On the Frontline Defending Freedom of Expression and Promoting Literature

Between 2015 to 2019, PEN International, the world’s largest association of writers, worked effectively and tirelessly to defend freedom of expression and promote literature in an ever-deteriorating climate for freedom of expression.

This report will demonstrate the huge step forward PEN International has taken in delivering impactful and inclusive international programmes with the invaluable support of the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida). It seeks to provide an overview of PEN International’s work over the last five years through a series of case studies spanning that period, reflecting on PEN’s achievements and on the challenges of working within a complex and deteriorating environment for free speech.

PEN International’s organisational goals for 2015 to 2019 were achieved in two phases: a one-year phase of consolidation and planning for growth, including building capacity for monitoring, evaluation, and organisation-wide learning, and a four-year phase of coordinated programme expansion and capacity building. This report seeks to demonstrate the impact that PEN International has had over the last five years in improving the situation of writers at risk, challenging structural threats to freedom of expression and creating spaces for literature and language to flourish.