PEN International is a worldwide association of writers, founded in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere. It works to protect freedom of expression and to defend the right of writers to write freely. It is a non-political organisation which holds consultative status at the United Nations and UNESCO.

PEN International has over 140 Centres around the world, each of which is an autonomous non-profit organisation in its own right. The Centres are grouped into five regions: Africa, Asia & Oceania, Europe & Central Asia, Latin America & the Caribbean and North America. Each region has its own Regional Council which meets regularly to discuss matters of concern to PEN members in the region.

PEN International campaigns for freedom of expression and literature around the world, working with governments, international organisations such as UNESCO and other NGOs to promote freedom of expression as a fundamental human right. It also works with other PEN Centres and national governments on specific issues such as censorship, imprisonment or persecution of writers. PEN International also runs programmes such as Writers in Prison, Writers for Peace and Writers in Exile to support persecuted or exiled writers.