pen international annual report 2013

ANNUAL REPORT 2013

INTRODUCTION

THE PEN CHARTER

MESSAGE FROM THE INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT

MESSAGE FROM THE INTERNATIONAL SECRETARY

MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

2013 AT A GLANCE

INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMMES

CELEBRATING LITERATURE

FREE THE WORD!

THE PEN INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHERS CIRCLE

INTERNATIONAL ADVOCACY

TRANSLATION & LINGUISTIC RIGHTS COMMITTEE (TLRC)

WRITERS FOR PEACE COMMITTEE (WPC)

WRITERS IN PRISON COMMITTEE (WIPC)

WOMEN WRITERS COMMITTEE (WWC)

DAY OF THE IMPRISONED WRITER

PEN INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS

SPECIAL THANKS

ACCOUNTS

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PEN International Annual Report 2013

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PEN INTERNATIONAL ANNUAL REPORT 2013PEN International is a worldwide association of writers working together to promote literature and defend freedom of expression. Founded in 1921, PEN’s global community of writers now spans more than 100 countries. In 2013 our community of members ran successful campaigns, events, programmes and projects engaging readers, writers, publishers, young people and teachers with literature and freedom of expression issues across the globe.

PEN was formed and has grown around a set of values that are shared by writers throughout the world: Everyone has the right to freedom of expression, and the exercise of that right is an essential element of the human experience. Language is the indispensable means of exercising that right, and linguistic diversity is a vital part of the richness of the expressive experience. Literature, the product of the universal human drive to tell stories and to understand experience, is an enduring celebration of that right, an essential part of every culture, and a shared treasure of all cultures. The free exchange of literature, and of ideas and of information, across cultures and borders is essential to mutual recognition and cross-cultural understanding.

THE PEN CHARTER

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THE PEN CHARTERThe Charter of PEN International has guided, unified and inspired PEN members for over 60 years. Its principles were implicit at the organisation’s founding in 1921, however the Charter itself was forged amidst the harsh realities of World War II and was approved at the 1948 Congress in Copenhagen.

1. Literature knows no frontiers, and should remain a common currency between nations 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; they pledge themselves to do their utmost to dispel race, class and national hatreds, and to champion the ideal of one humanity living in peace 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 whenever 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 distortions of fact for political and personal ends.


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As PEN continues to grow in the breadth and size of its programmes, we are continually reminded of what makes us different; what explains PEN’s capacity to adapt and intervene over almost one century. We are a grassroots organisation. Our understanding of what is happening to free expression around the world and our sense of how to respond comes first from our members in over 100 countries. And it comes from our almost 150 PEN Centres.

It was particularly moving at the 79th Congress in Reykjavik to witness the creation of Myanmar PEN, its leadership all prison survivors. The Centre now exists and its real work begins in a country deprived of free expression for more than a half century and still faced with an unclear path to democracy. Part of creating Myanmar PEN involved a PEN Publishers Circle delegation to Yangon to work with emerging publishers.

Equally moving was the presence of PEN Chile in Reykjavik. The Congress opened on the 40th anniversary of the Pinochet coup and Antonio Skármeta was there to talk of the country´s recovery of free expression and literary self confidence.

Central to our growing membership is the engagement of young writers and this year we gave our first New Voices Award to Masande Ntshanga from South Africa. This new competition is open to unpublished writers under 30 and – this is important – two of the three finalists now have book contracts.

The grassroots strength of PEN also explains its independence. We have been reinforcing that independence by turning to our community for more financial support. This began with the Publishers Circle, which now has over 20 members from around the world. With it we are publishing books on PEN issues, training emerging publishers and working with literary translators.

We are well on our way to creating a Writers Circle, which will be followed by a Screen Circle and a Readers Circle. The more we support our own work the stronger we will be.


PEN International President John Ralston Saul delivering a PEN Resolution on Russia to the Ambassador at the Russian Embassy at the 79th PEN International Congress in Reykjavik, Iceland


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Our work in schools in Africa continues to grow, particularly with support from the Swedish International Development Agency. And this in turn is reinforcing our African PEN Centres.

At the same time our long standing work defending the free expression of individual writers continues. The problems have become more complex. There is a terrible return of raw violence, particularly in parts of Latin America. Overall, our Writers in Prison Committee documented over 900 cases in 2013. Our partnership with ICORN supporting writers in exile continues to grow.

We have been developing a new, more complex approach to PEN delegations – that is delegations we sent to problem areas. And we are increasing the frequency of these delegations. I led a second group to Mexico and then to Nicaragua; we are very present in Turkey; I have already mentioned our work in Myanmar. We are producing more frequent in depth reports on problematic situations; for example, this year, on China.

And we have been faced by the expanding problems in the West of government surveillance, invasion of privacy (a free expression issue) and the loss of public transparency. Our interventions were guided in part by PEN’s new Digital Declaration.

Now some sad news and some happy news. Our Executive Director, Laura McVeigh, will be retiring after three very fruitful years. We thank her. We have also been very fortunate in finding her successor – Carles Torner – a long time PEN activist, a well-known writer, an experienced manager who speaks many languages.

In the beginning and in the end we are a family of writers, publishers, translators and journalists. We are people of the word. All of our work leads back to that truth. Whatever issues we face, they come back to the inseparable marriage between free speech and literature.

John Ralston Saul International President


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Hori Takeaki (centre) at the 79th PEN International Congress in Reykjavik, Iceland


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This year has been a year of growth at PEN. Collaboration between PEN Centres has continued to develop – allowing our members to share their experience and expertise with one another. Our united network of writers continues to grow with new PEN Centres being established every year – this year the PEN community welcomed PEN Myanmar Centre and Delhi PEN Centre, who are already doing important work to promote literature and defend freedom of expression.

Over the course of the year we have been developing our literary work, through publications, literary partnerships, the launch of the PEN International/New Voices award and Free the Word! events around the world.

Using PEN International’s Declaration on Digital Freedom we have been expanding our international advocacy work to advance freedom of expression online – an issue that will continue to be part of PEN’s work going forward.

Furthermore, dynamism and diversity of minority languages and translation work is the essential cornerstone of PEN’s work, and this year we have continued to develop our work in this area in particular with PEN’s Girona Manifesto on Linguistic Rights.

I am very thankful to our President, John Ralston Saul, board members, chairs of committees and the Secretariat for their consistent hard work throughout 2013.

It is with sadness that we say goodbye to our executive director, Laura McVeigh, who has stepped down with the view to spend more time with her family, but I am delighted to learn that Carles Torner, former chair of the Translation and Linguistic Rights Committee will be joining us as the new Executive Director of PEN International.

Looking forward to working with old and new friends in the coming year.

Thank you for your support.

Hori TakeakiInternational Secretary


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MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOROver the last year PEN members around the world have actively campaigned on behalf of the many writers and journalists who find their freedom of expression restricted or repressed. We have continued to campaign on the most challenging and pressing freedom of expression concerns at a time when freedom of expression is increasingly curtailed worldwide. Details of the many innovative PEN activities, education programmes and campaigning can be found in this report.

This year has been a key time of consolidation and of growth for the organisation. We are delighted to be working with new partners on important new freedom of expression initiatives. We thank and are grateful to all of our existing partners and supporters for enabling us to develop PEN’s work in over 100 countries.

We have developed our literary programming, taking our Free the Word! events to new festivals, book fairs and literary platforms. And we have combined this literary activity with our active freedom of expression campaigning in many countries. Our work with the PEN International Publishers Circle demonstrates how campaigning, strengthening publishing in different countries and vibrant literary activity can combine to create change and impact. We will continue to develop this work further in the year ahead along with new programmes such as our New Voices Award which supports talented young writers around the world.

Our education programming - which sees the launch of new funding partnerships this year - is now extending to new countries alongside sustained development of existing schools and community projects in partnership with many PEN Centres. We look forward to growing this area of PEN’s work.


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In parallel at the international level we have taken significant steps forward in our public policy campaigning, raising awareness of threats to freedom of expression and working in coalition with other human rights and freedom of expression organisations to effect change.

PEN members - through our active grassroots network worldwide - continue to speak out on the most challenging issues and debates, defending the universal right to freedom of expression. But they need your help.

To support PEN, please consider becoming a member, making a donation and joining our campaign activities. You can find out how to get involved at www.pen-international.org

The last three years have seen PEN International transition through first a period of stabilisation and then significant growth. With a strong staff and leadership team in place I will be stepping down in April next year, proud of all that has been achieved during my time as Executive Director with PEN. I am delighted to share news that Carles Torner will join as Executive Director in the late spring next year to help ensure a smooth transition. Carles has a long history with PEN. He has served on the Board and as Chair of the Translation and Linguistic Rights Committee and led PEN to create the Universal Declaration on Linguistic rights in 2004. For the last six years he has served as head of the Literature and Humanities Department at the Institute Ramon Llull in Barcelona and is an established poet and essayist in his own right.

I look forward to watching the organisation continuing to thrive through its fantastic membership worldwide supported by our partners, supporters, the committed team at the Secretariat in London and the Board. It has been a pleasure and honour to serve as Executive Director of this truly remarkable organisation.


Laura McVeighExecutive Director

Laura McVeigh in conversation with Petra Stienen at a Free the Word! evening

at the Writers Unlimited Festival


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2013 AT A GLANCE

Rosie Goldsmith, Sjón and Alain Mabanckou present New Voices candidates Claire Battershill, Masande Ntshanga and José Pablo Salas at the 79th PEN International Congress

2013 AT A GLANCE

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• Campaigning on behalf of over 900 cases of writers in prison or at risk, supported by a research team based in the International Secretariat

• Over 25,000 children and young people participating in education, library and community access to learning programmes across the PEN membership

• PEN International Publishers Circle delegation to Burma to work with publishers and writers – leading to the creation of a new PEN Myanmar Centre

• Creation of a Delhi PEN Centre presented by Kiran Desai at 79th PEN International Congress

• WriteAgainstImpunity anthology published – the second publication within the new PEN International Publishers Circle Series

• Continued growth of the PEN International Publishers Circle and the initiation of the PEN International Writers Circle – international publishers and writers affirming their commitment and support to PEN International

• International programme of Free the Word! events in partnership with PEN Centres and festival partners including Hay Festivals, Edinburgh Book Festival, Writers Unlimited (The Hague), Reykjavik Literary Festival, Moscow Non-fiction Book Fair

• Creation of the Bled Manifesto for Peace by the PEN International Writers for Peace Committee – approved at the 79th PEN International Congress in Iceland

• Celebration of the inaugural PEN International/New Voices Award with shortlisted young writers participating in the 79th PEN International Congress


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INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMMESBuilding stronger civil society worldwide Every year PEN International works with its 146 PEN Centres around the world to highlight the importance of reading and writing as tools for the protection and promotion of freedom of expression, global peace-building, cultural dialogue and development. In collaboration with PEN Centres, PEN International has successfully run international programmes in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Central Asia since 2006. Key areas of activity include promoting the role of the writer through literary events, networking and training workshops, education projects for young people, increasing access to literature through translation work and library programmes and capacity building for PEN Centres through training, exchanges and networking. Whilst global in scope, PEN’s international programmes respond to and address local issues and the needs of specific PEN Centres and their communities.

In 2013 we continued to grow our international programmes in partnership with PEN Centres. With the support of SIDA, PEN International extended the Civil Society Programmes and the Beacon Centres Programme. Developed and launched in 2012, our Beacon Centres Programme focuses on, alongside the development of local community programmes, building PEN Centres’ capacity. The programme aims to support participating PEN Centres in gaining greater leadership roles both within the PEN network and their local civil societies, and allows for sharing best practices between PEN Centres, creating partnerships and facilitating the exchange of information. Our Beacon Centres in 2013 were PEN Afghanistan, PEN Haiti, PEN Sierra Leone, Philippine PEN and Zambian PEN.


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Sierra Leone PEN has successfully run school clubs since 2007 and there are now 35 active clubs across the country’s four regions. There are over 1500 pupils participating in this programme which seeks to address the low literacy rates in the country and the lack of awareness about the importance of reading and writing. The Centre publishes a regular magazine which showcases work from school clubs and runs an annual creative writing competition for members of the school clubs. To further improve the schools’ and local communities’ access to books and reading materials Sierra Leone PEN built libraries in 20 participating schools in 2013. To ensure the success of the project Sierra Leone PEN held community sensitising workshops and organised trainings for local teachers and facilitators on community library management and on organising reading/writing programmes.

The new Civil Society Programme was launched in November 2012 and 10 Centres were selected to receive funding for grassroots level community programmes aiming to contribute to the development of local civil societies. The Centres that were supported throughout the year were: Ghana PEN, Central Asian PEN, Cambodia PEN, Malawi PEN, PEN Nepal, PEN Guinea, PEN South Africa, PEN Kenya, PEN Jordan and PEN Puerto Rico.

2013 PROGRAMME BENEFICIARIES

‘I would like to salute the courage of the organisers of the Guinean PEN Centre programme who came on a motorcycle to my village. I know that people say that development follows the road. And here, this link that has been created between the city and my village will accelerate its development. Thank you to the organisers and to the Guinean PEN Centre.’

Camara Aboubacar. a participant of Guinean PEN’s mobile library project to service communities without libraries or adequate resourcing of schools.

IN FOCUS: PEN SIERRA LEONE - SOCIAL INCLUSION AND COMMUNITY ACCESS TO READING AND WRITING IN PEN SCHOOL CLUBS AND RELATED COMMUNITIES

Children & Young People(25,892)

Teachers & Educators(388)

Writers(250)

NGO Representatives(68)

Community Groups(67)

Others(14)

Schools(374)


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Free the Word! – Using literature to place freedom of expression at the heart of debates PEN International’s roaming event series of contemporary literature, Free the Word!, continues to work with PEN Centres, festivals and book fairs to develop an international network of literary events. Since its inception in 2008, Free the Word! events have taken place in Austria, Spain, Jamaica, Mexico, Morocco, Haiti, Russia, Turkey, Germany, South Africa, South Korea, Colombia, Argentina and many other locales.

This year, PEN International Free the Word! events took place in Colombia, Lebanon, Wales, Scotland, Iceland, Russia and Germany.

Svetlana Alexievich talks at a Free the Word! event at the 79th PEN International in Reykjavik, Iceland


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COLOMBIA During a high profile Free the Word! event in Hay Festival Cartagena de Indias, leading Nicaraguan writers Gioconda Belli and Sergio Ramírez discussed PEN’s work against impunity in Latin America with the president of PEN Colombia and Argentinian novelist Luisa Valenzuela. Valenzuela pledged to give assistance to her local Centre in Argentina, and later in 2013 Gioconda Belli joined PEN Nicaragua and was elected its new president.

LEBANONIn early May PEN International collaborated with Hay Festival Beirut and PEN Lebanon to programme a series of events across the city, celebrating international writers, thinkers and artists from the region and from Beirut itself. PEN Lebanon ran a series of events that included members of PEN Centres in the region including Alaa Abdul-Hadi from PEN Egypt, Laila al Atrash from PEN Jordan and Iman Humaydan and Hyam Yared from PEN Lebanon, as well as Abbas Beydoun and Nahla Chahal.

SCOTLANDIn August we joined Scottish PEN in staging a Free the Word! event at the Edinburgh International Book Festival with Iraqi novelist Abbas Khider and Karen Campbell, chaired by PEN International’s Executive Director Laura McVeigh.

ICELANDIn September, during the 79th International PEN Congress in Iceland, we programmed several Free the Word! events in conjunction with Icelandic PEN and the Reykjavík International Literary Festival. Participants included James Fenton, Antonio Skármeta, Sjón, former Icelandic president Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, Alain Mabanckou, Douglas Coupland and Svetlana Alexievich.

WALESAt this year’s Hay-on-Wye Festival, Turkish author and former PEN Writers in Prison Committee Main Case, Elif Shafak gave the Raymond Williams Lecture in which she was joined by PEN International President, John Ralston Saul. They discussed the issue of Kurdish identity in Turkey; the struggle of the Kurdish population for linguistic rights; and both writers discussed the importance of PEN International’s Girona Manifesto on Linguistic Rights as a tool for defending linguistic diversity around the world. We also ran an event with the leading Syrian author and activist Samar Yazbek.

Irina Prokhorova and Lyudmila Ulitskaya, vice president of Russian PEN, in a Free the Word! event in Moscow

RUSSIAIn November we sent a delegation to Moscow including International President John Ralston Saul, International Secretary Hori Takeaki, and senior representatives from Japanese PEN, Central Asian PEN, Swedish and Finnish PEN. With the participation of Russian PEN President Andrei Bitov, Irina Prokhorova and leading Russian novelist Lyudmila Ulitskaya we held a Free the Word! event during the Moscow Non-fiction Book Fair, where we also unveiled the jury for the New Voices Award 2014. The jury will be comprised of: Xi Chuan, Kiran Desai, Alberto Manguel, Alexandre Postel and Kamila Shamsie. Meetings were held throughout the week to encourage younger writers to join Russian PEN.



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FREE THE WORD!FOCUS ON LATIN AMERICA

Recognising the particular challenges faced by writers and journalists in many Latin American countries, and acknowledging that many of the PEN Centres in the region would benefit from capacity building we held a strategic focus on the region through 2013. This also enabled us to build further on our work – begun in Mexico in 2011/12 – to raise awareness of impunity.

In 2013 we focused on Nicaragua, Chile and Colombia – working to bring leading writers in the region into our PEN Centres including Gioconda Belli, Luisa Valenzuela, Antonio Skármeta and Sergio Ramirez. With Free the Word! participation in Cartagena, Colombia and visits to Mexico, Nicaragua and Honduras we have worked to help strengthen and develop PEN activity in the region.

We launched WriteAgainstImpunity – an anthology of writing in support of writers in the region affected by impunity – early in 2013.

A collaborative research visit with PEN Canada and the University of Toronto Law School to Honduras has resulted in a major research report entitled Honduras:JournalismintheShadowofImpunity set for release in 2014.

Carlos Vásquez-Zawadzki , President of PEN Colombia, Jorge Espinosa, Sergio Ramírez, Luisa Valenzuela and Gioconda Belli at Hay Festival Cartagena

FREE THE WORD!

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OXFAM NOVIB/PEN AWARD FOR FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

In January we partnered with the Writers Unlimited festival in The Hague, where we presented Syrian writer and activist Samar Yazbek with our annual Oxfam Novib/PEN Award for Freedom of Expression. The award is given in recognition of a writer’s significant contribution to freedom of expression around the world and as a distinction to writers and journalists committed to free speech despite the danger to their own lives. The other winners of the award this year were the Cameroonian writer and co-founder of the Cameroon Writers Association Enoh Meyomesse, the Iranian activist, journalist and deputy director of the Defenders of Human Rights Centre (DHRC) Nargess Mohammadi, the Congolese journalist Deo Namujimbo and the Turkish academic and writer Busra Ersanli.

Samar Yazbek in a Free the Word! event at Hay-on-Wye Festival

Sergio Ramírez and Gioconda Belli at Hay Festival Cartagena

THE PEN INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHERS CIRCLEThe PEN International Publishers Circle is a growing group of publishers from around the world who believe that literature and freedom of expression are at the heart of a strong, vibrant society. The Circle supports our work in promoting freedom of expression, literature and intellectual collaboration among publishers, writers and translators worldwide.

‘The right to freedom of expression, which we take for granted in the literary cultures in which most publishers work, remains in jeopardy in countries that have both a literary heritage and a vibrant creative culture. Publishers, and writers, must play their part in extending that freedom where we can.’

John Makinson, Chairman, Penguin Random House

Albert Bonniers Forlag, Aschehoug Forlag, Cappelen Damm, Dar El Shorouk, De Oberoende, Gyldendal Norsk Forlag, Hachette Livre, HarperCollins Canada, HarperCollins International, Holtzbrinck Publishing Group, House of Anansi Press, I.B.Tauris, Natur & Kultur, Norstedts Forlag, Penguin Group, Random House, Schildts & Söderströms


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Alain Mabanckou presenting the PEN International/ New Voices Award to Masande Ntshanga for his short story ‘Space’


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PEN INTERNATIONAL/ NEW VOICES AWARD

In 2013 we developed and launched the PEN International/New Voices Award, sponsored by the PEN International Publishers Circle, to encourage new writing in the countries in which we operate, and provide a much needed space for young and unpublished writers to promote their work. The award actively encourages entries from diverse linguistic regions, communities and from unpublished writers aged 18-30.

The first international jury was formed by Hepzibah Anderson, Bibi Bakare-Yusuf, Carole Blake, Alain Mabanckou, Sjon and Luisa Valenzuela.

After a fantastic response from PEN Centres around the world, the first PEN International/New Voices Award was given on September 11 during Congress to Masande Ntshanga for his short story ‘Space’. Ntshanga was nominated by South African PEN.

The New Voices Award proves that secretly, deftly, in spite of everything, we continue to survive as a word-making species. The stories and poems received from all over the world are proof of the extraordinary resilience of the literary imagination.’

Alberto Manguel, 2014 New Voices judge

IN FOCUS – MYANMAR

From 29 – 31 July 2013, PEN International and leading publishers from our Publishers Circle led a unique international delegation to Yangon to provide focused training and capacity building support for writers and publishers in the country.

Lively and in-depth training sessions were led by international publishers including Jo Lusby (Managing Director of Penguin North Asia), Ronald Blunden (Senior Vice-President, Corporate Communications, Hachette Livre), and Ola Wallin (Publisher at Ersatz, a member of the Swedish collective De Oberoende, and board member of the Swedish PEN).

‘Our country is in the transition period from Military Regime to democractic society and the future of our country is in the hands of its citizens. How much we can do now will determine the destiny of our country... In the age of Military Regime, we didn’t have the chance to form this kind of organisation and to connect with international organisations. But now, we have a chance and we need to grab it firmly. So this is the time to start’.

Nay Phone Latt, speaking at the launch of the PEN Myanmar Centre at the PEN International Congress, September 2013


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Throughout 2013 we worked to expand our International Policy and Advocacy work to promote the voice of PEN with intergovernmental organisations, to strengthen membership capacity to advocate at the national and international level and to increase support for Public Policy Programmes.

PEN International and PEN Centres’ policy and advocacy work centred around Freedom of Expression, Linguistic Rights and Education. The thematic focus of PEN’s work in 2013 was Digital Freedom, a timely choice as revelations of mass surveillance emerged in June.

The core element of PEN’s advocacy strategy was a focus on building influence at the United Nations (UN) level. Advocacy engagement was developed with the UN Human Rights Council and, in particular, the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). PEN International and PEN Centres participated at the UPR of their countries, lobbying governments and the Statues under Review to improve the free expression situation in Russia, Azerbaijan, Cameroon, Nigeria, Mexico and China.

At the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in March 2013, PEN was invited to address the Commission with a statement on the deteriorating situation of violence against women writers and journalists. Violence against women writers is a truly global concern. From Russia, where justice remains long overdue for the murders of journalists Anna Politkovskaya and Natalia Estemirova; to Pakistan, where 15 year old blogger Malala Yousafzai was shot by the Taliban for her writings promoting girls’ education; to Liberia, where Mae Azango, reporting on Female Genital Mutilation, received threats that she herself would be ‘cut’ to make her ‘shut up’; to Mexico, where investigative journalist Lydia Cacho was attacked and forced into hiding for her work exposing child abuse and sex-trafficking.

Advocacy activities at UN level centred on:

• UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR)

• UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW)

• UNESCO

• Digital Freedom

PEN also expanded relationships at the Organisation of American States (OAS), the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Council of Europe and the African Union.

In February, PEN International supported Cambodian land rights activist, Ms. Tep Vanny, to speak about the suppression of free expression in the country and present our joint UPR report at the UN in Geneva. Ms Vanny has led peaceful protests of over one million people in Phnom Pehn against the forced displacement policies of the government. Here she addresses demonstrators highlighting government abuse outside the UN in Geneva


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DIGITAL FREEDOMThe PEN Declaration on Digital Freedom, ratified by the Assembly of Delegates in South Korea in September 2012, was the combined work of freedom of expression scholars from law, literature, technology and policy on four different continents. It acknowledges the potential of the internet to greatly advance freedom of expression across frontiers as elaborated in the 1921 PEN Charter. Based on the research from the PEN Writers in Prison Committee and other freedom of expression organisations, the Declaration addresses the emerging threats to freedom of expression online and proved indispensable in PEN’s work in 2013, enabling the organisation to respond to increased targeting of individuals online and situating PEN’s expertise at the fore of the response to the intense controversy that the surveillance revelations generated.

PEN led on education and training workshops on the Declaration within the PEN community; including translation of the Declaration by PEN Centres; development of case studies and an FAQ guide to the Declaration; and training over 500 PEN members at the Writers for Peace Committee Conference in Bled, the Writers in Prison Committee Conference in Krakow and the PEN International Congress in Iceland.

At the international level including the OSCE Internet Conference and the UN Internet Governance Forum in Bali, PEN promoted the Declaration on Digital Freedom and highlighted the increase in the use of digital technology by governments and non-state actors to surveil and intimidate writers.

TRANSLATION & LINGUISTIC RIGHTS COMMITTEE (TLRC) ‘Language defines us. To lose one’s language is to lose one’s voice, identity and spirit. Languages are the homes we live in.’ Josep-Maria Terricabras, Chair of the Translation and Linguistic Rights Committee of PEN International


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Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, Josep-Maria Terricabras, Chair of the Translation and Linguistic Rights Committee and Emile Martel at a panel event at the 79th PEN International Congress, in Reykjavik, Iceland

This year the Translation and Linguistic Rights Committee continued to promote translation and linguistic rights across the globe. Founded in Stockholm 1978, the Committee promotes and defends the right of all languages to be written, read and heard whether it is spoken by millions across the world or just a few. In 2011, the TLRC developed The Girona Manifesto, a tool to aid the dissemination and implementation of the Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights (UDLR), fifteen years after leading a coalition of civil society and international organisations to develop the UDLR at the 1996 World Conference on Linguistic Rights in Barcelona, which was later adopted by UNESCO.

The Manifesto, a ten point document designed to be translated and disseminated widely as a tool to defend linguistic diversity around the world, has been translated into over 50 languages and is a key campaigning tool for PEN.

HIGHLIGHTS OF OUR WORK THIS YEAR INCLUDE DRAFTING RESOLUTIONS ON:

• The international standardisation of written Portuguese;

• Official recognition of the Arpitan language in Switzerland;

• The right to mother-tongue education and engagement with public services for Kurdish-speaking communities;

• Broadcasting rights for Basque-speakers in the Navarre region

• Ratification of the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages in France

These resolution were drafted as response to issue of particular concern to PEN Centres this year and were passed at the 79th International Congress in Reykjavik, Iceland.

In February, the Committee marked International Mother Language Day by highlighting the vital role that language plays in relation to identity, communication, social integration, education and development. It is estimated that without measures to protect and promote minority and endangered languages, half of the 6000 plus languages spoken today will disappear by the end of the century – with 96 percent of these language spoken by 4 percent of the world’s population.

PEN INTERNATIONAL TRANSLATION & LINGUISTIC RIGHTS COMMITTEE (TLRC)

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PEN International’s Girona Manifesto on Linguistic Rights has been translated into over 70 languages and can be downloaded from the PEN International website



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Tone Persak at the 79th PEN International Congress where he was elected as Chair of the Writers for Peace Committee

WRITERS FOR PEACE COMMITTEE

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PEN International Writers for Peace Committee was established in 1984 to facilitate cultural collaboration during the Cold War years. The Committee’s work focused on peaceful and intellectual collaboration at a time when such exchange was made difficult. The Committee’s annual meetings in Bled provided a much needed platform for democratic dialogue for writers from both East and West.

Today, the focus of the Committee remains to promote and facilitate peaceful dialogue and exchange of ideas. In 2012 the Committee developed the Bled Manifesto of the Writers for Peace Committee, a key policy document outlining PEN’s new focus on campaigning on the Right to Peace and Peace Education. The Bled Manifesto was accepted by the Assembly of Delegates at the PEN International Congress in September 2013.

‘All individuals and peoples have a right to peace and this right should be recognised by the United Nations as a universal human right.’ Bled Manifesto of the Writers for Peace Committee


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WRITERS IN PRISON COMMITTEE (WIPC) ‘PEN’s campaign – writing to protect the life of someone imprisoned somewhere in the Kazakh steppes, writing to express sympathy with his family – has touched all our hearts’ Askar Aidarkhan, son of imprisoned poet Aron Atabek, August 2013

The PEN International Writers in Prison Committee was established in 1960 in response to increasing attempts to silence voices of dissent by imprisoning writers and journalists. Working on behalf of persecuted writers worldwide, the WiPC monitors between 600-900 cases across the globe each year. The WiPC mobilises the wider PEN community to take action on behalf of individuals through its Rapid Action Network alerts, targeted regional campaigns, and by utilising PEN’s consultative status with the UN to submit UPR country reports.

In 2013, PEN International’s Writers in Prison Committee continued its comprehensive global documentation, targeted campaigning and strategic advocacy for persecuted writers and promoting the right to free expression.

PEN International’s WiPC team documented over 900 cases of attacks, arrests and imprisonment of writers across the globe. Throughout the year we ran campaigns on behalf writers and journalists at risk through our Case List, rapid actions, calls to action and confidential activities to provide support and practical help to persecuted writers, as well as collaborating with PEN Centres to research and document the issues of freedom of expression in China, Honduras and Turkey.

WRITERS IN PRISON COMMITTEE

27

HIGHLIGHTS OF OUR WORK THIS YEAR INCLUDE:

• Our campaign for Kazakh poet Aron Atabek ended his solitary confinement imposed in reprisal for a book critical of the authorities he wrote in prison.

• We also welcomed the early release of Chinese cyber activist and Independent Chinese PEN Centre member Shi Tao, and the release on bail of Cambodian Land Rights activist and protest-song writer Yorm Bopha after a sustained campaign for her release in which PEN participated along with other freedom of expression partners.

• The visit to South Korea by the Writers in Prison Committee Chair to speak at a conference on violations of freedom of expression in North Korea and the development of a strategy to engage in strengthening international attention to this most extreme of restrictive situations.

• The delivery of a successful biannual Writers in Prison Conference in Krakow, Poland, in partnership with the International Cities of Refuge Network (ICORN), where PEN WiPC members came together to discuss freedom of expression concerns around the world and to participate in literary events at the Krakow Literary festival.

THE PEN REPORT: CREATIVITY AND CONSTRAINT IN TODAY’S CHINA

On World Press Freedom Day, we launched ThePENReport:CreativityandConstraintinToday’sChina, the culmination of five years of collaborative research among PEN members inside and outside of China. The report is a detailed assessment of the climate of freedom of expression in China. It provides first-hand accounts of life under the weight of Chinese censorship through personal essays by 10 of China’s leading dissident writers. It also documents the growing determination of China’s citizens to make their voices heard, especially through digital media – despite increasing invasive techniques of the Chinese monitoring and surveillance, coupled with harsh punishments for those who defy censorship rules.

In tandem with the release of the report, we also published an open letter to Chinese authorities in the Guardian and the Times Literary Supplement and other media in support of creative freedom in China. The letter was signed by over 150 global literary and cultural figures including Héctor Abad, Edward Albee, Anthony Appiah, Antón Arrufat, John Ashbury, Margaret Atwood, Paul Auster, Andrei Bitov, JM Coetzee, Don DeLillo, Kiran Desai, EL Doctorow, Nadine Gordimer, Ian McEwan, Wole Soyinka, Tomas Tranströmer, Mario Vargas Llosa and many more.

The letter called on China’s leaders to respect and protect free expression. ‘WecannotlistentoChina’sgreat and emerging voices without hearing thesilenceofthosewhosevoicesareforciblyrestrained.Creativityisstrength.FreeingChina’screativevoiceswillenrichusall.’

Belarusian writer and human rights defender, Ales Bialiatski was a key focus of the 79th PEN International Congress, in Reykjavik,

Iceland, where he was selected to be the honorary Empty Chair

As writers, artists, musicians, filmmakers and others active in cultural pursuits, we are inspired and enriched by the works of colleagues beyond our borders. The strength of our work individually, and our cultures collectively, is the fruit of a free exchange of information and ideas with the creative community across the world.

Among our colleagues today are many creators and cultural figures in the People’s Republic of China. We celebrate the growing international recognition of Chinese artists from all disciplines, a development exemplified by Mo Yan’s 2012 Nobel Prize for Literature, and we welcome the ever-expanding avenues of cultural exchange.

We cannot, however, listen to China’s great and emerging creative voices without hearing the silence of those whose voices are forcibly restrained. These include 2010 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Liu Xiaobo, who remains in prison; his wife, Liu Xia, who lives under house arrest; and more than forty other writers and journalists currently jailed for their work.

We cannot appreciate the accomplishments of Chinese creators across disciplines without thinking of the works we are not able to enjoy because of censorship in the arts, in the press, and on the Internet—or of the many other works that cannot be imagined or created because of these constraints. The impact of these restrictions is set out vividly in PEN International’s May 2013 Report, Creativity and Constraint in Today’s China.

Our plea to China’s new leaders is simple. Respect and protect the right of our colleagues, and all of China’s citizens, to freedom of expression. Respect and protect the right of Chinese citizens to a free and independent press. Respect and protect the right of writers to write, publishers to publish, and artists of all disciplines to create and present their work without fear of reprisal. Release all those unjustly imprisoned for exercising this most fundamental right.

Creativity is strength.

Freeing China’s creative voices will enrich us all.

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OPEN LETTER TO CHINESE AUTHORITIES IN SUPPORT OF CREATIVE FREEDOM IN CHINA

Héctor AbadClaudio AguilarAi WeiWeiGabrielle AliothEdward AlbeeRené AppelAnthony AppiahAntón ArrufatJohn AshberyMargaret AtwoodPaul AusterRussell BanksEkbal BarakaGioconda BelliDaniel Cil BercherSusan BernofskyAndrei BitovEduardo BlandonMarian Botsford FraserBreyten Breytenbach Jutta BrimeleDror BursteinLydia CachoSylvestre ClancierJM CoetzeeHenri ColeEdwidge Danticat Aline DavidoffDon DeLilloAntonio Della RoccaKiran DesaiLisa DierbeckEL DoctorowChristopher Dominguez MichaelAriel DorfmanTracey EminVictor ErofeevOskar EustisMoris FarhiAnthony FleischerCharles Foran

David J. R. FraktRu Freeman Neil GaimanArthur GawkwandiJuan GelmanGraeme GibsonPeter GodwinNadine GordimerJuan GoytisoloAC GraylingLoree Griffin BurnsTarik GunerselEduardo HalfonMarketa HejkalovaElizabeth HiesterNick HoldstockBob HolmanSiri HustvedtPhilo IkonyaLucina KathmannWilliam KennedyAndrei KhadanovichFreya KlierGuenter Kunert Tony KushnerOla LarsmoEric LaxGi-Won LeeJoanne Leedom-AckermannYang LianSonja LootsGeert MakAlberto ManguelEmile MartelTienchi Martin-LiaoMyroslav MarynovychIan McEwanLaura McVeighHelmuth A. NiederleElisabeth NodgrenNelleke Noordervliet

Vida OgnjenovicMichael OndaatjeMargie OrfordShahrnush ParsipurFrancine ProseAndrea ReiterSalman RushdieTeresa SalemaRaffaella SaliernoMarjane SatrapiJohn Ralston SaulEugene SchoulginEliot SchreferWill SelfElif ShafakMohamed SheriffHaroon SiddiquiSjónGillian SlovoWole SoyinkaGuy SternNoémi SzécsiGeorge SzirtesHori TakeakiJosep-Maria TerricabrasColin ThubronLynne TillmanColm TóibínJarkko TonttiTomas TranströmerLuisa ValenzuelaDavid Van ReybroukMario Vargas LlosaPad Venkatraman Fred ViebahnMarina WarnerRichard WentworthTommy WieringaAmy WilentzA.B. Yehoshua

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30

Members of PEN International’s Women Writers Committee at an International Women’s Day event

WOMEN WRITERS COMMITTEE

31

‘Violence and intimidation against women writers is intended not only to silence them speaking out but to have a chilling effect on freedom of expression across society. Where such violence is tolerated, all of society suffers… Fighting impunity is essential for the security of women writers’ PEN International Women Writers Committee Statement to the United Nations General Assembly at the CSW 57th Session, March 2013PEN International’s Women Writers Committee works with PEN Centres around the world, campaigning for greater access to literature for women and girls. Working with PEN International, the committee has been raising awareness of issues faced specifically by women and girls worldwide. In March 2013, the committee gave an oral statement to the 57th Session of the United Nations Committee on the Status of Women which focused on the theme ‘Elimination of All Forms of Violence Against Women and Girls’.

Throughout the year, PEN International and the Women Writers Committee campaigned on cases of violence targeting women across the world, including Russia, Pakistan, Liberia and Mexico.

DAY OF THE IMPRISONED WRITEREach year the Writers in Prison Committee and our Centres around the world mark the Day of the Imprisoned Writer on 15 November with activities that recognise and support writers who resist repression of the basic human right to freedom of expression and who stand up to attacks made against their right to impart information. In 2013, in line with our global campaign on digital freedom, we selected cases of writers whose persecution was in some way related to their use of digital tools. We featured the case of Fazil Say, a Turkish writer and musician facing imprisonment for alleged blasphemy relating to a series of tweets he wrote, as well as Kunchok Tsephel Gopey Tsang, a writer sentenced to fifteen years in prison in Tibet. We also featured Zahra Rahnavard, an author and political activist from Iran held under unofficial house arrest for almost three years, and Dina Meza, a journalist and human rights defender from Honduras who has received death threats. Our Centres marked the day with a range of activities such as the production of a film, a live painting session, petition signing, readings and panel discussions.


32

PEN Canada’s live painting on Day of the Imprisoned Writer 2013

DAY OF THE DEAD

Since 2011, PEN International and PEN Centres from around the world have celebrated the Day of the Dead on the 2nd of November as a way of remembering colleagues killed over the past year, and to campaign against continuing impunity for the killings of writers in previous years.

Although this has largely focused on writers from the Americas, impunity for killings of writers and journalists is a growing problem in many other countries, including Europe – at least two journalists were killed in Russia in 2013.

We were delighted in November to hear that the UN General Assembly’s Third Committee had passed a resolution adopting the 2nd of November as the International Day To End Impunity For Crimes Against Journalists.

THE PEN EMERGENCY FUND

Set up over 30 years ago to raise funds for writers and journalists in need or distress, the PEN Emergency Fund, based in the Netherlands, assists individuals from all over the world. The needs of these writers are often brought to the Fund’s attention by PEN International’s Writers in Prison Committee. The Fund’s purpose is to give financial support to writers and journalists imprisoned or otherwise threatened for the practice of their right to freedom of expression. The Fund also provides support for their families.

INTERNATIONAL CITIES OF REFUGE NETWORK (ICORN)

ICORN is an association of cities around the world set up in response to the dangers faced by writers worldwide as result of exercising their basic right to free expression. ICORN provides writers at risk with a safe place to stay and economic support for up to two years, enabling them to continue their work without fear of further harassment or persecution.

2013 saw a dramatic rise in applications to ICORN, with the majority of applicants coming either from Syria or Iran. The WiPC carried out over 30 ICORN assessments, providing expert commentary on the suitability of applicants to ICORN’s placements. Additionally, we carried out 21 PEN Emergency Fund applications, delivering small one-off grants to writers often within hours of application. We completed 7 asylum support letters and 61 Rapid Action Network alerts (RANS), calling on the PEN community to join us in taking action. Nearly 1000 writers were directly impacted by the work of the WiPC, along with the family and friends of those at risk.


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PEN INTERNATIONAL CONGRESSThe annual PEN Congress offers an opportunity for PEN’s global membership to gather and discuss PEN’s work, strengthen our networks and connections, reinforce our core principles through discussion, debate and resolution, exchange experiences and ideas, and celebrate writing in all its forms.

The 79th PEN International Congress was hosted by Icelandic PEN. Over 200 delegates from 70 Centres from across the globe gathered in Reykjavik to share ideas, discuss new campaigns and initiatives, and to highlight emerging issues and challenges to freedom of expression around the world.

PEN’s general assembly unanimously passed an emergency resolution on Russia’s continued attempts to limit freedom of expression. The members of the general assembly delivered the resolution together to senior officials at the Russian Embassy. The resolution is going to form part of PEN’s campaigning in Russia through to 2014, to raise awareness about the repression of free speech in the country.

PEN International’s Free the Word! event series partnered with Reykjavik International Literary Festival to host literary events around the city. Marking the 40th anniversary of the coup in Chile, in which President Allende was overthrown and replaced by General Augusto Pinochet, PEN hosted a cultural evening with Antonio Skármeta, one of Chile’s leading writers. Skármeta delivered a talk: ‘Reflections on the Coup in Chile’, alongside James Fenton, Þorsteinn frá Hamri and Gerður Kristný reading their poetry.

The 79th Congress also saw Masande Ntshanga win the inaugural PEN International/New Voices Award for his short story ‘Space’. Writer and New Voices jury member Alain Mabanckou presented the prize of $1000USD.


35

DIGITAL FRONTIERS – LINGUISTIC RIGHTS AND FREEDOM OF SPEECH


36

PEN INTERNATIONAL’S COMMITMENT TO THE

PROMOTION OF LITERATURE AND FIGHT FOR FREEDOM

OF EXPRESSION WOULD NOT BE POSSIBLE WITHOUT THE

VALUED SUPPORT OF THE FOLLOWING ORGANISATIONS

AND INDIVIDUALS

37

Albert Bonniers Forlag Aschehoug Forlag Margaret Atwood Cappelen Damm Clifford Chance Commonwealth Foundation Dar El Shorouk De Oberoende Fritt Ord Getty Images Government offices of Sweden Gyldendal Norsk Forlag Hachette Livre HarperCollins Canada HarperCollins International Hay Festivals Holtzbrinck Publishing Group House of Anansi Press I.B.Tauris International Cities of Refuge Network (ICORN)

IFEX Eric Lax Yann Martel Natur & Kultur Norstedts Forlag Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs ODDI printing Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) Open Society Foundations Penguin Group Pentagram Power Corp Random House Salman Rushdie John Ralston Saul Schildts & Söderströms Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) Temple Translations

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES INCLUDING INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNTFOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2013


Incoming resources from generated funds

Designatedfunds£

Unrestrictedfunds£

148,218

118,143

134

266,495

23,617

290,112

Restrictedfunds£

21,953

24,514

46,467

617,811

664,278

Total2013£

170,171

142,657

134

312,962

641,428

954,390

Total2012£

176,030

132,581

123

308,734

646,750

955,484

Donations and legacies

Activities for generating funds

Investment income

Incoming resources from charitable activities

Total incoming resources

Resources expended

Designatedfunds£

3,594

1,304

4,898

4,898

(4,898)

7,313

2,415

13,081

15,496

Unrestrictedfunds£

2,460

209,370

70,702

280,072

18,550

301,082

(10,970)

(7,313)

(18,283)

192,428

174,145

Restrictedfunds£

466,143

166,117

632,260

632,260

32,018

32,018

267,862

299,880

Total2013£

2,460

679,107

238,123

917,230

18,550

938,240

16,150

16,150

473,371

489,521

Total2012£

2,686

485,870

162,000

647,870

18,042

668,598

286,886

286,886

186,485

473,371

COSTS OF GENERATING FUNDS

Costs of generating donations and legacies

CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES

General advocacy and support

Writers in Prison

Total charitable expenditure

Governance costs

Total resources expended

Net (outgoing)/incoming resources before transfers

Gross transfers between funds

Net (expenditure)/income for the year/ Net movement in funds

Fund balances at 1 January 2013

Fund balances at 31 December 2013

38


39

Balance Sheet

15,496

474,025

489,521

299,880

15,496

174,145

489,521

158,046

372,357

530,403

(56,378)

135,126

428,040

563,166

(102,876)

13,081

460,290

473,371

267,862

13,081

192,428

473,371

FIXED ASSETS

Tangible assets

CURRENT ASSETS

Debtors

Cash at bank and in hand

Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

Net current assets

Total assets less current liabilities

INCOME FUNDS

Restricted funds

UNRESTRICTED FUNDS:

Designated funds

Other charitable funds

2013 2012


40

John Ralston Saul

Hori Takeaki

Jarkko Tonti

Laura McVeigh

Sylvestre Clancier

Lee Gil-Won

Markéta Hejkalová

Elizabeth Hiester

Philo Ikonya

Eric Lax

Yang Lian

Antonio Della Rocca

Haroon Siddiqui

Anthony Archer

Ghias Aljundi

Sarah Clarke

Patricia Diaz

Sandrine Fameni

Paul Finegan

Sahar Halaimzai

Ann Harrison

Emma Wadsworth Jones

Emese Kovács

Cathy McCann

Tamsin Mitchell

Jena Patel

Cathal Sheerin

Holly Strauss

James Tennant

Melanie Hering

Jack Jeffries

Bruno Mittiussi

Leah Mitchell

PRESIDENT

SECRETARY

TREASURER

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

BOARD

STAFF

Finance Manager

Middle East Research & Development Officer

International Policy & Advocacy Officer

Asia Pacific & Middle East Research Assistant

Finance & Administrative Assistant

Centres & Committees Co-ordinator/Executive Assistant

Communications & Campaigns Manager

Programme Director, Writers in Prison Committee

Writers in Prison Committee Assistant

International Programmes Officer

Asia Pacific & Middle East Campaigner, Researcher

Africa & Americas Campaigner, Researcher

Congress Officer

Europe Campaigner, Researcher

Communications & Fundraising Officer

Literary Manager

VOLUNTEERS

41

PEN International promotes literature and freedom of expression and is governed by the PEN Charter and the principles it embodies: unhampered transmission of thought within each nation and between all nations. Founded in 1921, PEN International connects an international community of writers from its Secretariat in London. It is a forum where writers meet freely to discuss their work; it is also a voice speaking out for writers silenced in their own countries. Through Centres in over 100 countries, PEN operates on five continents. PEN International is a non-political organisation which holds Special Consultative Status at the UN and Associate Status at UNESCO.

International PEN is a registered charity in England and Wales with registration number 1117088.

www.pen-international.org

To support the work that PEN International carries out around the world please go to http://www.pen-international.org/support-us/

PEN InternationalBrownlow House, 50/51 High Holborn, London WC1V 6ER

T 44(0)20 7405 0338

Email [email protected]

INTERNATIONAL P. E. N.(known as PEN INTERNATIONAL)(A COMPANY LIMITED BY GUARANTEE) is a registered charity in England and Wales with registration number 1117088

SONG OF OCTOBER

A short poem at last seems like a tide of sounds

Sharply ending

Momentary silence has attracted

Rough and clumsy footsteps of the bise in winter

Now

Triumphal procession like a poem is somewhere

Gathering

So many pairs of brave and nimble hands are

Playing quickly on the keyboards –

Song of the Earth, and Song of Freedom

“Is it the rustling of wind through the forests in

the lush mountains?

Or the ominous thunder hidden on the summit of

the snowy peak? ”

The connotation in a drop of ink is

A testimony on the last drop of blood shedding

for the victory

His eyes are grim

And people are looking with him at the sky

October

Comes from afar, but not to end

October

Will become a festival for all the unfortunates

and their friends

22 October 2010

Translated by Yu Zhang

By Shi Tao, Chinese cyber activist, Independent Chinese PEN Centre member and PEN Main Case. He was as released early from prison in September 2013.

ANNUAL REPORT 2013

INTRODUCTION

THE PEN CHARTER




2013 AT A GLANCE



FREE THE WORD!



TRANSLATION & LINGUISTIC RIGHTS COMMITTEE (TLRC)


WRITERS IN PRISON COMMITTEE (WIPC)




SPECIAL THANKS

ACCOUNTS

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4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

22

24

26

30

32

34

36

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PEN INTERNATIONAL ANNUAL REPORT 2013PEN International is a worldwide association of writers working together to promote literature and defend freedom of expression. Founded in 1921, PEN’s global community of writers now spans more than 100 countries. In 2013 our community of members ran successful campaigns, events, programmes and projects engaging readers, writers, publishers, young people and teachers with literature and freedom of expression issues across the globe.

PEN was formed and has grown around a set of values that are shared by writers throughout the world: Everyone has the right to freedom of expression, and the exercise of that right is an essential element of the human experience. Language is the indispensable means of exercising that right, and linguistic diversity is a vital part of the richness of the expressive experience. Literature, the product of the universal human drive to tell stories and to understand experience, is an enduring celebration of that right, an essential part of every culture, and a shared treasure of all cultures. The free exchange of literature, and of ideas and of information, across cultures and borders is essential to mutual recognition and cross-cultural understanding.

THE PEN CHARTER

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THE PEN CHARTERThe Charter of PEN International has guided, unified and inspired PEN members for over 60 years. Its principles were implicit at the organisation’s founding in 1921, however the Charter itself was forged amidst the harsh realities of World War II and was approved at the 1948 Congress in Copenhagen.

1. Literature knows no frontiers, and should remain a common currency between nations 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; they pledge themselves to do their utmost to dispel race, class and national hatreds, and to champion the ideal of one humanity living in peace 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 whenever 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 distortions of fact for political and personal ends.


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As PEN continues to grow in the breadth and size of its programmes, we are continually reminded of what makes us different; what explains PEN’s capacity to adapt and intervene over almost one century. We are a grassroots organisation. Our understanding of what is happening to free expression around the world and our sense of how to respond comes first from our members in over 100 countries. And it comes from our almost 150 PEN Centres.

It was particularly moving at the 79th Congress in Reykjavik to witness the creation of Myanmar PEN, its leadership all prison survivors. The Centre now exists and its real work begins in a country deprived of free expression for more than a half century and still faced with an unclear path to democracy. Part of creating Myanmar PEN involved a PEN Publishers Circle delegation to Yangon to work with emerging publishers.

Equally moving was the presence of PEN Chile in Reykjavik. The Congress opened on the 40th anniversary of the Pinochet coup and Antonio Skármeta was there to talk of the country´s recovery of free expression and literary self confidence.

Central to our growing membership is the engagement of young writers and this year we gave our first New Voices Award to Masande Ntshanga from South Africa. This new competition is open to unpublished writers under 30 and – this is important – two of the three finalists now have book contracts.

The grassroots strength of PEN also explains its independence. We have been reinforcing that independence by turning to our community for more financial support. This began with the Publishers Circle, which now has over 20 members from around the world. With it we are publishing books on PEN issues, training emerging publishers and working with literary translators.

We are well on our way to creating a Writers Circle, which will be followed by a Screen Circle and a Readers Circle. The more we support our own work the stronger we will be.


PEN International President John Ralston Saul delivering a PEN Resolution on Russia to the Ambassador at the Russian Embassy at the 79th PEN International Congress in Reykjavik, Iceland


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Our work in schools in Africa continues to grow, particularly with support from the Swedish International Development Agency. And this in turn is reinforcing our African PEN Centres.

At the same time our long standing work defending the free expression of individual writers continues. The problems have become more complex. There is a terrible return of raw violence, particularly in parts of Latin America. Overall, our Writers in Prison Committee documented over 900 cases in 2013. Our partnership with ICORN supporting writers in exile continues to grow.

We have been developing a new, more complex approach to PEN delegations – that is delegations we sent to problem areas. And we are increasing the frequency of these delegations. I led a second group to Mexico and then to Nicaragua; we are very present in Turkey; I have already mentioned our work in Myanmar. We are producing more frequent in depth reports on problematic situations; for example, this year, on China.

And we have been faced by the expanding problems in the West of government surveillance, invasion of privacy (a free expression issue) and the loss of public transparency. Our interventions were guided in part by PEN’s new Digital Declaration.

Now some sad news and some happy news. Our Executive Director, Laura McVeigh, will be retiring after three very fruitful years. We thank her. We have also been very fortunate in finding her successor – Carles Torner – a long time PEN activist, a well-known writer, an experienced manager who speaks many languages.

In the beginning and in the end we are a family of writers, publishers, translators and journalists. We are people of the word. All of our work leads back to that truth. Whatever issues we face, they come back to the inseparable marriage between free speech and literature.

John Ralston Saul International President


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Hori Takeaki (centre) at the 79th PEN International Congress in Reykjavik, Iceland


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This year has been a year of growth at PEN. Collaboration between PEN Centres has continued to develop – allowing our members to share their experience and expertise with one another. Our united network of writers continues to grow with new PEN Centres being established every year – this year the PEN community welcomed PEN Myanmar Centre and Delhi PEN Centre, who are already doing important work to promote literature and defend freedom of expression.

Over the course of the year we have been developing our literary work, through publications, literary partnerships, the launch of the PEN International/New Voices award and Free the Word! events around the world.

Using PEN International’s Declaration on Digital Freedom we have been expanding our international advocacy work to advance freedom of expression online – an issue that will continue to be part of PEN’s work going forward.

Furthermore, dynamism and diversity of minority languages and translation work is the essential cornerstone of PEN’s work, and this year we have continued to develop our work in this area in particular with PEN’s Girona Manifesto on Linguistic Rights.

I am very thankful to our President, John Ralston Saul, board members, chairs of committees and the Secretariat for their consistent hard work throughout 2013.

It is with sadness that we say goodbye to our executive director, Laura McVeigh, who has stepped down with the view to spend more time with her family, but I am delighted to learn that Carles Torner, former chair of the Translation and Linguistic Rights Committee will be joining us as the new Executive Director of PEN International.

Looking forward to working with old and new friends in the coming year.


Hori TakeakiInternational Secretary


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MESSAGE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOROver the last year PEN members around the world have actively campaigned on behalf of the many writers and journalists who find their freedom of expression restricted or repressed. We have continued to campaign on the most challenging and pressing freedom of expression concerns at a time when freedom of expression is increasingly curtailed worldwide. Details of the many innovative PEN activities, education programmes and campaigning can be found in this report.

This year has been a key time of consolidation and of growth for the organisation. We are delighted to be working with new partners on important new freedom of expression initiatives. We thank and are grateful to all of our existing partners and supporters for enabling us to develop PEN’s work in over 100 countries.

We have developed our literary programming, taking our Free the Word! events to new festivals, book fairs and literary platforms. And we have combined this literary activity with our active freedom of expression campaigning in many countries. Our work with the PEN International Publishers Circle demonstrates how campaigning, strengthening publishing in different countries and vibrant literary activity can combine to create change and impact. We will continue to develop this work further in the year ahead along with new programmes such as our New Voices Award which supports talented young writers around the world.

Our education programming - which sees the launch of new funding partnerships this year - is now extending to new countries alongside sustained development of existing schools and community projects in partnership with many PEN Centres. We look forward to growing this area of PEN’s work.


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In parallel at the international level we have taken significant steps forward in our public policy campaigning, raising awareness of threats to freedom of expression and working in coalition with other human rights and freedom of expression organisations to effect change.

PEN members - through our active grassroots network worldwide - continue to speak out on the most challenging issues and debates, defending the universal right to freedom of expression. But they need your help.

To support PEN, please consider becoming a member, making a donation and joining our campaign activities. You can find out how to get involved at www.pen-international.org

The last three years have seen PEN International transition through first a period of stabilisation and then significant growth. With a strong staff and leadership team in place I will be stepping down in April next year, proud of all that has been achieved during my time as Executive Director with PEN. I am delighted to share news that Carles Torner will join as Executive Director in the late spring next year to help ensure a smooth transition. Carles has a long history with PEN. He has served on the Board and as Chair of the Translation and Linguistic Rights Committee and led PEN to create the Universal Declaration on Linguistic rights in 2004. For the last six years he has served as head of the Literature and Humanities Department at the Institute Ramon Llull in Barcelona and is an established poet and essayist in his own right.

I look forward to watching the organisation continuing to thrive through its fantastic membership worldwide supported by our partners, supporters, the committed team at the Secretariat in London and the Board. It has been a pleasure and honour to serve as Executive Director of this truly remarkable organisation.


Laura McVeighExecutive Director

Laura McVeigh in conversation with Petra Stienen at a Free the Word! evening

at the Writers Unlimited Festival


10

2013 AT A GLANCE

Rosie Goldsmith, Sjón and Alain Mabanckou present New Voices candidates Claire Battershill, Masande Ntshanga and José Pablo Salas at the 79th PEN International Congress

2013 AT A GLANCE

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• Campaigning on behalf of over 900 cases of writers in prison or at risk, supported by a research team based in the International Secretariat

• Over 25,000 children and young people participating in education, library and community access to learning programmes across the PEN membership

• PEN International Publishers Circle delegation to Burma to work with publishers and writers – leading to the creation of a new PEN Myanmar Centre

• Creation of a Delhi PEN Centre presented by Kiran Desai at 79th PEN International Congress

• WriteAgainstImpunity anthology published – the second publication within the new PEN International Publishers Circle Series

• Continued growth of the PEN International Publishers Circle and the initiation of the PEN International Writers Circle – international publishers and writers affirming their commitment and support to PEN International

• International programme of Free the Word! events in partnership with PEN Centres and festival partners including Hay Festivals, Edinburgh Book Festival, Writers Unlimited (The Hague), Reykjavik Literary Festival, Moscow Non-fiction Book Fair

• Creation of the Bled Manifesto for Peace by the PEN International Writers for Peace Committee – approved at the 79th PEN International Congress in Iceland

• Celebration of the inaugural PEN International/New Voices Award with shortlisted young writers participating in the 79th PEN International Congress


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INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMMESBuilding stronger civil society worldwide Every year PEN International works with its 146 PEN Centres around the world to highlight the importance of reading and writing as tools for the protection and promotion of freedom of expression, global peace-building, cultural dialogue and development. In collaboration with PEN Centres, PEN International has successfully run international programmes in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Central Asia since 2006. Key areas of activity include promoting the role of the writer through literary events, networking and training workshops, education projects for young people, increasing access to literature through translation work and library programmes and capacity building for PEN Centres through training, exchanges and networking. Whilst global in scope, PEN’s international programmes respond to and address local issues and the needs of specific PEN Centres and their communities.

In 2013 we continued to grow our international programmes in partnership with PEN Centres. With the support of SIDA, PEN International extended the Civil Society Programmes and the Beacon Centres Programme. Developed and launched in 2012, our Beacon Centres Programme focuses on, alongside the development of local community programmes, building PEN Centres’ capacity. The programme aims to support participating PEN Centres in gaining greater leadership roles both within the PEN network and their local civil societies, and allows for sharing best practices between PEN Centres, creating partnerships and facilitating the exchange of information. Our Beacon Centres in 2013 were PEN Afghanistan, PEN Haiti, PEN Sierra Leone, Philippine PEN and Zambian PEN.


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Sierra Leone PEN has successfully run school clubs since 2007 and there are now 35 active clubs across the country’s four regions. There are over 1500 pupils participating in this programme which seeks to address the low literacy rates in the country and the lack of awareness about the importance of reading and writing. The Centre publishes a regular magazine which showcases work from school clubs and runs an annual creative writing competition for members of the school clubs. To further improve the schools’ and local communities’ access to books and reading materials Sierra Leone PEN built libraries in 20 participating schools in 2013. To ensure the success of the project Sierra Leone PEN held community sensitising workshops and organised trainings for local teachers and facilitators on community library management and on organising reading/writing programmes.

The new Civil Society Programme was launched in November 2012 and 10 Centres were selected to receive funding for grassroots level community programmes aiming to contribute to the development of local civil societies. The Centres that were supported throughout the year were: Ghana PEN, Central Asian PEN, Cambodia PEN, Malawi PEN, PEN Nepal, PEN Guinea, PEN South Africa, PEN Kenya, PEN Jordan and PEN Puerto Rico.

2013 PROGRAMME BENEFICIARIES

‘I would like to salute the courage of the organisers of the Guinean PEN Centre programme who came on a motorcycle to my village. I know that people say that development follows the road. And here, this link that has been created between the city and my village will accelerate its development. Thank you to the organisers and to the Guinean PEN Centre.’

Camara Aboubacar. a participant of Guinean PEN’s mobile library project to service communities without libraries or adequate resourcing of schools.

IN FOCUS: PEN SIERRA LEONE - SOCIAL INCLUSION AND COMMUNITY ACCESS TO READING AND WRITING IN PEN SCHOOL CLUBS AND RELATED COMMUNITIES

Children & Young People(25,892)

Teachers & Educators(388)

Writers(250)

NGO Representatives(68)

Community Groups(67)

Others(14)

Schools(374)


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Free the Word! – Using literature to place freedom of expression at the heart of debates PEN International’s roaming event series of contemporary literature, Free the Word!, continues to work with PEN Centres, festivals and book fairs to develop an international network of literary events. Since its inception in 2008, Free the Word! events have taken place in Austria, Spain, Jamaica, Mexico, Morocco, Haiti, Russia, Turkey, Germany, South Africa, South Korea, Colombia, Argentina and many other locales.

This year, PEN International Free the Word! events took place in Colombia, Lebanon, Wales, Scotland, Iceland, Russia and Germany.

Svetlana Alexievich talks at a Free the Word! event at the 79th PEN International Congress in Reykjavik, Iceland


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COLOMBIA During a high profile Free the Word! event in Hay Festival Cartagena de Indias, leading Nicaraguan writers Gioconda Belli and Sergio Ramírez discussed PEN’s work against impunity in Latin America with the president of PEN Colombia and Argentinian novelist Luisa Valenzuela. Valenzuela pledged to give assistance to her local Centre in Argentina, and later in 2013 Gioconda Belli joined PEN Nicaragua and was elected its new president.

LEBANONIn early May PEN International collaborated with Hay Festival Beirut and PEN Lebanon to programme a series of events across the city, celebrating international writers, thinkers and artists from the region and from Beirut itself. PEN Lebanon ran a series of events that included members of PEN Centres in the region including Alaa Abdul-Hadi from PEN Egypt, Laila al Atrash from PEN Jordan and Iman Humaydan and Hyam Yared from PEN Lebanon, as well as Abbas Beydoun and Nahla Chahal.

SCOTLANDIn August we joined Scottish PEN in staging a Free the Word! event at the Edinburgh International Book Festival with Iraqi novelist Abbas Khider and Karen Campbell, chaired by PEN International’s Executive Director Laura McVeigh.

ICELANDIn September, during the 79th International PEN Congress in Iceland, we programmed several Free the Word! events in conjunction with Icelandic PEN and the Reykjavík International Literary Festival. Participants included James Fenton, Antonio Skármeta, Sjón, former Icelandic president Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, Alain Mabanckou, Douglas Coupland and Svetlana Alexievich.

WALESAt this year’s Hay-on-Wye Festival, Turkish author and former PEN Writers in Prison Committee Main Case, Elif Shafak gave the Raymond Williams Lecture in which she was joined by PEN International President, John Ralston Saul. They discussed the issue of Kurdish identity in Turkey; the struggle of the Kurdish population for linguistic rights; and both writers discussed the importance of PEN International’s Girona Manifesto on Linguistic Rights as a tool for defending linguistic diversity around the world. We also ran an event with the leading Syrian author and activist Samar Yazbek.

Irina Prokhorova and Lyudmila Ulitskaya, vice president of Russian PEN, in a Free the Word! event in Moscow

RUSSIAIn November we sent a delegation to Moscow including International President John Ralston Saul, International Secretary Hori Takeaki, and senior representatives from Japanese PEN, Central Asian PEN, Swedish and Finnish PEN. With the participation of Russian PEN President Andrei Bitov, Irina Prokhorova and leading Russian novelist Lyudmila Ulitskaya we held a Free the Word! event during the Moscow Non-fiction Book Fair, where we also unveiled the jury for the New Voices Award 2014. The jury will be comprised of: Xi Chuan, Kiran Desai, Alberto Manguel, Alexandre Postel and Kamila Shamsie. Meetings were held throughout the week to encourage younger writers to join Russian PEN.



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FREE THE WORD!FOCUS ON LATIN AMERICA

Recognising the particular challenges faced by writers and journalists in many Latin American countries, and acknowledging that many of the PEN Centres in the region would benefit from capacity building we held a strategic focus on the region through 2013. This also enabled us to build further on our work – begun in Mexico in 2011/12 – to raise awareness of impunity.

In 2013 we focused on Nicaragua, Chile and Colombia – working to bring leading writers in the region into our PEN Centres including Gioconda Belli, Luisa Valenzuela, Antonio Skármeta and Sergio Ramirez. With Free the Word! participation in Cartagena, Colombia and visits to Mexico, Nicaragua and Honduras we have worked to help strengthen and develop PEN activity in the region.

We launched WriteAgainstImpunity – an anthology of writing in support of writers in the region affected by impunity – early in 2013.

A collaborative research visit with PEN Canada and the University of Toronto Law School to Honduras has resulted in a major research report entitled Honduras:JournalismintheShadowofImpunity set for release in 2014.

Carlos Vásquez-Zawadzki , President of PEN Colombia, Jorge Espinosa, Sergio Ramírez, Luisa Valenzuela and Gioconda Belli at Hay Festival Cartagena

FREE THE WORD!

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OXFAM NOVIB/PEN AWARD FOR FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

In January we partnered with the Writers Unlimited festival in The Hague, where we presented Syrian writer and activist Samar Yazbek with our annual Oxfam Novib/PEN Award for Freedom of Expression. The award is given in recognition of a writer’s significant contribution to freedom of expression around the world and as a distinction to writers and journalists committed to free speech despite the danger to their own lives. The other winners of the award this year were the Cameroonian writer and co-founder of the Cameroon Writers Association Enoh Meyomesse, the Iranian activist, journalist and deputy director of the Defenders of Human Rights Centre (DHRC) Nargess Mohammadi, the Congolese journalist Deo Namujimbo and the Turkish academic and writer Busra Ersanli.

Samar Yazbek in a Free the Word! event at Hay-on-Wye Festival

Sergio Ramírez and Gioconda Belli at Hay Festival Cartagena

THE PEN INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHERS CIRCLEThe PEN International Publishers Circle is a growing group of publishers from around the world who believe that literature and freedom of expression are at the heart of a strong, vibrant society. The Circle supports our work in promoting freedom of expression, literature and intellectual collaboration among publishers, writers and translators worldwide.

‘The right to freedom of expression, which we take for granted in the literary cultures in which most publishers work, remains in jeopardy in countries that have both a literary heritage and a vibrant creative culture. Publishers, and writers, must play their part in extending that freedom where we can.’

John Makinson, Chairman, Penguin Random House

Albert Bonniers Forlag, Aschehoug Forlag, Cappelen Damm, Dar El Shorouk, De Oberoende, Gyldendal Norsk Forlag, Hachette Livre, HarperCollins Canada, HarperCollins International, Holtzbrinck Publishing Group, House of Anansi Press, I.B.Tauris, Natur & Kultur, Norstedts Forlag, Penguin Group, Random House, Schildts & Söderströms


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Alain Mabanckou presenting the PEN International/New Voices Award to Masande Ntshanga for his short story ‘Space’