In this time of worldwide financial challenges, when many nonprofit organizations have cut back or even shut down, supporters of PEN American Center have rallied to our aid, allowing us to continue our work without reductions in programming or staff. We are very fortunate in the Members and supporters who make our work possible, and I want to begin by expressing my gratitude to all of you: the dues-paying Members and Associate Members, the individuals who send us donations, the foundations that support our work, the universities and high schools that partner with us in so many ways, state and local governments, cultural agencies, the NEA, and the volunteers and interns who help with everything we do.

The economic situation remains difficult. Endowment losses have weakened the capacity of foundations to support nonprofit work, and the publishing industry, so close to our aims and interests, faces continuing challenges. Many individuals, too, have seen their financial assets reduced.

I want to underline our awareness of these realities. The needs we meet have not diminished, and we hope that, despite this climate, you will respond with continuing generosity. Even in these hard times, we have great expectations!

That is because we know that you recognize, as we do, that PEN American Center has a crucial role to play in these challenging times. We continue to defend persecuted and imprisoned writers and to protect free expression; to spread the essential skills of reading and writing; to support translation and bring writers from abroad to our annual festival; to recognize, through prizes, the best work of our fellow writers; and, above all, to sustain and promote literary culture. PEN remains the only international human rights organization whose members are literary women and men. Our commitment to free expression derives from our vocation, and our distinctive contribution is that we can bring to bear the words and the ideas—the moral force—of writers around the world in the pursuit of these vital goals.

This year, our work on behalf of those ideals had many highlights, among them:

• The release of Mr. Win Tin, the longest-serving political prisoner in the world and the subject of a PEN Freedom to Write campaign, as well as the release of three honorary PEN Members: Mr. Aref Dalila and Mr. Michel Kilo of Syria and Mr. Tohti Tunyaz of China.
   
• Our China Campaign, pursued in concert with the Independent Chinese PEN Center, which sought to protect writers in China during and after its Olympic year and which raised awareness of the continued silencing of our colleagues there.
   
• PEN’s “Reading Burma” event in September at Cooper Union, attended by over 700 people, raising more than $13,000 for victims of the Burmese cyclone.
   
• The annual PEN World Voices Festival, featuring several Nobel laureates and nearly 200 writers from around the world, covered at length in The New York Times and scores of other media outlets.
   
• The Prison Writing Program’s first-ever benefit, which celebrated the work of this acclaimed and nearly 40-year-old PEN program.
   
• Successful Readers & Writers literary workshops for high school students at under-served schools, led by writers such as MacArthur “genius grant” recipient Edwidge Danticat.
   
• Selection of work from PEN America, our literary journal, for Best American Essays, The Pushcart Prize Anthology, and The Utne Reader, plus expanded distribution of the journal in bookstores throughout the U.S. and Canada.

In June, we bade farewell after more than ten years of service to Executive Director Michael Roberts. Having served on the search committee who hired him, I am especially grateful for all he did for PEN American Center. In August, after an extensive search in which I again had the privilege of participating, we were pleased to announce the hiring of our new Executive Director, Steven L. Isenberg. Steve has held many leadership posts, including publisher of New York Newsday, Interim President of Adelphi University, Chief of Staff to New York City Mayor John Lindsay, and lecturer in literature at the University of Texas at Austin. It is with great pleasure and high expectations that we welcome him aboard.

On the following pages we have profiled our programs and their accomplishments over the last year. We are extremely grateful to our supporters for making all of this possible. The latest news about PEN is available at our constantly updated web site, www.pen.org. You can also find myriad ways to support PEN by going to www.pen.org/support.

	K. Anthony Appiah and Steve Isenberg together at the PEN American Center office, New York, NY

We have many exciting plans for the year ahead. Support us, please, by coming to our events, by giving us your time and, if you can, your money. If you are not yet an Associate Member, become one. That way, in the coming year, you will know that the work of PEN American Center is something that you are doing along with the rest of us.

With great thanks and warm regards,






K. Anthony Appiah