Founding of PEN International

PEN International is a worldwide association of writers, founded in London in 1921 by the novelist Catherine Amy Dawson Scott, with John Galsworthy as its first president. The letters originally stood for Poets, Essayists and Novelists, and the organization was created to promote friendship and cooperation among writers after the First World War. It later became a leading defender of freedom of expression, campaigning for imprisoned and persecuted writers and against censorship through its Writers in Prison Committee. It has branches, called centers, in over a hundred countries. Many well-known authors have been among its members and presidents.

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