Who we are:
PEN Eritrea is founded with the objective of promoting, in an Eritrean context, the broader objective of PEN International, understood generally as that of promoting literature and freedom of expression. PEN Eritrea is committed to the promotion of literature in all Eritrean languages. Its language of communication is English. PEN Eritrea, also known as PEN Eritrea in Exile, represents only the interests of its members.
PEN Eritrea was officially recognized as a center at the 80th PEN International Congress in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan on 1 October 2014. The center joins a global network of writers in over 100 countries across the globe who campaign to promote literature and defend freedom of expression. Due to the extremely repressive political climate in Eritrea, the center is being founded in exile. It aims to serve as an umbrella for widely dispersed Eritrean writers and journalists who have been targeted by the Eritrean government for their writings. Serving as point of contact between the most inaccessible country and the international body, PEN Eritrea also works to promote the cases of journalists languishing incommunicado.
