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55-555: English PEN celebrates the diversity of literature and envisions a world with free expression and equity of opportunity for all by supporting writers at risk and campaigning for freedom of expression nationally and internationally. English PEN also hosts events and prizes to champion international literature, showcase the diversity of writing, and celebrate literary courage. By supporting literature in translation into English and developing opportunities for publishers, translators and translated voices, English PEN aims to encourage diversity in

110-457: A Harry Potter first edition that was auctioned for £150,000. Last week, the Eye asked PEN repeatedly whether it defended her against the campaign of intimidation. All PEN would say was that it was "following the situation closely". Catherine Amy Dawson Scott Catherine Amy Dawson Scott (August 1865 – 4 November 1934) was an English writer, playwright and poet . She is best known as

165-587: A secretary , while also writing. Her Charades For Home Acting (44 pp.) was published by Woodford Fawcett and Co. in 1888. Sappho , an epic poem 210 pages long, was published by Kegan Paul, Trench and Co. in 1889, at her own expense. She followed with Idylls of Womanhood , a collection of poetry published by William Heinemann in 1892. At the age of 33, she married a medical doctor named Horatio Francis Ninian Scott. They lived in Hanover Square , London, where their first child, Marjorie Catharine Waiora Scott,

220-585: A Gentleman (1992), Paul Binding's St Martin's Ride (1991), Germaine Greer 's Daddy, We Hardly Knew You (1990), John Healy 's The Grass Arena (1989), Anthony Burgess ' Little Wilson and Big God (1988), Diana Athill After a Funeral (1987), Dan Jacobson 's Time and Time Again (1986), Angelica Garnett 's Deceived with Kindness (1985), Richard Cobb 's Still Life (1984), Kathleen Dayus ' Her People (1982), Ted Walker 's High Path (1983), and Edward Blishen 's Shaky Relations (1982). Founded in 1960, English PEN's Writers at Risk Programme (formerly

275-766: A London-based law firm, where she is Head of the Reputation and Media Litigation practice. Proudler represented Pavel Karpov, a former Russian Interior Ministry officer, for a 2012 libel action in London against Bill Browder after Browder accused Karpov of involvement in the 2009 death of Sergei Magnitsky . Karpov lost the case and was ordered to pay over £800,000 in costs. In 2016, Karpov was additionally sentenced to three months in prison for contempt of court for non-payment of costs. More than £660,000 of that amount remains unpaid. In The Guardian , journalist Nick Cohen wrote: I know Anthony Julius vaguely and Geraldine Proudler, one of

330-607: A Train (2003), Michael Foss' Out of India (2002), Lorna Sage 's Bad Blood (2001), Mark Frankland's Child Of My Time (2000), Margaret Forster 's Precious Lives (1999), Katrin Fitzherbet's True To Both My Selves (1998), Tim Lott 's The Scent of Dried Roses (1997), Eric Lomax 's The Railway Man (1996), Paul Vaughan 's Something in Linoleum (1995), Blake Morrison 's And When Did You Last See Your Father? (1994), Barry Humphries ' More Please (1993), John Osborne 's Almost

385-579: A club that would connect writers worldwide to create a common meeting ground in every country for all writers. Dawson Scott's hopes of establishing an international network of writers were swiftly realised. Within three years, there were 19 PEN clubs around the world. The first meeting of what would become the annual PEN Congress was held in London in May 1923, and was attended by representatives from 11 countries. With an ever-growing number of members worldwide, it became necessary to establish some guiding principles for

440-496: A co-founder (in 1921) of English PEN , one of the world's first non-governmental organisations and among the first international bodies advocating for human rights, and the founding centre of PEN International , a worldwide association of writers. In her later years she became a keen spiritualist . She was born in 1865 in Dulwich to Ebenezer Dawson, a brick manufacturer, and his wife Catherine Armstrong. Her sister, Ellen M. Dawson,

495-584: A courageous and unflinching approach to the written word. Established in 2009 in memory of Nobel Laureate playwright Harold Pinter , the PEN Pinter Prize is awarded annually to a writer from Britain, the Republic of Ireland, or the Commonwealth who, in the words of Harold Pinter's Nobel speech, casts an "unflinching, unswerving" gaze upon the world, and shows a "fierce intellectual determination ... to define

550-517: A few poems to a small group of acquaintances — but the self-conscious poet only consented a year later. Mew's reading on 16 March 1914 attracted the attention of the mystic poet Evelyn Underhill , who introduced Mew to the journalist and critic Rolfe Scott-James, then editor of the New Weekly . At that time, Dawson Scott was also engaged in, or had just finished, editing the poems of her deceased cousin, Henry Dawson Lowry , and writing her own poems. At

605-719: A joint statement on online harassment (co-signed by 19 PEN centres, including PEN America, and PEN International), stating: "PEN stands firmly against both offline and online harassment" and "We support the right to hold and express strong views, provided that such expression does not undermine the internationally recognised human rights of others, incite hatred, nor engender the threat or use of violence." PEN also stated: "We are listening to and taking seriously those with experience of harassment and working with organisations to better support and protect individuals facing harassment. Additionally we will continue to put pressure on platforms to better protect and support users facing harassment." In

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660-456: A period of respite. Former residents include Zehra Doğan and Nurcan Baysal . In 2009, English PEN and Index on Censorship ran a year-long Libel Inquiry. The phenomenon of libel tourism was chilling the work of investigative journalists around the world, and scientific debate was being stifled. The final report of the Inquiry, Free Speech Is Not For Sale , identified the central problems with

715-521: A successful crowdfunding campaign to keep the judge's trial copy of Lady Chatterley's Lover used in the 1960s landmark obscenity trial in the UK. It was finally acquired by the University of Bristol in 2019. The PEN Translates grant programme was launched in 2012 to encourage UK publishers to acquire more books from other languages. The award is supported by Arts Council England to help UK publishers to meet

770-538: A woman she had known lost her husband, Dawson Scott asserted that she had psychic powers to communicate with the dead. She supported this notion by elevating the legacy of her grandfather's cousin, the spiritualist Edmund Dawson Rogers , who co-founded the British National Association of Spiritualists , founded and edited the spiritualist journal Light , and co-founded the Society for Psychical Research in

825-508: A “semi-military” or “good citizen” section, for active recruitment of women for the armed forces, to be trained in drilling, marching and the use of arms so they could protect themselves and their loved ones on the home front in case of enemy invasion . In effect, thousands of women were sent to perform land work, exploited as casual, volunteer labour. When C. A. Dawson Scott and Dr. Scott returned from their military placements, they found it impossible to resume their relationship as before, after

880-481: Is a British arts administrator, literature executive and educator, who for more than three decades has worked with writers in bookselling and publishing, and as an advocate for literature in the UK and internationally. In 2018, she was elected an Honorary Fellow by the Royal Society of Literature , rewarding "significant contribution to the advancement of literature". Formerly chief executive and artistic director of

935-527: Is also pursuing a libel case against Caruana Galizia's son Matthew Caruana Galizia. The Shift News , an independent media outlet launched after Caruana Galizia's assassination which has pursued a number of her stories, is currently facing the threat of a financially crippling SLAPP (strategic lawsuit against public participation) from the Jersey-based firm Henley & Partners, who had taken legal proceedings against Daphne Caruana Galizia prior to her death. PEN

990-1114: Is awarded annually for a non-fiction book of specifically historical content. Past winners include: Anita Anand 's The Patient Assassin (2020), Edward Wilson-Lee 's The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books (2019), S. A. Smith's Russia in Revolution (2018), David Olusoga 's Black and British (2017), Nicholas Stargardt 's The German War (2016), Jessie Child's God's Traitors (2015), David Reynolds ' The Long Shadow (2014), Keith Lowe's Savage Continent (2013), James Gleick 's The Information (2012), Toby Wilkinson 's The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt (2011), Diarmaid MacCulloch 's A History of Christianity (2010), Mark Thompson 's The White War (2009), Clair Wills ' That Neutral Island (2008), Vic Gatrell 's City of Laughter (2007), Bryan Ward Perkins ' The Fall of Rome (2006), Paul Fussell 's The Boys' Crusade (2005), Richard Overy 's The Dictators (2005), Tom Holland 's Rubicon (2004), Jenny Uglow 's The Lunar Men (2003), and Margaret Macmillan 's Peacemakers (2002). The PEN/Ackerley Prize

1045-971: Is awarded in J. R. Ackerley 's memory for a literary autobiography of excellence. The prize is judged by the trustees of the J. R. Ackerley Trust. Past winners include: Alison Light 's A Radical Romance (2020), Yrsa Daley-Ward 's The Terrible (2019), Richard Beard 's The Day That Went Missing (2018), Amy Liptrot's The Outrun (2017), Alice Jolly 's Dead Babies and Seaside Towns (2016), Henry Marsh 's Do No Harm (2015), Sonali Deraniyagala 's The Wave (2014), Richard Holloway 's Leaving Alexandria (2013), Duncan Fallowell 's How To Disappear (2012), Michael Frayn 's My Father's Fortune (2011), Gabriel Weston 's Direct Red (2010), Julia Blackburn 's The Three of Us (2009), Miranda Seymour 's In My Father's House (2008), Brian Thompson's Keeping Mum (2007), Alan Bennett 's Untold Stories (2006), Jonathan Gathorne-Hardy 's Half an Arch (2005), Bryan Magee 's Clouds of Glory (2004), Jenny Diski 's Stranger on

1100-426: Is for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, refugees and asylum seekers, and prisoners and young offenders. It offers vulnerable, often marginalised and unheard people the opportunity to express their voices by taking part in imaginative and transformative creative writing and reading projects. They also have the chance to explore world literature and free speech. Thanks to funding from John Lyon's Charity and

1155-553: Is open to all who subscribe to the aims outlined in the PEN Charter. English PEN is governed by a board of trustees that is elected from and by members, and chaired by Ruth Borthwick , former chief executive and artistic director of the Arvon Foundation . Current trustees include: A cast-iron sculpture entitled Witness , commissioned by English PEN to mark their 90th anniversary and created by Antony Gormley , stands outside

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1210-421: Is seriously concerned about the fact that senior government officials including Prime Minister Joseph Muscat are insisting on trying 34 libel cases against Daphne Caruana Galizia, which have now been assumed by her family. PEN believes that these proceedings are in direct reprisal for her work in investigating corruption within the current Maltese government. Geraldine Proudler is a lawyer and partner at Olswang ,

1265-651: The Arvon Foundation for ten years (2009–2019), she has been Chair of English PEN since 2021. Ruth Borthwick's early career spanned publishing, researching and bookselling in England and in Australia, where she worked in the first bookshop in Sydney to sell gay books. In 1995, she co-founded with Bernardine Evaristo London's writer development agency Spread the Word, "to encourage new voices to emerge and tell their stories". Borthwick

1320-754: The British Library in London . It depicts an empty chair, and is inspired by the symbol used for thirty years by English PEN to represent imprisoned writers around the world. The memorial was unveiled on 13 December 2011. English PEN runs three annual awards – the PEN Pinter Prize , the PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize , and the PEN/Ackerley Prize . Funded by and in honour of former PEN members and significant literary figures, these prizes recognise excellence in historical nonfiction, literary autobiography, and

1375-504: The Civic Opera House , with John Charles Thomas in the lead, on 23 November 1935. In Dawson Scott's book From Four Who Are Dead: Messages to C. A. Dawson Scott (1926), she writes that "certain small, unusual faculties had begun to develop" by her late 30s. She noted that, while resting after a meal, she realized she could amuse herself by closing her eyes, thus seeing a dark tunnel in her head, and then exploring that tunnel. After

1430-490: The P.E.N. Club, a successor to the To-Morrow Club, and the founding centre of PEN International , a worldwide association of writers. The PEN Club dedicated itself to fostering a community of writers who would defend the role of literature in an ever-evolving society. John Galsworthy was asked to serve as PEN Club's first President and for most of the 1920s, Dawson Scott's daughter, Marjorie, served as its secretary. PEN

1485-429: The 9–22 October 2020 edition, Private Eye criticised English PEN for not speaking out in defence of J. K. Rowling , after she faced online harassment following her comments about transgender people: Thousands of Twitter users wish an author dead. Others send her rape-threats. Newsweek reports that burnings of her books are being shared on TikTok ... In 2013, Rowling gave English PEN, which defends freedom of speech,

1540-577: The Charter reads as follows: "PEN members should at all times use their impact for mutual understanding and respect between nations; they commit to do everything to dispel all types of hate and support the ideal of unified humanity living in peace." English PEN is a membership organisation, with a community of more than 1,000 members including novelists, journalists, nonfiction writers, editors, poets, essayists, playwrights, publishers, translators, agents, human rights activists, and readers. English PEN membership

1595-637: The Limbourne Trust, English PEN ran Brave New Voices 2.0, a three-year creative writing and translation project with young refugees and asylum seekers celebrating multilingualism and self-expression. In 2018, English PEN collaborated with the BBC Proms for the Brave New Voices programme, featuring more than 90 concerts over eight-weeks during the Proms. In March 2020, English PEN with the T. S. Eliot Foundation

1650-598: The Olswang lawyers who went for Browder, was on the board of the Scott Trust that oversees the Guardian and Observer . (She is now on the board of an English PEN that never seems to learn.) I'm sure that in private they love investigative journalism, freedom of thought and expression, democracy and the right to hold the powerful to account. Perhaps the firms to which they belong love money more. On 5 October 2020, English PEN released

1705-568: The Scott family moved back closer to London, enabling Dawson Scott to join London's literary circle. Dawson Scott continued to write and publish works, including Mrs Noakes, An Ordinary Woman (1911) and a guide (with map) titled Nooks And Corners of Cornwall (1911). In 1912, Dawson Scott met poet Charlotte Mary Mew , who has reportedly read Macdap Jane . In the summer of 1913, Catherine Dawson Scott asked Charlotte Mew to her home in Southall to recite

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1760-467: The UK, culminating with a three-day festival of free thinking at London's Southbank Centre in September 2021. In December 2021, having served as a trustee of English PEN since 2019, Ruth Borthwick was named as its chair, taking over the position from Maureen Freely , with Aki Schilz as vice-chair, taking over from Claire Armitstead . The PEN Charter has guided PEN members for over 60 years, since it

1815-534: The World War II, English PEN played a significant role in the emerging discourse around human rights, and was the first organisation to frame freedom of expression as a necessary precondition to literary creation. PEN International gained advisory status to the United Nations and worked with UNESCO on various initiatives. It continued to expand with new centres opening across the world, and continued to fight for

1870-630: The Writers in Prison Committee) is one of the world's longest running campaigns for freedom of expression. English PEN campaigns on behalf of writers, literary professionals, journalists, artists, cartoonists and musicians who are unjustly persecuted, harassed, imprisoned, and even murdered in violation of their right to freedom of expression. English PEN's Writers in Residence programme aims to provide international writers facing persecution or censorship with

1925-419: The children's literature festival "Imagine", and revived Poetry International, a biennial festival inaugurated by Ted Hughes . She also headed the "Planet Poetry" initiative, a consortium of poetry organizations, that aimed to "help develop a new economy for poets and poetry by increasing the number, range and diversity of people who engage with poetry". International initiatives with which she has worked over

1980-733: The costs of translating new works into English – while ensuring that translators are acknowledged and paid properly for their work. The programme has supported more than 250 books, in 53 languages, and awarded over £1,000,000 of funding. Titles supported by PEN Translates have featured on the last three International Booker Prize shortlists. PEN Transmissions is English PEN's online magazine for international and translated voices. It features interviews with and personal essays from established and emerging writers. Contributors include Svetlana Alexievich , Tsitsi Dangarembga , Priyamvada Gopal , Olga Tokarczuk , Irenosen Okojie , and Edmund de Waal . English PEN's outreach programme, Readers & Writers,

2035-542: The course of providing legal services to their clients, were accused of being in conflict with English PEN's primary aim to defend and promote freedom of expression. Anthony Julius is Deputy Chairman of Mishcon de Reya , a British law firm. The Maltese blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia was accused of libel by Mishcon de Reya "on the instruction of both Malta's prime minister and Henley & Partners", prior to her death in 2017. English PEN's public statement on 1 May 2018 about Caruana Galizia says: Prime Minister Joseph Muscat

2090-538: The current libel system, and offered ideas for reform. This led to the launch of the Libel Reform Campaign with Sense about Science . The campaign secured the support of more than 60,000 people and 60 prominent NGOs , Royal Colleges, and associations. A Defamation Bill was introduced by the coalition government in 2012 and the Defamation Act was given royal assent on 25 April 2013. In 2018, English PEN ran

2145-465: The latter part of the 19th century. In 1929, Dawson Scott founded The Survival League, a spiritualist organization which sought to unite all religions to study psychical research. H. Dennis Bradley was its first chairman. Dawson Scott wrote, "Many members of my family had [...] seen phantasms, and auras , had had prophetic dreams and so on." She went on to serve as the Organising Secretary for

2200-419: The literary agents and editors she knew to attend Club dinners, while encouraging the young writers to meet them. The dinner meetings-cum-lectures soon became a weekly event. At the same time, Dawson Scott continued writing; she published the novel Wastralls in 1918, with which she resumed a prolific pattern of publishing a book nearly every year. Catherine A. Dawson Scott remains best known founding in 1921 of

2255-455: The literary culture of London. She resumed writing and in 1906, at age 41, published her first novel, The Story of Anna Beames under the pen name "Mrs. Sappho". Two years later she published her second novel, The Burden , under the name C.A. Dawson Scott. She produced seven more books in six years until the outbreak of World War I in 1914, including in 1909 Treasure Trove (1909), The Agony Column (1909), and Madcap Jane (1910). In 1910,

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2310-457: The literary landscape. English PEN was founded in London by novelist Catherine Amy Dawson Scott in 1921, with John Galsworthy as president, and May Sinclair , Radclyffe Hall , Vera Brittain , Bertrand Russell , E. M. Forster , W. B. Yeats , Joseph Conrad and H. G. Wells as founding members. The acronym behind the P.E.N. Club, as it was then known, stood for: Poets, Playwrights, Editors, Essayists and Novelists. Dawson Scott envisioned

2365-614: The organisation, and the first version of the PEN Charter principles was passed at the 1927 Congress in Brussels. In 1940, English PEN published its "Appeal to the Conscience of the World" letter, a plea for the protection of freedom of expression written by English PEN's first woman president, Storm Jameson , and co-signed by English writers including Vita Sackville-West , E. M. Forster , H. G. Wells , Vera Brittain , and Rebecca West . Following

2420-1201: The real truth of our lives and our societies". The prize is shared with an international writer of courage selected by the winner in association with English PEN's Writers at Risk programme. Winners of the PEN Pinter Prize: Tony Harrison (2009), Hanif Kureishi (2010), Sir David Hare (2011), Carol Ann Duffy (2012), Tom Stoppard (2013), Salman Rushdie (2014), James Fenton (2015), Margaret Atwood (2016), Michael Longley (2017), Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2018), Lemn Sissay (2019), Linton Kwesi Johnson (2020), Tsitsi Dangarembga (2021), Malorie Blackman (2022), Michael Rosen (2023), and Arundhati Roy (2024). International Writers of Courage: " Zarganar " Maung Thura (2009), Lydia Cacho (2010), Roberto Saviano (2011), Samar Yazbek (2012), Iryna Khalip (2013), Mazen Darwish (2014), Raif Badawi (2015), Ahmedur Rashid Chowdhury (Tutul) (2016), Mahvash Sabet (2017), Waleed Abulkhair (2018), Befeqadu Hailu (2019), Amanuel Asrat (2020), Kakwenza Rukirabashaija (2021), Abduljalil al-Singace (2022), and Rahile Dawut . The PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize of £2,000

2475-469: The rights of imprisoned writers, writers in exile, and censored writers. English PEN celebrated its centenary in 2021. "Common Currency", the title of the centenary events, is taken from the PEN Charter: "Literature knows no frontiers and must remain a common currency among people in spite of political or national upheavals." The centenary programme includes events, residencies and workshops online and across

2530-626: The start of World War I broke out, her husband entered the Royal Army Medical Corps and was sent to France while Dawson Scott, with the support of the British secretary of state for war Lord Horatio Herbert Kitchener , created the Women's Defence Relief Corps in late August 1914. The corps had two divisions: civil section, to substitute women for men in factories and other places of employment in order to free those men for military service; and

2585-464: The successor to The Survival League, the International Institute for Psychical Research . The IIPR had been formed in 1934 "for the purpose of investigating psychic phenomena on strictly scientific lines." The group met for tea and to hold spiritualist seances and discuss possible methods of investigation, as well as individual cases. Ruth Borthwick Ruth Borthwick , Hon. FRSL ,

2640-436: The traumatic (and alternately empowering, for Dawson Scott) experience of the war. Eventually, after 20 years of marriage, they divorced. Dr. Scott died by suicide in 1922. In the spring of 1917, Dawson Scott founded the To-Morrow Club, which aimed to draw the "writers of tomorrow", i.e. the "literary youth", and connect them with established writers to exchange ideas, advice, and comments. Dawson Scott would sometimes invite

2695-686: The years include the annual NGC Bocas Lit Fest in Trinidad, and the British Council 's 2016 collaboration with the Yasnaya Polyana Museum-Estate of Leo Tolstoy . In December 2021, having served as a trustee of English PEN since 2019, Borthwick was named as its Chair, taking over the position from writer, translator and academic Maureen Freely , with Aki Schilz (Director of The Literary Consultancy ) as vice-chair, taking over from journalist Claire Armitstead . In 2018, Borthwick

2750-573: Was a shortened acronym for Poets, Playwrights, Editors, Essayists and Novelists, and though it was intended as apolitical, both its membership and leadership has been left-leaning . In addition to her organizing activities and original writing, Dawson adapted her 1921 novel The Haunting , in conjunction with some of her cousin Henry Dawson Lowry's writing, into the libretto for the opera Gale by Ethel Leginska . The opera premiered in Chicago at

2805-613: Was among the founding partners of the "Authors' Emergency Fund". led by the Society of Authors , along with the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society , the Royal Literary Fund , and Amazon UK . The fund was set up to support authors and booksellers affected financially as a result of the coronavirus outbreak with a £330,000 emergency fund to be distributed as small grants. In May 2018, Private Eye identified two lawyers who were members of English PEN's Board of Trustees but who, in

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2860-671: Was approved at the 1948 PEN Congress in Copenhagen . Like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights , the PEN Charter was forged amidst the harsh realities of World War II . The Charter was amended at the 83rd PEN Congress in Lviv in 2017 for the first time since it was adopted 90 years earlier. The Assembly voted for a wider formulation, namely counteracting hate and not only based on race, class or nationality but also gender, religion and other categories of identity. Consequently, Article 3 of

2915-523: Was born about 1868. Henry Dawson Lowry (Cornwall) was her cousin. Catherine Amy's mother died in January 1877, when she was 11 and her younger sister was seven years old.Their father remarried in 1878 and by 1881, the girls and their stepmother were living or staying with her widowed mother, Sarah Ancell, in Camberwell , where Catherine A. Dawson graduated from Anglo German College. At 18, she began working as

2970-572: Was born in 1899; they also had a son, Horatio Christopher L. Scott, born in March 1901. Then the family moved to West Cowes on the Isle of Wight in the summer of 1902, where they lived for the next seven years. Another child, Edward Walter Lucas Scott, nicknamed Toby, was born in June 1904. Catherine Dawson Scott, freed from daily household duties after the birth of the third child, found country life stifling and missed

3025-468: Was for a decade chief executive of the Arvon Foundation , a leading UK charitable organisation that promotes creative writing, from 2009 until 2019, during which time she oversaw renovation of its Shropshire centre The Hurst, expanded work with teachers and launched a new digital programme. From 2000 to 2007, she directed the Literature and Talks programme at London's Southbank Centre , where she founded

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