PEN America Digital Archives 2

During the 1986 International PEN Congress, Wang Meng provides insight into the parallel and necessarily intersecting responsibilities, requirements and restraints of both the Writer and the State.

Wang Meng: the Writer, the State and Imagination

Bharati Mukherjee critically engages the banal state of American literature.  Mukherjee proves relentless in her analysis of the negative impact of colonialism and gender inequality in the broader arena of art and history.  All the while, she maintains a positive outlook for the future of American culture by way of the voice of the very Subaltern that the canon seemingly rejects.  This voice, with its unique qualities of embodying the multitudinous virtues of the United States, has the capacity to subvert the temperance and quality of the language, and in doing so enliven the creative spirit that lay at the heart of expression. 
This event, "War and Peace", took place on March 6th, 1988.

Bharati Mukherjee on the Subaltern Voice

One of PEN American Archives earliest recordings comes from the the 1966 International PEN Congress (New York).  This Congress was notable for a number of reasons including Pablo Neruda’s participation, the Latin American Roundtable which prompted widespread translation of Latin American authors, and several roundtables concerning technology moderated and led by Marshall Mcluhen.  Here, Ralph Ellision, speaks at such a roundtable on the role of Literature in examining human experience when faced with the technological advancements of the emerging Electronic Age.

Ralph Ellison: The Role of Literature in the Electronic Age (1966)

Listen to Chinua Achebe and Susan Sontag in 1989 speak about how Art and Literature should be used to positively influence and alleviate oppression not only for the individual, but for humanity as a whole.

Susan Sontag and Chinua Achebe In Conversation

With succinct, powerful, and well deserved admonition, Mary Gordon calls for acts of sexism to be considered with the same intellectual, emotional, and legislative regard as racism and anti-semitism.  April 13th, 1993.

Mary Gordon On Sexism

Tom Wolfe reads a generally unpopular segment from his book Bonfire of the Vanities at the 1988 PEN America event "New York Writers on New York"

Tom Wolfe reads from Bonfire of the Vanities

PEN America stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect open expression in the United States and worldwide. We champion the freedom to write, recognizing the power of the word to transform the world.  Our mission is to unite writers and their allies to celebrate creative expression and defend the liberties that make it possible.
