The PEN American Center

PEN America Center

Motto	Protecting free expression and celebrating literature
Formation	1922
Type	Literary society, human rights organization
Legal status	Nonprofit Organization
Purpose	Publication, advocacy, literary awards
Headquarters	New York, NY, USA
Location	New York City, U.S.
Coordinates	40°43′30″N 73°59′50″W / 40.724920°N 73.997163°W / 40.724920; -73.997163
Region served	Eastern Half of USA
Membership	Private
Official language	English
President	Andrew Solomon
Key people	Board of Trustees
Parent organization	PEN International
Affiliations	International Freedom of Expression Exchange
Website	pen.org

PEN America Center (PEN), founded in 1922 and based in New York City, works to advance literature, defend free expression, and foster international literary fellowship. As of 2016, the name was shortened to PEN America. PEN America has a membership of over 4,400 writers, editors, and translators. PEN America is the largest of the 149 centers in 101 countries that belong to PEN International, the worldwide association of writers that defends those who are harassed, imprisoned and killed for their views. PEN America is one of two PEN centers located in the USA. The other is PEN Center USA in Los Angeles which covers writers west of the Mississippi.

In addition to defending persecuted writers, PEN America sponsors public literary programs and forums on current issues, sends prominent authors to inner-city schools to encourage reading and writing, administers literary prizes, offers writing workshops to hundreds of inmates across the country, promotes international literature that might otherwise go unread in the United States, and offers grants and loans to writers facing financial or medical emergencies.

PEN is also a member of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX), a global network of nongovernmental organizations that monitors free expression violations worldwide and defends journalists, writers, human rights activists and Internet users who are persecuted for exercising their right to freedom of expression.

“MEMBERS OF PEN 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 the world. And since freedom implies voluntary restraint, members also pledge themselves to oppose such evils of a free press as mendacious publication, deliberate falsehood, and distortion of facts for political and personal ends.” – from PEN’s Founding Charter, New York City, 1922

Full membership in PEN generally requires being a published writer with at least one work professionally published, or being a translator, agent, editor, or other publishing professional. There is also a 'Reader' tier of membership open to the general public, as well as a 'Student' membership.

Over the years, PEN America's membership has included many of the leading figures in the American literary establishment, including Edward Albee, Paul Auster, James Baldwin, Giannina Braschi, Willa Cather, Don DeLillo, Robert Frost, Tony Kushner, Langston Hughes, Thomas Mann, Arthur Miller, Marianne Moore, Susan Sontag, Salman Rushdie and John Steinbeck.