Jobs & Internships

PEN American Center- Freedom to Write Program

INTERN

Freedom to Write Program

Founded in 1922, PEN American Center is a professional membership organization of poets, playwrights, essayists, editors, novelists, and translators.  At the core of PEN's mission is its advocacy of freedom of expression, both at home and abroad.  Its Freedom to Write Program, founded in 1960, has defended writers such as Vaclav Havel, Peter Matthiessen, Taslima Nasrin, Salman Rushdie, Wole Soyinka, and thousands of others who have faced censorship, persecution, torture, imprisonment and even death for exercising their right to freedom of expression.  The program carries its work out through appeals, media campaigns, meetings with government officials, published reports, and international missions.

Reporting to the Program Associate, and working closely with the Program Coordinator and Director, the Freedom to Write Intern will:

*       gather and maintain files containing information about violations to freedom of expression around the world from the press, relevant publications, organizations specializing in freedom of expression issues, other human rights groups in the U.S. and abroad, PEN's international headquarters in London, other PEN centers, and from individual contacts around the world;
*       develop and send PEN's letters protesting instances of censorship to heads of governments, embassies, etc.; and send copies of these appeals to U.S. policy makers and to other human rights groups and press contacts, especially in the country where the abuse has taken place;
*       conduct in-depth research for special PEN projects on specific cases, countries, or themes;
*       

Requirements:

Candidates must have first-rate writing skills. 

A genuine interest in human rights issues and literature is essential. 

Language skills (especially Farsi, French, Spanish, Russian and/or Arabic) a plus.

Web programming experience is helpful.


Please apply via e-mail, with a cover letter and résumé to:


Sarah Hoffman
Associate, Freedom to Write Program
PEN American Center
588 Broadway, Suite 303
New York, NY 10012
sarah@pen.org