AustLit

'The 2017 PEN International Congress in Lviv opened soberly with the honouring of long-time PEN case list member Liu Xiaobo. Afterwards came acknowledgement of PEN campaigners from across the world who had died in the previous year – Rosie Scott was, of course, among the writers honoured and remembered. Twenty months after the horrific murder of 12 staff members at the offices of satirical French newspaper Charlie Hebdo, the Congress grappled with the tension contained in PEN’s charter between our core commitment to freedom of expression and our commitment as PEN members to dispel hatred. A legalistic paper generated out of the PEN International Peace Committee failed to secure immediate support, and a consultative group from across PEN’s membership has been formed to draft a paper for consideration at the 2018 Congress.' (President's Report introduction)