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Written by David L. Hudson Jr., published on January 1, 2009 , last updated on February 18, 2024

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Founded in New York City in 1922, the PEN American Center is an organization of writers who work “to advance literature, defend free expression, and foster international literary fellowship. PEN advances its causes through various programs, including Freedom to Write and Prison Writing. For fifteen years, the organization has awarded annually a PEN/Newman’s Own First Amendment award to a person or persons who have fought courageously for First Amendment values despite adversity. In this photo, Prisoner diaries from the Anne Frank prison diary project are seen in the foreground as Jackson Taylor, director of the prison writing program at PEN American Center, left, and Maureen McNeil, director of education at the Anne Frank Center USA, talk at the Anne Frank Center USA in New York, Friday Sept. 18, 2008. (AP Photo/Tina Fineberg, used with permission from the Associated Press)

Founded in New York City in 1922, the PEN American Center is an organization of writers who work “to advance literature, defend free expression, and foster international literary fellowship.” The organization is one of the largest centers of International PEN, the human rights organization founded in 1921.

 

PEN awards those who fight for First Amendment values

 

PEN (referring to poets, playwrights, essayists, editors, and novelists) advances its causes through various programs, including Freedom to Write and Prison Writing. For fifteen years, the organization has awarded annually a PEN/Newman’s Own First Amendment award to a person or persons who have fought courageously for First Amendment values despite adversity. The group’s Children’s Book Author Committee is in the forefront of opposition to book banning and censorship.

 

PEN has opposed the Patriot Act

 

PEN has been vocal in opposing many provisions of the USA Patriot Act, passed by Congress in 2001. In October 2006, PEN delivered a “press freedom petition” to Congress, urging members to combat what the organization terms a “deeply troubling…campaign of intimidation against American newspapers and journalists” and excessive secrecy on the part of the government.

 

David L. Hudson, Jr. is a law professor at Belmont who publishes widely on First Amendment topics.  He is the author of a 12-lecture audio course on the First Amendment entitled Freedom of Speech: Understanding the First Amendment (Now You Know Media, 2018).  He also is the author of many First Amendment books, including The First Amendment: Freedom of Speech (Thomson Reuters, 2012) and Freedom of Speech: Documents Decoded (ABC-CLIO, 2017). This article was originally published in 2009.​

 

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