Recent Programs

Our third “An Evening Without…Giving Voice to the Excluded,” featuring James Carroll, Mary Oliver, and Howard Zinn and including a special tribute to Grace Paley by Alice Hoffman
Our Annual Membership Party celebrating authors whose books were published during the year
Memorial tributes to David Foster Wallace and John Updike featuring colleagues, friends and family
Established authors introduced promising, talented newcomers in one of two “Discovery Evenings”; one by the Children’s Book Committee, and the second for adult fiction, non-fiction, and poetry
Roundtable discussion “The Task and Craft of Nature Writing: Nature and the Written Word” featuring Sy Montgomery, Katy Payne, and John Elder co-sponsored by the Harvard Museum of Natural History that has led to the establishment of the “Henry David Thoreau Award” for Literary Excellence in Nature Writing
Annual presentation of our two prestigious literary awards, the PEN/Hemingway for best American debut fiction & the PEN New England/Winship Award for best New England writers of fiction, poetry, and non-fiction
Expansion of the Prison Writing workshops program, organized by the Freedom to Write Committee
Annual presentation of the Vasyl Stus Freedom-to-Write Award to imprisoned writer Nurmuhemmet Yasin, and a panel discussion “Fairly Unbalanced: Writing Political Satire in the Twenty-First Century”
Our fourth “An Evening Without…Giving Voice to the Excluded,” in Norwich, VT featuring Galway Kinnell, Ron Powers, and David Macaulay
Keynote address by Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk, presented by PEN New England at the Boston Book Festival
An evening with Steven Pinker and Rebecca Goldstein, “Mind Body Problems: A Conversation about Science, Fiction, and God"
Monthly writers series at Upstairs on the Square: conversations with Christopher Lydon and featured guest authors
Presentation of the "Henry David Thoreau Prize" for Literary Excellence in Nature Writing to Gretel Ehrlich, celebrated nature writer

Recent Programs

Our third “An Evening Without…Giving Voice to the Excluded,” featuring James Carroll, Mary Oliver, and Howard Zinn and including a special tribute to Grace Paley by Alice Hoffman

Our Annual Membership Party celebrating authors whose books were published during the year

Memorial tributes to David Foster Wallace and John Updike featuring colleagues, friends and family

Established authors introduced promising, talented newcomers in one of two “Discovery Evenings”; one by the Children’s Book Committee, and the second for adult fiction, non-fiction, and poetry

Annual presentation of our two prestigious literary awards, the PEN/Hemingway for best American debut fiction & the PEN New England/Winship Award for best New England writers of fiction, poetry, and non-fiction

Expansion of the Prison Writing workshops program, organized by the Freedom to Write Committee

Annual presentation of the Vasyl Stus Freedom-to-Write Award to imprisoned writer Nurmuhemmet Yasin, and a panel discussion “Fairly Unbalanced: Writing Political Satire in the Twenty-First Century”

Our fourth “An Evening Without…Giving Voice to the Excluded,” in Norwich, VT featuring Galway Kinnell, Ron Powers, and David Macaulay

Keynote address by Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk, presented by PEN New England at the Boston Book Festival

An evening with Steven Pinker and Rebecca Goldstein, “Mind Body Problems: A Conversation about Science, Fiction, and God"

Monthly writers series at Upstairs on the Square: conversations with Christopher Lydon and featured guest authors

Presentation of the "Henry David Thoreau Prize" for Literary Excellence in Nature Writing to Gretel Ehrlich, celebrated nature writer