Panel discussions and conversations convene regularly throughout the academic year to promote literature by offering writers a public forum to discuss poetry, fiction, nonfiction, the publishing business, and other concerns. These programs have formed the core of PEN NE activities over the years. New writers are supported by the annual PEN Discovery Evening, begun in 1980, in which established writers introduce those just breaking in. Our fall Book Party, which takes place at the Hotel Marlowe, is a festive celebration for new England writers who have published books during the course of the year. At our annual Best American Short Stories® fundraiser—part of our new Inside Story event—esteemed actors read from the collection at the American Repertory Theatre.