Jennifer Clement Presents the Extraordinary History of PEN [] PEN International San Miguel Center
Event Category: All Events, Learning/Education, and Presentations/Discussions
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Renowned Author Jennifer Clement Presents the Extraordinary History of PEN International
By Signe Hammer
Join coauthor Jennifer Clement to celebrate the publication of PEN International: An Illustrated History—the extraordinary story of PEN’s century-long celebration of literature and defense of free speech around the globe—on Wednesday, December 8 at 4 pm outside in the patio of the Biblioteca. Wearing masks will help protect everyone’s health.
From opposing book-burning and the persecution of writers in Nazi Germany, to supporting imprisoned writers across the world today, PEN has worked to safeguard against censorship and self-censorship. The extraordinary writers who have been PEN cases include: Federico García Lorca, Stefan Zweig, Salman Rushdie, Nobel Prizewinners Wole Soyinka and Svetlana Alexievich, Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thiong’o, and the journalists Anna Politkovskaya, Russian, and Hrant Dink, Turkish-Armenian, both ultimately murdered. To tell the stories of key moments of PEN’s history over the last 100 years, the book includes more than 500 pictures, letters, documents, posters and maps.
Jennifer Clement is the first woman to have been elected president of PEN International and the author of such highly regarded novels as Prayers for the Stolen and Gun Love, as well as the cult classic memoir Widow Basquiat. In 2019, Gun Love was one of Time magazine’s top 10 books, a New York Times Editor’s Choice Book and a National Book Award finalist. Clement has published several books of poetry, including The Next Stranger, with an introduction by W. S. Merwin, and, with her sister Barbara Sibley, is cofounder and director of The San Miguel Poetry Week. She lives in San Miguel and is a member of Mexico’s prestigious Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Arte and of PEN San Miguel.
Joining Jennifer to tell us about the fascinating history of San Miguel’s own chapter of PEN is Lucina Kathmann, International PEN vice-president and current treasurer of San Miguel PEN, as well as the author most recently of the essay collection Private Spaces, Public Places.
Nobel Prizewinning author Toni Morrison said of PEN International, “My respect for this organization has no borders. PEN has been so fierce, so consistent and ferocious in its efforts that it is hard to ignore their worldwide impact.” For more information, visit PEN San Miguel’s website at: sanmiguelpen.com.
PEN International San Miguel Center
The San Miguel de Allende, Mexico centre of PEN International, a worldwide association of writers fighting for freedom of expression
San Miguel PEN, one of the 145 centers of PEN International, the worldwide association of writers with centers in 104 countries, exists to promote friendship and intellectual cooperation among writers everywhere, fight for freedom of expression and represent the conscience of world literature. San Miguel PEN is in San Miguel de Allende, in the middle of Mexico on the high plateau. It was created in 1979 as a center for English-speaking writers in Latin America in hopes of unifying the English and Spanish linguistic communities within PEN. San Miguel PEN promotes the Spanish language in all its work.
Our Programs:
The PEN Writers in Prison Committee has been a focus of the San Miguel center for over 20 years. In 2002 San Miguel hosted the PEN Writers in Prison Committee’s international conference. This work involves answering countless calls for emergency action to aid those in legal trouble for their writing, including prison and threats of death. San Miguel PEN is also active in International PEN’s Women Writers Committee, its Translation and Linguistic Rights Committee, and the PEN Iberoamerican Foundation (a regional organization). San Miguel PEN sponsors local literary programs and a local scholarship program that helps Mexican children with limited financial resources stay in school. It participates in major Mexican literary events, such as the enormous yearly Feria Internacional del Libro in Guadalajara. PEN members travel at their own expense to represent the group at the United Nations and at international conferences. San Miguel PEN sponsors an annual Winter Lecture Series to fund local activities and help support the international organization. Contact us HERE.
Mailing Address:San Miguel PEN Center Apdo. 287 37700 San Miguel de Allende, GTO Mexico -
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