Annual Report 01 April 2012 - 31 March 2013

English PEN Annual Report 01 April 2012 - 31 March 2013

Annual Report 01 April 2012 - 31 March 2013 English PEN

About English PEN

English PEN promotes the freedom
to write and the freedom to read
We believe that everyone in the world should be
free and able to share information and ideas through
writing. Freedom of expression is a universal right.
It allows us to hold the powerful to account, to develop
new ideas and understanding and to express ourselves
creatively. Around the world, writers are persecuted
and imprisoned simply because they have used words
to share information or ideas. We support such writers
through our Writers at Risk programme.
As well as the wonderful benefits that words can
bring, people can also use them to cause harm.
So we support some legal restraints on free expression.
We are committed to evidence-based policy in this
area and we oppose unnecessary and disproportionate
restraints on free expression through our UK free
speech campaigns.

And we seek to bring as much of the worlds writing to

as many readers as possible in our own country so that
we can all join in the global exchange of information
and ideas. We support publishers and translators of
international literature and their growing readership
through our Writers in Translation programme.
English PEN consists of an active community of writers
and readers who join us as members and friends.
Since 1921, we have been at the heart of the worldwide
writers association, PEN International. In England, we
bring our members and other supporters together
through a wide programme of events and prizes,
both in London and around the country.

We believe that words are usually best answered with

more words. That is why we seek not only to campaign
against censorship, but also to equip people with the
means to enjoy the freedom to write. We support
people who are excluded from mainstream society
and whose voices might not otherwise be heard
through our Readers & Writers programme.

Presidents Statement

Introduction to English PENs

main achievements this year

Campaigning for writers at risk

around the world

Campaigning in the UK

Lifting barriers to reading and writing

Bringing readers more outstanding

writing in translation

Celebrating writers of merit and courage

Fundraising activities

Grants and donations

10

Annual Accounts 2011/12

Cover photo: Syrian journalist Samar Yazbek thanks 2012 PEN/Pinter prize-winner Carol Ann Duffy for
selecting her as International Writer of Courage. British Library, October 2012 George Torode

13-28

English PEN Annual Report 01 April 2012 - 31 March 2013

Annual Report 01 April 2012 - 31 March 2013 English PEN

Welcome from Gillian Slovo, President

The theme for this years Annual Report is
A Year of Change. The third year of my presidency
of English PEN, has proved to be one of growth
and significant achievements of which the
Board of Trustees, the staff of English PEN and our
loyal membership and supporters can be justly proud.
We acknowledge the trust and support of
Arts Council England, which, at a time of austerity
and cuts in public money, nonetheless increased
our grant for the start of 2012/13 to enable us to
expand our work with publishers and translators
to ensure more literature of outstanding merit
reaches English-speaking readers. We have benefited
particularly from the Arts Councils new Catalyst
grant which is designed to increase our charitys
capacity to raise funds and then matches a proportion
of those new funds we raise. This fund has proved
to be particularly effective, both in motivating us
to find new sources of funding and encouraging us to
pilot new programmes reaching new beneficiaries of
PENs work.

This year has proved

to be one of growth and
significant achievements
of which the Board
of Trustees, the staff of
English PEN and
our loyal membership
and supporters can be
justly proud

The years achievements include the passing into

law of a new Defamation Act, for which English
PEN has campaigned, in partnership with Index on
Censorship and Sense about Science, for the past
four years, a wonderful example of partnership
effectiveness. We also saw through to completion
the hugely successful First Editions, Second
Thoughts auction, hosted at Sothebys in London.
I should like to acknowledge here with thanks the
goodwill of 50 authors, mostly English PEN members,
who took the time to annotate a first edition of their
work which subsequently fetched a premium price
at the auction. The sum raised will be invested in
capacity to help us continue to grow not only in
reach but in impact.
The next three years of our business planning include
a new application to Arts Council England for future
funds. We are well aware of the downward pressures
on public money and the need to increase our efforts
to secure funds from the private sector to continue our
important work to defend the freedom to write and
the freedom to read. The contribution made by our
membership is more important than ever. I should like
to take this opportunity to thank you for your financial
and moral support.

Introduction
A Year of Change
The start of our year was boosted with news of
increased funding from Arts Council England and
from our long-term corporate funder Bloomberg LP.
The Arts Council awarded us an additional 120,000
per year over the next three years, ring-fenced to
fund the expansion of our Writers in Translation
programme; we also benefited from the new Arts
Council Catalyst grant which awarded us 210,000
over three years on the condition that English PEN
develops capacity to drive up its income from private
sources. Moreover, Bloomberg LP which has long
supported our Writers in Translation programme,
doubled the size of its sponsorship to 50k per year
for the next three years.
With such wind in our sails, combined with the hard
work and dedication of both staff and trustees, we are
able to report a 22% growth over our previous year.

It has proved to be a year of change. Not only

did we welcome a new director of English PEN,
Jo Glanville, who joined us at the start of
September 2012, but the Arts Council Catalyst
grant enabled us to expand the capacity of the team
with a deputy director, Heather Norman-Sderlind,
with responsibility for development, particularly
PEN membership. Motivated by the Catalyst grant
too, we saw expansion of our Readers & Writers
programme which topped 5,000 beneficiaries this
year and reached out through pilot programmes
to new communities, including young people in
disadvantaged areas, older people and returning
soldiers. One outstanding achievement was to
see the enactment of a new Defamation Act 2013,
for which English PEN, as a partner in the Libel
Reform Campaign, had tirelessly campaigned for the
past four years.

Poet Aoife Mannix with young people from Crest Academy

reading their words at the Tricycle Theatre George Torode

Gillian Slovo, President

English PEN Annual Report 01 April 2012 - 31 March 2013

Annual Report 01 April 2012 - 31 March 2013 English PEN

Campaigning for writers at risk

around the world
The year was book-ended on the one hand by the market
focus of The London Book Fair in April 2012, which was
China, and our preparations for the market focus of the
following years Fair, which was Turkey.
Our three-day programme for the China-themed PEN
Literary Caf in April 2012 welcomed a diverse group
ranging from Bi Feiyu to Jung Chang. It was preceded
by a full-day symposium programmed at the Free Word
Centre called China Inside Out, where we welcomed
a number of dissident writers from China who were
not part of the official London Book Fair programme.
The day was funded by the Free Word Centres strategic
commissioning fund which we acknowledge with
thanks. We cooperated with the Independent Chinese
PEN Centre, securing a small presence at the Fair at the
last minute. Together we staged an impromptu closing
ceremony of readings from the works of imprisoned
writer Liu Xiabo and Tibetan and Uighur authors.
In November Gillian Slovo and PENs new director
Jo Glanville were invited to visit Turkey as part of the
British Councils delegation ahead of London Book
Fair 2013. The trip became the foundation for an
extensive focus on Turkish writers at risk, the scope
of which is not limited to the London Book Fair 2013
but is embedded across our programming work,
including an event at Hackneys Arcola Theatre
reaching out to the Turkish diaspora in London and
a roundtable with Turkish writers and thinkers at the
London School of Economics.

Protest against treatment of Pussy Riot members,

outside Moscow Embassy, London
Robert Sharp

A campaign which caught the imagination of our

members and supporters was English PENs call
largely via social media for a literary response to
the news that members of the Russian punk collective
Pussy Riot had been arrested for staging a protest in a
Moscow cathedral, denouncing the Russian Orthodox
Churchs support for President Vladimir Putin.
To rally support for Pussy Riot in the run-up to their
appeal hearing, English PEN launched Poems for
Pussy Riot, inviting poets from all over the world to
write a creative response to the case. Within weeks
we received more than 100 submissions which we
posted as daily tributes to the band on our website.
We subsequently published Catechism: Poems for
Pussy Riot, an e-book collection of contributions
edited by poets Mark Burnhope, Sarah Crewe and
Sophie Mayer. A print-on-demand paperback was also
available to order, all proceeds going to the Pussy
Riot Support Fund and the English PEN Writers at Risk
Programme. The campaign continues.
On an upbeat note, English PEN was delighted to
welcome to our London office two writers on whose
behalf our members have campaigned over a difficult
period of years. The first was the irrepressible Burmese
satirist and activist Zarganar, sentenced to 35 years in
prison for speaking out against the regime, released in
the prisoner amnesty of 2011; the second, journalist
and author Lydia Cacho, who endured kidnap and
torture in her native Mexico for her writing; bravely
she was in London to launch a new book. Both continue
to write and speak out courageously at considerable
personal risk. We salute them.

Campaigning for freedom of expression

in the UK
If there was to be a
blueprint for how civic
society in this country can
contribute in a positive and
constructive manner to how
Parliament decides on the
laws of the land, then the
history of the Defamation
Act 2013 would surely be it.
Sadiq Khan,
Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
The year started with the announcement of the
Defamation Bill in the Queens Speech in May 2012;
it ended (though not without suspenseful twists and
turns) with the passing of the Defamation Act 2013.
For the last four years the Libel Reform Campaign,
in which English PEN partnered with Index on
Censorship and Sense About Science, has called for
reforms which would produce a less expensive and
complicated libel law that would reduce constraints
on free speech worldwide.

The new Act is a major milestone for libel law in the

21st century. A central pillar of reform is the new
public interest defence. English PEN and the Libel
Reform Campaign lobbied on this point until the
last, seeking to make the defence as clear and as
simple as possible. Significantly a formidable list of
Britains most distinguished writers, all PEN members*,
signed an open letter to party leaders to save the
legislation when it was threatened by a late intervention
in the House of Lords. The letter received extensive
media coverage and the threat was withdrawn, leaving
the way clear to pass the new Act.
Whilst we celebrate the success of our campaign for
libel reform, there is still work to do. The government
and the judiciary need to be persuaded to develop new
early resolution procedures for libel cases and we are
awaiting the publication of detailed regulations, setting
out procedures available for web hosts and anonymous
commenting online. Crucially, the Northern Ireland
Assembly has not yet adopted the Act. So the campaign
continues.
*Signatories were:
Lisa Appignanesi, Jack Arnott, Julian Barnes, William Boyd, Amanda Craig,
Margaret Drabble, Antonia Fraser, Michael Frayn, Stephen Fry, Victoria
Glendinning, Mark Haddon, David Hare, Ronald Harwood, Michael
Holroyd, Howard Jacobson, Hisham Matar, Ian McEwan, Susie Orbach,
Salman Rushdie, Philippe Sands, Will Self, Kamila Shamsie, Gillian Slovo,
Ali Smith, Tom Stoppard, Claire Tomalin, Raleigh Trevelyan.

I congratulate you on the effectiveness of your campaign and

what you have achieved, and I know that we will be able to count
on your continued engagement as we bring the Act into effect.
Lord McNally,
Minister of State, Ministry of Justice

English PEN Annual Report 01 April 2012 - 31 March 2013

Annual Report 01 April 2012 - 31 March 2013 English PEN

Disadvantaged
communities in England
find their voice
English PENs Readers & Writers programme is the
fastest growing and most diverse of our programmes.
Its aims are to deliver high quality lifelong learning
opportunities to disadvantaged groups of beneficiaries
in England and Wales. We determine disadvantaged
by identifying communities that lack the resources
required to develop such capabilities amongst their
members. Or they might be closed communities
where the freedom to write and the freedom to
read are affected by prejudice and misperception.
We use creative writing often interwoven with other
practices such as translation or storytelling as a safe
space in which people can explore themselves and
the world they are in, helping to build bridges within
the wider community through literature and freedom
of expression.

Seeing individuals
who were scared to
enter the room for fear
of being asked to write
not only pick up a pen
and participate but,
when their time was up,
continue scribbling away
was fantastic.
Independent survey respondent

Bringing readers more outstanding

writing in translation

This year, encouraged by the Arts Councils Catalyst grant,

we enhanced our work with young people, refugees
and prisoners by piloting new work with two new
groups of beneficiaries we identified inside different
disadvantaged social groups: returning soldiers and
older people in care. Within our core programme
we created 250 (up 39% on last year) two-hour
creative writing workshops in community settings
across the UK reaching a total of 5,000 beneficiaries.
The workshops were led by 70 diverse writers
including poets Warsan Shire, John Hegley and
Dzifa Benson as part of English PENs cultural
education programme known as Readers & Writers.
Fifty young people achieved a Bronze Arts Award.
with the support of the Monument Trust,
we staged writers workshops in 20 prisons across
the UK, working with 17 different writers from
diverse backgrounds, including Courttia Newland,
Alex Wheatle, Sheree Mack, Gerry Ryan,
Bidisha, Simon Mole and John Siddique.
for the second time, we ran a creative writing
competition for prisoners in England and Wales.
Judged by novelist and PEN Member Mark Haddon,
the competition drew 400 entries from 60 prison
estates. A booklet of the winning and best entries
was published both in print and as an e-book
entitled The Gates of Ytan, the title of the
winning entry.
for the first time, we commissioned independent
research into the impact of the programme both on
its beneficiaries and on its writer-facilitators.

English PENs established work supporting publishers

of translated literature to reach more readers in
England and Wales received a huge boost in April 2012
when Arts Council England entrusted us with 120,000,
ring-fenced to launch a parallel programme.
The new programme called PEN Translates! proved
immediately popular with applicants. We awarded
grants to ten new titles in translation from languages
as varied as Galician, Belarusian and Japanese.
Meanwhile our more established programme
PEN Promotes! funded by Bloomberg LP, enjoyed
a spectacular year. The eight award-winning titles
proved highly newsworthy and included A Woman in
the Crossfire by Syrian writer Samar Yazbek, translated
from the Arabic by Max Weiss, published by Haus
Publications (Samar went on to win the PEN/Pinter
International Writer of Courage award, see page 8);
Bones Will Crow, 15 contemporary Burmese poets,
translated and edited by James Byrne and Ko Ko Thett,
published by Arc Publications, the first anthology of
Burmese poetry published in the West, launched with
great excitement in a year which saw the visit to Britain
of Aung San Suu Kyi.

In all cases, the programme enabled the writers to visit

England and tour a number of locations and cities to
promote outstanding literature, gaining new readers.
In partnership with the Free Word Centre and other
partners, we staged, for the third time, an International
Translation Day, a full-day conference bringing together
translators, writers, academics and interested members
of the public. This year, owing to popular demand, we
moved to a larger venue, Kings Place, London. Publisher
Christopher MacLehose opened the event which set
out this year to evaluate the success of new initiatives
within the translation industry over recent years.
Online we published 56 literary dispatches from writers
around the world in our PEN Atlas series. These are short
features giving readers a flavour of the experience of
writers inside their respective countries. Contributors
included Selma Dabbagh (UK), Jeet Thayil (India),
Khaled Khalifa (Syria), Lydia Cacho (Mexico) and Ayfer
Tun (Turkey). An edited e-book featuring a selection
of PEN Atlas dispatches was launched at International
Translation Day.

The World Record, by various poets and translators from

around the world, edited by Neil Astley and Anna Selby,
published by Bloodaxe Books was celebrated during
the London 2012 Festival and became a centrepiece
for English PEN and PEN Internationals collaboration
at the Southbanks Poetry Parnassus in June.

Saskia Schmidt
Burmese poet Htein Lin performs
at the launch of Bones Will Crow

Mentor Jason Archie and a young

person from Copland Community
School at the launch of the Make My
Day Diary George Torode

English PEN Annual Report 01 April 2012 - 31 March 2013

Annual Report 01 April 2012 - 31 March 2013 English PEN

Celebrating writers
of merit and courage
English PENs public programme showcases, through
discussion, debate and performance, the best
talent among our growing membership of writers,
journalists, editors, publishers and translators, and
includes where possible invitations to those writers
at risk on whose behalf we campaign.
2012 was distinguished as a year packed with
cultural activities commissioned as part of the
London 2012 Festival during the Olympic and
Paralympic Games. English PEN participated in the
Festival with a partnership with PEN International
at the Southbanks spectacularly ambitious Poetry
Parnassus. Here poets from all around the world
were invited to London to perform.
English PEN hosted a panel discussion on exile
and audience featuring Jack Mapanje (Malawi),
Syl Cheney Coker (Sierra Leone), Iman Mersal (Egypt)
and Kosal Khiev (Cambodia), all poets who feature
in The World Record anthology, winner of an
English PEN Writers in Translation award and
launched at the same occasion. We were particularly
delighted to welcome on stage Zarganar, Burmese
satirist and activist, who was able to receive
belatedly and in person his award as PEN/Pinter
Writer of Courage 2011.

Fundraising activities
The PEN/Pinter Prize 2012 was won by Carol Ann Duffy
who delighted us at the award ceremony at the
British Library on 8 October with a poetry reading,
accompanied by musician John Sampson on a selection
of exotic wind instruments. Carol Ann chose Syrian
writer and journalist Samar Yazbek as the years
PEN/Pinter
International
Writer
of
Courage.
Samar was able to receive her prize in person and gave a
moving speech which received wide play in the media.
Antonia Fraser, widow of Harold Pinter in whose honour
the prize is named, presented both awards.
In January we hosted Inspirations to a packed house
at The Tricycle Theatre where premium-priced seats
raised 5,000 for English PEN. We were privileged
that Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney agreed to appear
alongside Simon Armitage to introduce the poetry and
prose which had most inspired them in their work and
in their lives. It was an uplifting occasion, supported
with wonderful readings by actors Charles Dance
and Jenny Jules.
The PEN Ackerley Prize for a literary autobiography,
traditionally presented at English PENs summer
party for members and friends, was won this year by
Duncan Fallowell for his book How to Disappear:
a memoir for misfits (Ditto Press).

Seamus Heaney, Jenny Jules, Charles Dance

and Simon Armitage at Inspirations,
Tricycle Theatre, London in January
George Torode

The year got off to a tremendous start. Not only did

we hear that we had received a three-fold increase in
funding from Arts Council England, including a new
ring-fenced grant to help fund literary translation,
but we were successful with our application
for ACE Catalyst funding. The Catalyst grant
provides us with 210,000 over three years and
is offered on the condition that English PEN
develops capacity to drive up its income from
memberships, donations, trusts and foundations.
We were hugely gratified too to learn at the start of
the year that our valued corporate funder Bloomberg
LP was more than doubling the annual grant they
extend to our Writers in Translation work to 50,000
per year, enabling our promotion of new translated
titles to increase in scale.
In May 2013 we staged a major fundraising event
which had been almost one year in the planning.
Called First Editions, Second Thoughts and hosted
by Sothebys, London, this took the form of an auction
of 50 contemporary first editions, annotated by their
authors. We would like to acknowledge the support of
English PEN trustee Rick Gekoski who worked tirelessly
to make this project happen and our partner Sothebys,
London. Still more we would like to thank the authors,
most of whom are long-term PEN members, who
contributed their annotated work. The auction raised a
net amount of 342,000 for the charitys beneficiaries
and future development.

Arts Council England agreed to match a proportion

of these funds through the Catalyst grant we were
awarded at the beginning of the year. The remainder
of the Catalyst grant was accomplished through the
fundraising efforts of the Readers & Writers programme
team which succeeded in raising new funds for new
programme activity from trusts and foundations.
The PEN Quiz, in association with Four Colman Getty,
now in its 11th year, kept pace with previous years
despite austere economic times for our stakeholders
and delivered a net contribution of 21,000.
We remain, however, dependent upon the recurrent
revenue of our loyal membership of supporters.
We saw growth of 11% on the previous year.
We are grateful to the continuing support of our
corporate partners known as Silver PEN partners
which include Faber, HarperCollins, Penguin, Hachette
UK, Random House and the London Book Fair.
Other
funders
include
Calouste
Gulbenkian
Foundation, Clore Duffield Foundation, Esme Fairbairn,
European Commission Representation in the UK,
John Lyons Charity, MB Reckitt Trust, Open Society
Foundations, the Prisoners of Conscience Fund,
Swan Mountain Trust, the Limbourne Trust, the Logos
Trust, the Monument Trust, the Pack Foundation,
the Sigrid Rausing Trust and the Vodafone Foundation.

We remain dependent upon the recurrent revenue

of our loyal membership. We saw growth of 11%
on last year.

Sothebys auctioneer Harry Dalmeny rouses bidders

at First Editions, Second Thoughts George Torode

English PEN Annual Report 01 April 2012 - 31 March 2013

Photo George Torode

Grants and donations

English PEN would like to thank all those
who have supported us this year:
The Members and Friends of English PEN
Silver PEN Partners:

Canongate
Faber & Faber
Hachette UK
HarperCollins

London Book Fair

Penguin Books
Random House
Simon & Schuster

Trusts & Foundations:

Arts Council England

Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
Clore Duffield Foundation
Esme Fairbairn Foundation
European Commission
Representation in the UK
John Lyons Charity
MB Reckitt Trust
Open Society Foundations
The Prisoners of Conscience Fund

Swan Mountain Trust

The Limbourne Trust
The Logos Trust
The Monument Trust
The Neil Kreitman Foundation
The Pack Foundation
The Sigrid Rausing Trust
The Vodafone Foundation

Corporate Donors:

Bloomberg LP
Four Colman Getty
Sothebys, London

FT Weekend
J Safra Brokerage Ltd

Benefactors:

Sir Christopher Bland

Felix Dennis
Ken and Barbara Follett

10

Ruth Maxted
Judy Piatkus
Ronald Harwood

11

Report of the Trustees

and Financial Statements
for the year ended
31 March 2013

12

13

English PEN Annual Report 01 April 2012 - 31 March 2013

Annual Report 01 April 2012 - 31 March 2013 English PEN

Structure, governance and management

Public benefit

Governing document

Organisational structure

The charity is controlled by its governing document,

a deed of trust, and constitutes a limited company,
limited by guarantee, as defined by the Companies
Act 2006. English PEN was incorporated on 17 March
2006 and registered as a charity on 26 August 2008.
The company was established under a Memorandum
of Association which established the objects and
powers of the charitable company and is governed
under its Articles of Association and a deed of
trust. The company is one limited by guarantee
as defined by the Companies Act 1985, and in the
event of the company being wound up members are
required to contribute an amount not exceeding 1.

Membership of English PEN is open to all including

poets, playwrights, essayists, editors, novelists and
their translators who share the organisations aims of
promoting literature and human rights. Members have
the right to stand and vote in elections to the Board,
ensuring a high standard of internal transparency and
accountability. The Board of trustees, chaired by the
president, is responsible for the organisations good
governance, and delegates day-to-day management
responsibility to the director, who oversees the work of
staff and volunteers. The Board also delegates specific
functions to the Management Committee, the Readers
& Writers Committee, the Writers at Risk Committee
and the Writers in Translation Committee, each of
which has Terms of Reference setting out its purpose,
membership and reporting structure.

English PENs registration as a charity on 26th August

2008 marked the Charity Commissions acceptance
of the organisations public benefit, throughout its
activities. The Charity Commission agreed with the
trustees that writers, authors, editors, publishers and
other persons similarly engaged throughout the world
constitute a particularly vulnerable class of beneficiaries.
This ruling enables English PEN to concentrate its
resources most effectively on this beneficiary class, whilst
benefiting the public generally.

Recruitment and appointment

of new trustees
The Articles of Association of English PEN allow for
the election of between five and eighteen trustees,
to serve up to a maximum of two three-year terms,
with an additional three spaces for co-options.
Trustees are elected by and from among English
PENs members at the Annual General Meeting.

Induction and training of new trustees

All new trustees are provided with the Memorandum
and Articles of Association of English PEN, and a copy
of the Charity Commissions guidance on the role and
responsibilities of trustees. At an annual away day,
all trustees come together to monitor the charitys
progress, to agree future targets for development,
and to monitor their own performance as a board.

Related parties
English PEN is the founding centre of PEN International,
and has voting rights at the Assembly of Delegates,
which constitutes PEN Internationals Annual General
Meeting. English PEN is also one of eight founding
members of the Free Word Centre. Whilst Free Word
provides English PEN with a physical home, and the
capacity for far closer working relationships with
organisations in the literature, literacy and free speech
charitable sectors, it has no authority over English
PENs organisational strategy or internal policies.
All founding members have observer status at Free
Word Board meetings.

Risk management
The trustees have a duty to identify and review the
risks to which the charity is exposed and to ensure
appropriate controls are in place to provide reasonable
assurance against fraud and error.

Reserves Policy
It is the charitys policy to hold reserves to cover
operating costs for six months. Current reserves are
sufficient.

The Charity Commissions Board made three noteworthy

points in their review of English PENs application for
charitable status. They ruled that the Commission is
entitled to look beyond the expressed objects when
considering whether an organisation is charitable; that
the Commission is able to consider past activities as
informative but not determinative of charitable status;
and that public benefit must be assessed in relation to
each individual object in turn.
This means in practice that the public benefit of English
PENs work has been exhaustively demonstrated across
all of its activities.
The Charity Commission also reaffirmed the guidance
in publication RR12, that international advocacy of
human rights is a means of promoting human rights
as it is understood in charity law and that this includes
advocating the adoption of, and compliance with,
international and regional codes of human rights.
Coupled with English PENs clear internal procedures
for assessing the scale of a human rights threat before
engaging in political campaigning, this guidance gives the
charity flexibility to allocate its resources to campaigns as
and when appropriate in pursuit of its charitable objects.

Statement of trustees
responsibilities
The trustees (who are also the directors of English PEN
for the purposes of company law) are responsible for
preparing the Report of the Trustees and the financial
statements in accordance with applicable law and United
Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom
Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial
statements for each financial year which give a true
and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable
company and of the incoming resources and application
of resources, including the income and expenditure, of
the charitable company for that period. In preparing
those financial statements, the trustees are required to:

select suitable accounting policies and

then apply them consistently;

observe the methods and principles in the

Charity SORP;

make judgements and estimates that are

reasonable and prudent;

prepare the financial statements on the going

concern basis unless it is inappropriate to
presume that the charitable company will
continue in business.

The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting

records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any
time the financial position of the charitable company and
to enable them to ensure that the financial statements
comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also
responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable
company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the
prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
In so far as the trustees are aware:

there is no relevant audit information of which the

charitable companys auditors are unaware; and

the trustees have taken all steps that they ought

to have taken to make themselves aware of any
relevant audit information and to establish that
the auditors are aware of that information.

Statement as to disclosure
of information to auditors
So far as the trustees are aware, there is no relevant
information (as defined by Section 418 of the Companies
Act 2006) of which the charitable companys auditors are
unaware, and each trustee has taken all the steps that
they ought to have taken as a trustee in order to make
them aware of any audit information and to establish
that the charitable companys auditors are aware of that
information.

Auditors
The auditors, Messrs. Grant Harrod Parkinson LLP, will be
proposed for re-appointment at the forthcoming Annual
General Meeting.

On behalf of the board:

G Slovo President

14

17th September 2013

15

English PEN Annual Report 01 April 2012 - 31 March 2013

Annual accounts 2012-2013

The Trustees, who are also directors of the charity for the purposes of the Companies Act 2006, present their report with
the financial statements on the charity for the year ended 31 March 2013. The Trustees have adopted the provisions of
the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) Accounting and Reporting by Charities issued in March 2005.

The Board of Trustees

R S Abdulla MBE
C V Bigland
J L Evans
R Gekoski
C L Goodings
D Hahn
E A Hoffman
R Holmes
A T Hopkinson
C Jarvis
B P W Kernon
R N Kent
C M King
L F M Mackie
D P Miller
H Matar
B A Qureshi
P Sands
R Schwartz
K N Shamsie
F S Shihab
G Slovo (Chair)
S J Tripathi

Resigned 3 December 2012

Resigned 3 December 2012

Appointed 3 December 2012

Resigned 3 December 2012

Appointed 3 December 2012

Jo Glanville

Deputy Director

Heather Norman Sderlind

Registered Office

Free Word Centre

60 Farringdon Road, London EC1R 3GA

Company Number

05747142 (England and Wales)

Charity Number

1125610

Auditors

Grant Harrod Parkinson LLP

Chartered Accountants and Statutory Auditors
49A High Street
Ruislip, Middlesex, HA4 7BD

16

Report of the Independent Auditors

to the Members of English PEN
We have audited the financial statements of English PEN
for the year ended 31 March 2013 on pages 18 to 28.
The financial reporting framework that has been applied
in their preparation is applicable law and the Financial
Reporting Standard for Smaller Entities (effective April
2008) (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting
Practice applicable to Smaller Entities).
This report is made solely to the charitable companys
members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of
Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work
has been undertaken so that we might state to the
charitable companys members those matters we are
required to state to them in an auditors report and for
no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law,
we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone
other than the charitable company and the charitable
companys members as a body, for our audit work, for
this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Respective responsibilities of
trustees and auditors

Director

Bankers

Annual Report 01 April 2012 - 31 March 2013 English PEN

HSBC
76-78 Kings Road
London SW3 4TZ

As explained more fully in the Statement of Trustees

Responsibilities, the trustees (who are also the directors
of the charitable company for the purposes of company
law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial
statements and for being satisfied that they give a true
and fair view.
Our responsibility is to audit and express an opinion on
the financial statements in accordance with applicable
law and International Standards on Auditing (UK and
Ireland). Those standards require us to comply with the
Auditing Practices Boards Ethical Standards for Auditors,
including APB Ethical Standard - Provisions Avalible for
Small Entities (Revised), in the circumstances set out in
note 13 to the financial statements.

Scope of the audit of the

financial statements
An audit involves obtaining evidence about the amounts
and disclosures in the financial statements sufficient to
give reasonable assurance that the financial statements
are free from material misstatement, whether caused
by fraud or error. This includes an assessment of:
whether the accounting policies are appropriate to the
charitable companys circumstances and have been
consistently applied and adequately disclosed; the
reasonableness of significant accounting estimates
made by the trustees; and the overall presentation of
the financial statements. In addition, we read all the
financial and non-financial information in the Report of
the Trustees to identify material inconsistencies with
the audited financial statements. If we become aware of
any apparent material misstatements or inconsistencies
we consider the implications for our report.

Opinion on financial
statements
In our opinion the financial statements:
give a true and fair view of the state of the
charitable companys affairs as at 31 March 2013
and of its incoming resources and application of
resources, including its income and expenditure,
for the year then ended;
have been properly prepared in accordance with
United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting
Practice; and
have been prepared in accordance with the
requirements of the Companies Act 2006.

Opinion on other matter

prescribed by the
Companies Act 2006
In our opinion the information given in the Report
of the Trustees for the financial year for which the
financial statements are prepared is consistent with
the financial statements.
Matters on which we are required to report by exception:
We have nothing to report in respect of the following
matters where the Companies Act 2006 requires us to
report to you if, in our opinion:
adequate accounting records have not been kept
or returns adequate for our audit have not been
received from branches not visited by us; or
the financial statements are not in agreement with
the accounting records and returns; or
certain disclosures of trustees remuneration
specified by law are not made; or
we have not received all the information and
explanations we require for our audit; or
the trustees were not entitled to prepare the financial
statements in accordance with the small companies
regime and take advantage of the small companies
exemption in preparing the Report of the Trustees.
Jeremy Harrod FCCA (Senior Statutory Auditor)
for and on behalf of Grant Harrod Parkinson LLP
Chartered Accountants
Statutory Auditors
49A High Street
Ruislip
Middlesex
HA4 7BD
17th September 2013
17

English PEN Annual Report 01 April 2012 - 31 March 2013

Annual Report 01 April 2012 - 31 March 2013 English PEN

Annual accounts 2012-2013

Annual accounts 2012-2013

Income & expenditure

Balance sheet

Note

Incoming Resources
Incoming resources from generated Funds
Voluntary income
Activities for generating funds
Income from investments
Bank interest receivable
Incoming resources from charitable activities
Grants receivable
Other income

Total Incoming Resources

Resources Expended
Cost of Generating Funds:
Costs of generating voluntary income

3,4

Net Income/(Outgoing Resources)

Other recognised Gains and losses
Gain/(Loss) on revaluation of investments

Restricted
Funds

Total
Funds
Year ended
2012

107,627
54,545
10,021
117

0
0
0
0

107,627
54,545
10,021
117

110,134
50,813
9,716
48

227,610
3,555

394,533
0

622,143
3,555

451,134
30,739

403,475

394,533

798,008

652,584

42,531

30,991

(2,400)
0
0
0
322,375
13,652
0

118,091
50,380
135,837
51,017
(55,466)
0
0

115,691
50,380
135,837
51,017
266,909
13,652
0

74,641
48,530
43,316
146,992
252,616
13,462
0

376,158

299,859

676,017

610,548

27,317

94,674

121,991

42,036

2,825

27,317

94,674

121,991

44,861

Funds Brought Forward

261,622

14,570

276,192

231,331

Funds Carried Forward

288,939

109,244

398,183

276,192

18

42,531

Net Movement in funds for the year

Unrestricted
Funds

Restricted
Funds

2013 Total
funds

2012 Total
funds

5
6

6,348
185,079
191,427

0
0
0

6,348
185,079
191,427

5,948
185,079
191,027

109,874
111,066
220,940

0
109,244
109,244

109,874
220,310
330,184

66,664
159,837
226,501

(123,428)

(123,428)

(141,336)

97,512

109,244

206,756

85,165

288,939

109,244

398,183

276,192

109,244
288,939

14,570
261,622

398,183

276,192

Note

Fixed Assets
Tangible assets
Investments

Current Assets
Debtors
Cash at bank and in hand
Creditors
Amounts falling due within one year
Net Current Assets

Charitable Activities
Readers and Writers
Writers at Risk
Writers in Translation
Campaigns
Other Charitable expenditure
Governance costs
Other resources expended
Total Resources Expended

Unrestricted
Funds

Total
Funds
Year ended
2013

The notes on pages 20 to 28 form part of these financial statements.

None of the companys activities were acquired or discontinued during the financial period.

The company has no recognised gains or losses other than these dealt with in the above
Statement of Financial Activities.

Total Assets Less Current Liabilities

Funds
Restricted
Unrestricted

The notes on pages 20 to 28 form part of these financial statements

These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the special provisions of Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006 relating
to small charitable companies and with the Financial Reporting Standard for Smaller Entities (effective April 2008).

The financial statements were approved by the Board of Trustees and were approved by the Board of Trustees on 17th September 2013
Gillian Slovo

Barry Kernon
Chair
Treasurer


Company Registration Number: 05747142

19

English PEN Annual Report 01 April 2012 - 31 March 2013

Annual Report 01 April 2012 - 31 March 2013 English PEN

Annual accounts 2012-2013

Annual accounts 2012-2013

1 Accounting policies

2 Grants receivable

Basis of Accounting

Fund Accounting

The financial statements have been prepared under

the historical cost convention, with the exception of
investments which are included at market value, as
modified by the revaluation of certain assets and in
accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard
for Smaller Entities (effective April 2008), the
Companies Act 2006 and the requirements of the
Statement of Recommended Practice, Accounting
and Reporting by Charities.

Restricted funds are funds which are to be used

in accordance with specific restrictions imposed by
the donor.

The following principal accounting policies, which

are unchanged from the previous year, have been
consistently applied in preparing these financial
statements.

Incoming Resources
Grants, subscriptions and donations are accounted
for on an receipts basis, other income on an accruals
basis, except for certain advance payments received
at the end of the financial year in respect of activities
to take place in the following financial year, which
are carried forward in the financial statements as
deferred income. Other income is accounted for on an
accruals basis.

Resources Expended
All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis
and has been classified under headings that aggregate
all costs related to the category. Wherever possible
costs are directly attributed to these headings.
Costs common to more than one area are apportioned
on the basis of staff time.
Governance costs are those incurred in the governance
of the charity and are primarily associated with the
constitutional and statutory requirements.

Unrestricted funds are funds which are available for

use at the discretion of the trustees in futherance of
the general objects of the charity.

Deferred
income
brought
forward

Grants
received

Deferred
income
carried
forward

Total 2013

Total 2012

15,000

Restricted
Allan & Nesta Ferguson

Arts Council of England

120,000

120,000

AB Charitable Trust

7,500

7,500

7,500

Bloomberg L.P.

50,000

50,000

15,000

Designated funds represent amounts set aside by the

Trustees from unrestricted income to meet specific
purposes.

Booktrust

1,000

1,000

Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation

30,000

30,000

Clore Duffield Foundation

9,500

Tangible Fixed Assets

Esme Fairbairn

27,083

27,083

European Commission

18,456

18,456

14,407

Items with a value greater than 250 are capitalised.

Tangible fixed assets are stated at cost less
accumulated depreciation. Provision is made for
depreciation on all tangible assets at rates calculated
to write off the cost of each asset over its expected
useful life, as follows:

John Lyons Charity

19,500

19,500

15,000

MB Reckitt Trust

8,000

8,000

Nigel May

1,500

Open Society Foundation

60,720

60,720

73,964

2,774

2,774

20,000

15,000

5,000

5,000

Fixtures, fittings, computers & software - 25% per

annum on a reducing balance basis

Scotshill Trust

2,500

Swan Mountain Trust

1,000

1,000

Investments

Nuffield Foundation

99,500

Phoenix Charitable Foundation

10,000

10,000

5,000

Investments are stated at market value as at the

balance sheet date. Any gain or loss on revaluation is
taken to the Statement of Financial Activities in the
period to which they relate.

The Limbourne Trust

5,000

5,000

4,000

The Logos Trust

1,000

1,000

The Monument Trust

16,000

16,000

The Pack Foundation

5,000

5,000

16,000

Pension Costs

The Sigrid Rausing Trust

25,000

25,000

25,000

25,000

45,833

2,750

Pension contributions payable to employee defined

contribution pension schemes are charged to the
Statement of Financial Affairs in the period to which
they relate.

45,000

408,033

58,500

394,533

348,454

Arts Council of England - Revenue

110,000

110,000

70,130

Arts Council of England - GftA

107,610

107,610

34,200

The Neil Kreitman Foundation

10,000

10,000

10,000

Other grants

4,350

227,610

227,610

118,680

45,000

635,643

58,500

622,143

467,134

Other Restricted Grants

PEN Pinter Prize Fund

The Vodafone Foundation

Unrestricted

Total Grants Receivable

20

21

English PEN Annual Report 01 April 2012 - 31 March 2013

Annual Report 01 April 2012 - 31 March 2013 English PEN

Annual accounts 2012-2013

Annual accounts 2012-2013

3 Staff costs

Total resources expended

The aggregate payroll costs were

2013

2012

283,887

261,390

Social security costs

27,268

25,676

Pension costs

15,077

4,373

326,232

291,439

Wages and salaries

During the year 4 trustees were reimbursed 936 expenses for travel (2012 : 841 to 4 trustees).
During the year, 4 trustees received a total of 680 for translation work (2012 : nil).
No employee received an annual remuneration in excess of 60,000 (2012: nil).
The total number of employees calculated on a full time equivalent basis during the year was 9.5 (2012 - 10.5).

Staff are allocated as follows:

2013

2012

Readers and Writers staff

2.0

1.5

Writers at Risk staff

1.5

1.5

Writers in Translation staff

1.5

2.0

Campaigns staff

0.5

1.0

Other charitable activities

2.0

2.5

Management and Administration

2.0

2.0

Total

9.5

10.5

Writers
at Risk

Writers in
Translation

Governance

2013

2012

42,116

48,688

57,713

16,288

161,427

326,232

291,439

514

176

5,301

39

6,030

6,846

Rent and other office costs

2,162

196

418

1,008

57,088

721

61,593

73,136

Printing and design

8,858

41

1,069

324

12,416

3,626

26,334

24,342

Travel, subsistence and entertaining

6,936

450

224

542

5,005

1,307

14,464

16,178

Advertising and marketing

1,975

1,975

881

Writers fees and expenses

44,041

15,164

1,005

60,210

38,715

Grants to Writers

(8)

54,609

500

55,101

12,663

Campaign costs

32,185

32,185

19,926

Prizes, events/workshops
and room hire

4,491

658

4,278

598

44,906

1,694

56,625

43,476

Research and Professional Costs

4,000

1,440

48

5,492

52,337

Audit costs

5,100

5,100

5,650

Accountancy costs

415

415

7,018

Bank charges

42

17

85

17

923

22

1,106

723

Depreciation

2,100

2,100

550

2,531

158

54

55

15,369

719

18,886

14,461

Bad debt

760

Miscellaneous expenses

783

962

424

2,169

1,447

115,691

50,380

135,837

51,017

309,440

13,652

676,017

610,548

74,641

48,530

43,316

146,992

283,607

13,462

610,548

Staff Costs (note 3)

Temps/recruitment/training

Subscriptions, publications
and conferences

Total Resources Expended

and Support Costs

2012

22

Other
Charitable
Campaigns Expenditure

Readers
& Writers

23

English PEN Annual Report 01 April 2012 - 31 March 2013

Annual Report 01 April 2012 - 31 March 2013 English PEN

Annual accounts 2012-2013

Annual accounts 2012-2013

5 Tangible fixed assets

7 Debtors

Fittings, Computers and Software

Cost
At 1 April 2012
Additions
Disposals

12,424

At 31 March 2013

2012

Trade debtors

20,850

32,375

FEST Auction costs paid in advance

29,558

Other debtors

Depreciation
At 1 April 2012
Charge for the year
At 31 March 2013

3,976
2,100
0
6,076

Net Book Value

At 31 March 2013

6,348

At 31 March 2012

5,948

Trade creditors
Social security and other taxes
2013

Market value as at 1 April

59,466

34,289

109,874

66,664

8 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

6 Fixed asset investments

2012

185,079

182,254

Unrealised gain on investment

2,825

Market Value as at 31 March

185,079

185,079

Historical Cost

158,548

158,548

Market Value 2013

Cost 2013

Market Value 2012

Cost 2012

City of London Inv Trust

43,792

31,397

43,792

31,397

M&G Investment (Charifund)

55,047

44,160

55,047

44,160

COIF Fixed Interest (CCLA)

86,240

82,901

86,240

82,901

185,079

158,458

185,079

158,458

24

2013

9,924
2,500
0

Deferred income - Restricted

2013

2012

24,898

63,336

8,412

6,348

58,500

45,000

Deferred income - Voluntary

4,600

Accruals and other creditors

31,619

22,052

123,429

141,336

25

English PEN Annual Report 01 April 2012 - 31 March 2013

Annual Report 01 April 2012 - 31 March 2013 English PEN

Annual accounts 2012-2013

Annual accounts 2012-2013

9 Restricted funds

Arts Council of England

Bloomberg L.P.
Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
Clore Duffield Foundation
Esme Fairbairn Foundation

Balance at
2012

Incoming
Resources

Resources
Expended

Balance
at 2013

120,000

41,432

78,568

4,187

50,000

43,697

10,490

30,000

26,714

3,286

975

975

27,083

21,446

5,637

18,456

17,236

1,220

2,380

19,500

15,639

6,241

8,000

7,000

1,000

1,736

60,720

62,456

Other Restricted Grants

2,774

2,774

PEN Pinter Prize Fund

5,000

5,000

3,172

517

2,655

Swan Mountain Trust

1,000

1,000

The Limbourne Trust

5,000

5,000

The Logos Trust

1,000

1,000

The Monument Trust

16,000

15,853

147

The Pack Foundation

5,000

5,000

The Sigrid Rausing Trust

25,000

25,000

2,120

2,120

14,570

394,533

299,859

109,244

European Commission
John Lyons Charity
MB Reckitt Trust
Open Society Foundations

Prisoners of Conscience

The Vodafone Foundation

26

Bloomberg LP contributed to English PENs Writers in

Translation PEN Promotes! programme. Bloomberg is a
global business and financial news organisation whose
philanthropic arm supports literacy and the arts among
other interests, with an emphasis on global reach,
effective engagement and innovation.

The M B Reckitt Trust funded our Faith in Free Speech

project, which gave young people and faith experts
the chance to explore how religion and free speech
come together. The project resulted in video learning
resources being made which PEN will promote to
teachers and youth clubs in the next year.

Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation funded our Brave New

Voices programme, which gave 30 young people from
refugee backgrounds the chance to write creatively
and learn translation skills. The project resulted in
video learning resources which PEN will promote to
teachers and youth clubs in the next year.

The Prisoners of Conscience Appeal Fund provides

a block grant which English PEN distributes to help
support the parents, spouses and children of writers
who are censored by imprisonment (or the threat of
imprisonment).

The Clore Duffield Foundation funded a project (under

the Readers & Writers programme) called Wish You
Were Here, which linked up a disadvantaged school
in Islington with a school in Freetown, Sierra Leone,
bringing young people together through creative letter
writing and global citizenship.
The Esme Fairbairn Foundation funded our Speak
For Yourself! training programme for young people
from disadvantaged backgrounds. The programme
resulted in the young people creating their own free
speech projects.
The European Commission Representation in the
United Kingdom funded a project (under the Readers
& Writers programme) called Big Writing For A Small
World, which enabled English PEN to work in ten
refugee centres across the country, bringing writers
together with refugees, migrants and asylum seekers.

Open Society Foundations contributed to English PENs

UK campaign for libel reform. Established by George
Soros, the OSF works to build vibrant and tolerant
democracies whose governments are accountable to
their citizens.
The Monument Trust funded (under the Readers &
Writers programme) our ongoing work in English
prisons, sending writers inside to run workshops and
give readings. We get publishers to send the writers
books in to the prison and the whole experience
is inspiring and uplifting for the people who
experience it.
The Sigrid Rausing Trust funded English PENs ongoing
work with Writers at Risk around the world. The trust
is a grant-giving foundation founded by Sigrid Rausing
to support the international human rights movement.
The Vodafone Foundation provided funds for the
employment of a student intern.

John Lyons Charity funded the youth element of the

Big Writing For A Small World project, enabling English
PEN to bring a high quality literature programme to 40
young people from disadvantaged schools in Brent.

27

English PEN Annual Report 01 April 2012 - 31 March 2013

Annual Report 01 April 2012 - 31 March 2013 English PEN

Annual accounts 2012-2013

10 Analysis of Net Assets Between Funds - Group
Tangible
Fixed Assets

Investments

Net
Current
Assets

Total 2013

English PEN
Free Word Centre
60 Farringdon Road
London EC1R 3GA
T +44 (0) 20 7324 2535

Total 2012

Editor

General Unrestricted Funds

Restricted Funds

6,348

185,079

97,512

288,939

261,622

109,244

109,244

14,570

Printed by Aldgate Press

6,348

185,079

206,756

398,183

276,192

Limited Liability
English PEN is a company limited by guarantee. Liability is limited to 1 per member.
As at 31 March 2013 there were 1,300 members.

Operating Lease Commitments

At 31 March 2013 English PEN had annual commitments of 2,002 under an operating lease expiring within 2-5 years.

APB Ethical Standard Provisions Available for Small Entities

In common with many other business of our size and nature we use our auditors to prepare and submit returns to the tax
authorities, and to assist in the preparation of the financial statements.

28

Design
Brett Biedscheid, statetostate.co.uk

Total Funds

Heather Norman Sderlind

English PEN is a company limited by

guarantee, number 5747142 and a
registered charity, number 1125610

Registered Office
Free Word Centre
60 Farringdon Road
London
EC1R 3GA
www.englishpen.org

Registered Company Number

05747142 (England and Wales)
Registered Charity Number
1125610