PEN’s Annual Meeting a Reminder of the Organization’s Mission

PEN’s annual meeting last night was the third or fourth such gathering I’ve attended, and it was enriched by the fact that a programmatic element was included in the event, a panel on a recent PEN visit to China, when the delegation met with Ai Weiwei, among other artists and writers. While in other years the meeting was mostly minutes and committee reports, last night’s reminded us of PEN’s mission as an advocate of free expression. Quoting Aung San Suu Kyi from her years as a political prisoner in Myanmar, incoming PEN president Andrew Solomon reminded us of PEN’s mission: “Please use your liberty to defend ours.”