Dear members and fellow travellers
Let me begin by thanking Hélène Jaccomard who kept this column going while I was away for the last three issues of the newsletter.
While in Europe, I was reminded rather soberingly of the pointy end of PEN International’s work when I joined a meeting of key PEN centres to discuss financial support for writers at risk. This is where PEN’s work becomes most urgent: supporting writers who need immediate help because they are caught in war zones or threatened by predatory state institutions.
Like so many international not-for-profit organisations, PEN International is experiencing a decline in donations. Our membership fees go some small way towards filling these funding gaps and, importantly, help sustain this critical work.
I hope we can continue this conversation when I see you at the AGM on 20 August. And then, following the AGM, I hope you will stay on for an evening of Poems of War and Peace.
Even in the worst of calamities, it is precisely through words — poems, stories and testimonies — that we insist on our common humanity, make sense of violence and keep hope alive. On the evening of the AGM, we will celebrate the work of Perth poets while also honouring those around the world who continue to write from places of conflict and despair.
– Krishna Sen, PEN Perth Chair, August 2026