NEW YORK CITY IN A WEEKLONG SERIES OF LITERARY EVENTS WITH A HUMAN RIGHTS FOCUS. THE FESTIVAL WAS FOUNDED BY SALMAN RUSHDIE, ESTHER ALLEN AND MICHAEL ROBERTS IN THE AFTERMATH OF SEPTEMBER 11TH, 2001, WITH THE AIM OF BROADENING CHANNELS OF DIALOGUE BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND THE WORLD- A MISSION THAT, TODAY, HAS NEVER BEEN MORE RELEVANT.(CONTINUED ON SCHEDULE O)THE 15TH ANNIVERSARY OF UNITED STATES' LEADING INTERNATIONAL LITERARY FESTIVAL CONSISTS OF 70+ EVENTS ACROSS NYC, INCLUDING A KEYNOTE LECTURE BY BOOKER PRIZE-WINNING INDIAN NOVELIST ARUNDHATI ROY AT THE APOLLO THEATER. PROGRAMMING INCLUDES EVENTS WITH LAURIE ANDERSON, FATIMAH ASGHAR, RAS BARAKA, REVEREND DR. WILLIAM BARBER II, ELIF BATUMAN, JERICHO BROWN, CAROLE CADWALLADR, MARY H.K. CHOI, KWAME DAWES, JENNIFER EGAN, DAVE EGGERS, NAJAT EL HACHMI, CAROLIN EMCKE, ISAAC FITZGERALD, MASHA GESSEN, SUE HALPERN, ISABELLA HAMMAD, MOHAMMED HANIF, JUAN FELIPE HERRERA, SHEILA HETI, CHRISTOS IKONOMOU, MARLON JAMES, BILL T. JONES, YUSEF KOMUNYAKAA, DOUARD LOUIS, YONGEY MINGYUR RINPOCHE, AJA MONET, SCHOLASTIQUE MUKASONGA, H.M. NAQVI, TOMMY ORANGE, MORGAN PARKER, INS PEDROSA, RODRIGO REY ROSA, DOUGLAS RUSHKOFF, SONIA SANCHEZ, ELIF SHAFAK, JESSE PARIS SMITH, DOMENICO STARNONE, ELIZABETH STREB, KARA SWISHER, COLM TIBN, TARA WESTOVER, SHOSHANA ZUBOFF, AND MORE; LINEUP ALSO INCLUDES BRIDGETT M. DAVIS, RODRIGO FRESN, SHIORI ITO, NIVIAQ KORNELIUSSEN, LIAO YIWU, MA JIAN, GEORGE PACKER, PHILIPPE PETIT, DANI SHAPIRO, PAJTIM STATOVCI, MIRIAM TOEWS, AND RAL ZURITA.

LITERARY AWARDSSINCE 1963, THE PEN AMERICA LITERARY AWARDS HAVE HONORED MANY OF THE MOST OUTSTANDING VOICES IN LITERATURE ACROSS DIVERSE GENRES, INCLUDING FICTION, POETRY, SCIENCE WRITING, ESSAYS, SPORTS WRITING, BIOGRAPHY, CHILDREN'S LITERATURE, AND DRAMA. WITH THE HELP OF OUR PARTNERS, PEN AMERICA CONFERS OVER 20 DISTINCT AWARDS, FELLOWSHIPS, GRANTS AND PRIZES EACH YEAR, AWARDING NEARLY $350,000 TO WRITERS AND TRANSLATORS.

PUBLIC PROGRAMS; CONTENT AND OUTREACH; MEMBERSHIP; BRANCHES; PRISON WRITING; PEN AMERICA JOURNAL; WRITERS FUND.