PEN Center USA was a branch of PEN, an international literary and human rights organization. It was one of two PEN International Centers in the United States, the other being the PEN America in New York City. On March 1, 2018, PEN Center USA unified under the PEN America umbrella as the PEN America Los Angeles office. PEN Center USA was founded in 1943 and incorporated as a nonprofit association in 1981. Much of PEN Center USA's programming continues out of the PEN America Los Angeles office, including the Emerging Voices Fellowship, PEN In The Community writing residencies and guest speaker program, and PEN Presents conversation series.
History
The organization was originally established in 1943. In 1952 PEN International granted it the right to become PEN Los Angeles Center, able to set up its own chapters. In 1981 it was incorporated as a Non-profit organization. In 1988 it requested a name change, and eventually it was renamed to PEN USA Center West. On March 1, 2018, PEN Center USA unified under the PEN America banner.
Mission statement
PEN Center USA's mission is to stimulate and maintain interest in the written word, to foster a vital literary culture, and to defend freedom of expression domestically and internationally.
Freedom To Write Programming
PEN Center USA offers Freedom to Write programming, manifested in four channels of action: the FTW Advocacy Network, the Emerging Voices Fellowship, PEN in the Community, and the annual Literary Awards. Each of these programs pursue the goals of the essential Freedom to Write idea—to support writers' freedom of expression and to promote access to their writing globally.
Freedom to Write Advocacy Network
Freedom to Write Advocacy Network is a worldwide, collaborative effort to support free speech and to defend writers whose civil and human rights have been violated. In 1948, International PEN members helped to craft Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which guarantees that "everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression… and to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." PEN holds Category A status at UNESCO and consultative status with the United Nations.
As a member of International PEN's Writers in Prison Committee, PEN Center USA members visit their colleagues in prison in other parts of the world and deliver aid in the form of letters and financial assistance. PEN Center USA's Freedom to Write Committee, made up of more than 200 volunteer writers, investigates regional and country-specific problems. Past efforts include the Nigeria Initiative, aimed at publicizing the link between oil politics and the silencing of dissent in Nigeria, and a coordinated campaign to end violent attacks against journalists in Latin America.
As a member of the Rapid Action Network of PEN International, the PEN Center USA receives and responds to reports of arrests, attacks, and threats to more than 700 writers currently at risk around the world.
PEN in the Community
A PEN In The Community (PITC) writing residency is a generative writing workshop that takes place in a classroom, community center, nonprofit organization, shelter, or reservation. Written work collected during the residency is published by PEN Center USA in PITC anthologies, which are windows into participant's lives—their struggles, hopes, and experiences. PITC instructors are selected from PEN Center USA's diverse membership to best match the needs of the community where they will teach.
In preparation for a PITC writing residency, PITC instructors and community leaders attend a mandatory orientation session at the PEN Center USA office. Then, working with the community leader, the PITC instructor develops a curriculum, with the goal of helping the participants complete a solid body of creative writing work. A PITC writing residency consists of twelve in-class writing workshops, the publication of a participant anthology, and a final public reading. Throughout the semester, the PITC program coordinator makes visits to each community center and communicates with all PITC instructors and community leaders on a weekly basis.
Emerging Voices Fellowship
Emerging Voices is a literary fellowship that aims to provide new writers, who lack access, with the tools they will need to launch a professional writing career. The eight-month fellowship includes: