The founding of International PEN in London in 1921 by Mrs. A. Dawson Scott, a Cornish novelist, and John Galsworthy, a well-known literary figure who eventually became International PEN’s first president, grew out of Dawson’s belief Scott that if the writers of the world could learn to reach out to one another, the nations of the world could learn in time to do the same. The idea came at the most opportune moment, when the bitter hatred between nations after World War I threatened world peace.
International PEN was further expanded with the founding of the American Center in 1922. Having established a small circle of well-known writer members and holding its first PEN meeting in London in October 1921, Galsworthy and Dawson Scott contacted with American writers such as Kate Douglass Wiggin and Joseph Anthony to start a center in New York. Both Anthony and Wiggin gathered their friends and in March 1922 they formed the Organizing Committee. .
Although this Committee lacked a strong central figure like Galsworthy who could attract notable writers through personal friendship and influence, the writers accepted the idea and banded together and before long the membership roster grew to include Frances Hodgson Burnett, Marc Connelly, Robert Frost, Ellen Glasgow, Eugene O’Neill, Edwin Arlington Robinson, and Elinor Wylie with members representing all literary ensembles or styles. On Wednesday, April 19, 1922, a dinner held at the Coffee House Club with some forty people gathered marked the beginning of the formal existence of the American Center.
International PEN aims to promote intellectual cooperation and understanding among writers; thus creating a worldwide community of writers, the only one of its kind, which emphasizes the central role of literature in the development of world culture; and defend it against the many threats to its survival. Therefore, the organization has been acting as a powerful voice to oppose political censorship and speak on behalf of writers harassed, jailed and sometimes killed for expressing their views.
In its early years, International PEN had centers only in Europe. But in time, writers from other nations joined in enthusiastically, so that in 1926 members from fifteen nations were able to meet in Berlin. Notable writers such as the British Joseph Conrad, George Bernard Shaw and HG Wells and from all over Europe Anatole France, Paul Valery, Thomas Mann, Croce and Karel Copek were always in its ranks.
PEN’s perspective in each capital city generated great appeal, and writers from other nations joined enthusiastically, although not all the centers formed were to London’s liking. The French members were thought to be too young and too left-wing, the Americans too exclusive.
It was one of Galsworthy’s ideas from the start that there should be an International Congress every year, to which all the Centers would send delegates. The first of these Congresses was held in London in 1923. At that time there were an impressive number of centers and representatives from Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, France, Italy, Norway, Romania, Spain, Sweden and the United States.
The following year, the American Center hosted an International Congress, in May 1924, which consisted of three days of festivities and debates, the highlight being a gala banquet held at the Hotel Pennsylvania with a carefully planned menu of: international dishes in honor of the delegates of their respective countries, such as Spain, Mexico and Denmark.
In 1926, when the annual international meeting assumed the dignity of a congress, writers from fifteen nations met in Berlin. Little by little, the idea took root that a center could represent a language and, or, a literature: Basque and Catalan, Irish and Scottish centers appeared. Belgium was allowed two. yugoslav oven
It was at the Brussels Congress in June 1927 that serious steps were taken to establish translation as a working entity of PEN After many discussions and suggestions on the promotion of translation, Henry Seidel Canby formally put forward the suggestion to preferably establish in Paris, an international literary information clearinghouse to simplify, clarify, accelerate and make more efficient for all stakeholders (author, publisher and public) the flow of literary expression across linguistic borders.
Congress gave its enthusiastic approval and established a subcommittee consisting of Canby, Galsworthy, Mrs. Dawson Scott, and the International Secretary, Herman Ould. Confident of success, Canby spoke to the directors of the League for International Cooperation in Geneva and was promised the use of part of the Palais Royal in Paris as the headquarters for the translation office. Financial support came from various publishers, who would pay an annual fee for the use of the clearinghouse facilities. Ultimately, support came from six London publishers, fourteen from Germany, and several from the United States. Although the American Center had, in the spring of 1928, managed to raise $6,500, it was a far cry from the three thousand pounds that Galsworthy considered necessary for the project to be a real success. Unfortunately, it was clear that PEN was too new and too unorganized to get such an ambitious company off the ground. Canby said: “The PEN Club as a whole did not have a sufficient central organization to ensure adequate support and control.”
By 1931, at the Amsterdam Congress, PEN had grown to truly justify its identity as a world organization. Delegates came not only from most European countries, but also from Australia, Canada, China and South America.
In January 1933, a year after the Budapest Congress, John Galsworthy died, leaving his Nobel Prize money in a trust fund for PEN. It was the ultimate gift and contribution to an organization that he loved and cared for, seeing it grow and take shape. His successor as International President was HG Wells.
Today, the PEN network consists of more than 147 centers in more than a hundred countries established on four continents, including Africa, where it now concentrates its work. As an example of this, the 73rd International Congress of it was held in Dakar, Senegal. PEN Senegal, which organized the 2007 congress, is surrounded by a rich literary history dating back to 1956, when its writers began to participate in the promotion of writing and writers internationally. So by the time the 1st Congress of Black Writers and Artists was held in Paris in 1956, an informal nucleus of Senegalese writers had formed around the magazine Presence Africaine under the auspices of the African Society for Culture. Then, in 1959, Dr. Ousmane Soce Diop and others led the creation of PEN CLUB SENEGAL
PEN’s work revolves around five main committees:
The Writers in Prison committee works on behalf of persecuted writers around the world, monitoring the cases of those who have been imprisoned, tortured, threatened, attacked and killed for the peaceful exercise of their profession. It campaigns to end these attacks and opposes the suppression of freedom of expression wherever it occurs.
The Translation and Linguistic Rights Committee has been working since 1978 to promote linguistic and cultural differences in the world, the translation of contemporary literature and the promotion of the Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights. Last year, its multilingual electronic collection of poetry, fiction, and essays expanded to include a total of 20 authors from 14 countries around the world.
The Writers for Peace Committee founded in 1984 at the height of the Cold War is still dedicated to furthering the cause of peace and celebrates Writers for Peace Day each year on March 3. Their annual meeting in Bled last year featured papers and contributions that discussed the themes of Globalization of the world-Marginalization of literature-PEN’s role in the contemporary world and Freedom of expression as a means against terrorism.
Since 1991, the Committee of Women Writers has been working to promote women’s writing and publishing and encourage women to learn about, translate and popularize the work of others.
The Writers in Exile Network formed in 1999 establishes placement opportunities for exiled, immigrant and refugee writers at universities, colleges and learning centers around the world in collaboration with other organizations.
Nobel Prize winners for literature and other eminent writers from around the world are often included among PEN’s membership. These include Heinrich Boll, Arthur Miller, Mario Vargas Llosa, Per Wastberg, and Gyorgy Konrad, all of whom have served as chairmen. The Vice Presidency has traditionally been reserved as an honorary position for accomplished writers such as JM Coetzee, Nadine Gordimer, Toni Morrison, Margaret Atwood, Sook-Hee Chim, Alexandre Blokh, and Joanne Leidom – Ackerman.
Related article:
[http://www.sierraleonepen.org/]