Writers grapple with rules of the imagination | PEN | The Guardian

At issue is a charter manifesto, The Democracy of the Imagination, passed unanimously by delegates of PENSupported by eminent writers, this is the English branch of International Pen, which has centres in nearly 100 countries. It fights for freedom of expression and against political censorship. It campaigns for writers harassed, imprisoned and sometimes murdered for their views. http://www.englishpen.org/ International at the 85th world congress in Manila in 2019. A year on, through the social upheavals of 2020, PEN's US arm, PEN America, has not endorsed the manifesto, which includes the principle: "PEN believes the imagination allows writers and readers to transcend their own place in the world to include the ideas of others."
Advertisement

The declaration has raised concerns that guarantees of a writer's freedom to put themselves in the place of another can stray into contentious cultural territory.