Russian PEN Center
Russian PEN Center is the Russian branch of the international PEN writers' association, based in Moscow.
Last updated September 16, 2026
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Overview
The Russian PEN Center (Русский ПЕН-центр) is a Russian writers' organization affiliated with the international PEN club. Its official website presents its charter, membership, history, statements, and literary news, and lists its address in Moscow. Its history section recounts the founding of the international PEN club in London in 1921 and the failed 1956 attempt to create a Soviet PEN.
History
The Russian PEN Center's website includes a history section. One article recounts the founding of the organization known today as the International PEN Club in London in 1921, and notes that within four years 25 PEN centers were organized in Europe, with more appearing in South America and China by 1931. Another article, by President Andrei Bitov on the occasion of the Russian PEN Center's 20th anniversary, recalls that the word 'PEN club' existed only on the periphery of free Russian writers' consciousness, and that Galsworthy, England, and 1921 were learned of only later. A further article describes how an attempt to create a Soviet PEN failed in 1956, citing a note from the USSR Writers' Union to CPSU Central Committee Secretary M.A. Suslov about organizing a PEN club in the USSR.
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