Joanne Leedom-Ackerman is the history of PEN incarnate. As president of a center, Chair of the Writers-in-Prison Committee, International Secretary, and a PEN International Vice President, she has been a steady and guiding force in the organization and its dedication to freedom of expression for more than one-third of PEN’s first century. Her dedication to literature and human rights personify PEN International. These accounts do what all good writing does: She makes people and events vibrant.

For a century, PEN (Poets, Essayists, Novelists) has brought together writers to celebrate and share literature and to defend those who write. PEN has laid the foundation for a global community of writers who seek out facts, celebrate the creative imagination and champion freedom of expression.

PEN Journeys: Memoir of Literature on the Line reflects a time when the world was opening up—the Berlin Wall fell; the Soviet Union broke apart; democracies were ascendant around the globe—and PEN, the world’s oldest writers and human rights organization, was often at the forefront. In many countries writers like Václav Havel led the way as they were released from prison.

The year 2021 marked the centenary of PEN International and English PEN, and 2022 marks the centenary of PEN America, PEN France and many other PEN centers in over 100 countries around the world.