English PEN Annual Report 2013-14

Annual Report 01 April 2013 - 31 March 2014

English PEN promotes the freedom to write and the freedom to read

We believe that everyone in the world should be free 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 Campaigns programme in the UK and internationally.

As well as the 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 freedom of expression through our UK free speech campaigns and our international advocacy.

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 young people and those who are excluded from mainstream society – whose voices might not otherwise be heard – through our Readers & Writers programme.

We seek to bring as much of the world’s 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.

About English PEN

English PEN Annual Report 01 April 2013 - 31 March 2014

Cover photo: Belarusian journalist Iryna Khalip thanks 2013 PEN/Pinter prize-winner Sir Tom Stoppard for selecting her as International Writer of Courage. British Library, October 2013. Credit: George Torode

President’s statement

Introduction

Campaigning for writers at risk around the world

Campaigning in the UK

Giving voice to communities

Translating world literature

Celebrating writers at public events

Grants and donations

Annual Accounts 2013/14

Annual Report 01 April 2013 - 31 March 2014 English PEN

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Welcome from Maureen Freely, President


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English PEN’s programmes are all dedicated towards improving the conditions in which writers and readers can flourish

I was delighted to be elected President of the Board of English PEN this Spring. After 15 years of supporting PEN’s work for writers at risk, as an author and translator, it’s an honour to be playing a key role in the charity’s future.

We can never take free speech or creative freedom for granted. English PEN’s programmes are all dedicated towards improving the conditions in which writers and readers can flourish: whether our staff and partners are challenging the new threats to communicating online freely, taking opportunities for self-expression to disadvantaged communities or ensuring that world literature reaches the widest audience possible through our programme of translation grants.

We are grateful to all our funders, supporters and members for making our work possible. Arts Council England announced this summer that English PEN will receive national portfolio funding for a further three years, which is a welcome endorsement of our achievements and an essential core grant for our activities.

English PEN’s growth depends on the funds to match our ambitions. Our huge success last year at our fundraising auction ‘First Editions, Second Thoughts’, hosted by Sotheby’s, has enabled us to expand our team, invest in our infrastructure and consolidate our growth. It has been a rare and exciting opportunity at a time of economic insecurity in the UK and we remain grateful to the generosity of the authors who helped to raise funds.

English PEN’s identity and resilience depends on the community of writers, publishers, journalists, translators, bloggers, readers and activists who support our work. Our members and supporters have a professional as well as a principled investment in protecting and promoting the written word and are a significant factor in our success – from raising concerns about threats to free speech to championing literature in prisons and refugee centres.

Thank you for supporting English PEN.

John Hegley at the launch of the ‘Make My Day!’ diary at the Tricycle Theatre, 20 June 2013.

Credit: George Torode

This has been a year of intense activity and notable achievement for English PEN. Following our significant fundraising success we have increased our capacity and are focusing on getting the message out more effectively to our members and the wider public. Our translation programme now has an exciting new partnership with Foyles and a dedicated website, World Bookshelf, that showcases the outstanding contemporary literature we have supported over the past decade. Three of our books won awards this year, which is recognition of the quality of English PEN’s continuing scheme, funded by Arts Council England and Bloomberg.

We are also proud to have expanded our advocacy for freedom of expression in the UK and abroad: publishing a report on the impact of the Gezi protests on free speech in Turkey; hosting a roundtable on the challenges to freedom of expression at the London Book Fair with visiting Turkish writers; taking our campaign for libel reform to Northern Ireland and Scotland; launching new advocacy in support of access to books in prison and campaigning for the protection of freedom of expression online.

Young people remain the core beneficiaries of our outreach work, a diverse group that includes schoolchildren, young offenders and refugees. The team at English PEN has grown and we are pleased to have welcomed a fundraising manager, Stuart Linnett, along with a new deputy director, Catherine Taylor, and a new head of programmes, Louise Swan.

We are also delighted to have created a paid internship programme, offering graduates an opportunity to break into the arts, literature and human rights. English PEN’s interns have quickly become a vital part of the team and play an important role in co-ordinating our Student PEN Centres, which are proving to be a dynamic and creative addition to our network. With a strong team, we are well placed to build on our success, with new partnerships and exciting plans for the future.

Introduction from Jo Glanville, Director


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Our international advocacy has focused on Turkey, supporting individual writers at risk and calling for greater protection for freedom of expression. In March, we published a joint report with PEN International, assessing the impact of the Gezi Park protests on free speech. The report includes eyewitness testimony from leading journalists and authors, underlining the multiple pressures facing writers in Turkey. We also published an open letter, signed by leading Turkish and international authors including Elif Shafak, Orhan Pamuk, Salman Rushdie and Günter Grass, calling on the Turkish government to respect freedom of expression as a universal and fundamental human right, and to create an environment in which all citizens are able to express themselves freely without fear of censorship or punishment. We have written a joint submission to the UN Universal Periodic Review on Turkey with partners at ARTICLE 19, the Committee to Protect Journalists, Freedom House and PEN International. The submission addresses legislative restrictions to freedom of expression, including the misuse of counter-terrorism legislation and increasing restrictions on freedom of expression online.

We continued our support for international writers in prison, including the Cameroonian poet and activist Enoh Meyomesse, who is serving a seven- year sentence. We are grateful to all the translators who generously gave up their time and expertise to translate a book of Meyomesse’s poems, Jail Verse: Poems from Kondengui Prison, as part of our campaign for his release. The publication is the latest in English PEN’s creative use of literature in support of advocacy. English PEN’s collection of poetry in support of Pussy Riot, Catechism, was awarded Best Poetry Anthology in the Saboteur Awards 2013. We were delighted to welcome members of Pussy Riot on a visit to London last year in meetings with their supporters and with the press.

English PEN is also part of a broad coalition of NGOs working together on the case of Vietnamese blogger and human rights lawyer Le Quoc Quan. We issued a joint statement strongly condemning the decision of the Appeal Court to uphold his sentence and will be continuing to work closely with our partners on his case. His family remain hugely grateful for the support of the international community. Quan’s brother wrote to the coalition to thank us for our support, adding: ‘I believe that Quan also feel [sic] your love for him.’ In addition, English PEN submitted a Universal Periodic Review on Vietnam to the UN with PEN International, ARTICLE 19 and Access.

The Belarusian journalist Iryna Khalip shared the PEN Pinter award with Tom Stoppard in a moving ceremony at the British Library in 2013. The prize is awarded to writers who, in the words of Pinter’s Nobel prize speech in 2005, cast an ‘unflinching, unswerving’ gaze upon the world, and show a ‘fierce intellectual determination ... to define the real truth of our lives and our societies’. Stoppard’s friendship and support for Khalip embodies the spirit of English PEN’s work – an international community of writers standing together in solidarity and resisting censorship.

Campaigning for writers at risk around the world


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Jail Verse is the latest example of English PEN’s creative use of literature in support of advocacy

Enoh MeyomesseGraphic: Bobby Agrawal

It has been an exceptionally busy year for advocacy in the UK. The Defamation Act came into force on 1 January 2014 in England and Wales, the culmination of four years campaigning by English PEN and its partners. Our achievement has been acknowledged as one of the most significant successes for human rights advocacy in recent years. The support of English PEN’s members and supporters has been critical in reaching our goal. We are now taking the campaign to Northern Ireland and Scotland, where we are working closely with local journalists, lawyers, writers and activists to develop a grassroots campaign for reform.

In the wake of Edward Snowden’s revelations about the intelligence services’ mass collection of our private data, English PEN has formed an unprecedented new coalition with leading civil liberties groups, under the banner ‘Don’t Spy On Us’, calling for legislation and judicial oversight to protect our freedom of expression online. We are challenging the government’s invasion of British citizens’ privacy at the European Court of Human Rights, which has designated the case a priority, and are intervening in David Miranda’s appeal, following his detention under the Terrorism Act in the course of his work on the Snowden leaks. In a world of digital communications, it has now become essential for free speech advocates to protect privacy so that we can continue to share information and ideas freely.

In recognition of the importance of freedom of expression online, we are also engaged in defending communication on social media. We were concerned by a number of new prosecutions which received custodial sentences despite the former Director of Public Prosecutions’ new guidelines for prosecutors, which had recognised the importance of protecting freedom of expression.

We have also been actively supporting access to books in prison, following new regulations that restrict families and friends from sending books to prisoners. In partnership with the Howard League for Penal Reform, and with the support of leading authors including Carol Ann Duffy, Mark Haddon and Ian McEwan, we have led a campaign that underlines the vital importance of reading in prison.

All of English PEN’s campaigns in the UK support our advocacy internationally. Our credibility and integrity depends on our commitment to challenge restrictions and threats to freedom of expression in our own backyard as vigorously as overseas. We are grateful to the journalists, lawyers and authors, many of whom are English PEN members, who have generously given their time and expertise to ensure that our protests do not go unnoticed.

Campaigning for freedom of expression in the UK


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Our achievement has been acknowledged as one of the most significant successes for human rights advocacy in recent years

Author Simon Singh, solicitor Kate Briscoe of Legal Beagles, comedian Dara Ó Briain, and scientist and presenter Professor Brian Cox celebrate the passage of the Defamation Act 2013. Credit: Marianne Baker

English PEN’s outreach programme, Readers & Writers, works with a diverse range of communities and writers, taking the opportunity for creative expression to school children, refugees, asylum seekers, prisoners and young offenders in England. Young people remain our target audience, but we are excited to be developing a new programme with older people, in recognition of the growing challenges facing an ageing population and the potential for tapping the potential of reading and writing for this age group.

Our translation workshops have continued to be a dynamic source of creative engagement for young people, refugees and asylum seekers, bringing together the skills and expertise of our Writers in Translation programme with our community work leaders. In 2013, the Brave New Voices project ran for ten weeks, funded by Calouste Gulbenkian, which included a workshop led by the young French-Algerian writer Faïza Guène and translator Sarah Ardizzone at a sixth form college in Greater London. This included a significant population of Francophone young people from West and North Africa along with young people from Arabic-speaking communities. Online learning resources accompanying the programme, including animation videos about the fundamental concepts of translation, are now available on the English PEN YouTube channel. This represents a new opportunity to take our dedicated workshops to a wider audience, giving young people, teachers and community workers the chance to use English PEN’s resources for their own projects and teaching.

We also made learning resources widely available from our successful project on Faith in Free Speech, which engaged young people of a faith background in the free speech debate, one of the most challenging and contentious areas for freedom of expression in society today.

Our work in prisons has included flash fiction workshops, funded by the Big Lottery Fund, with young offenders and prisoners in four prison estates. We have directly reached 200 offenders in 16 prisons and young offenders institutions across England, donated 1,000 books and, in partnership with Oxford University Press, enabled 600 dictionaries to be delivered for free. We have collaborated with National Prison Radio, Writers in Prison Network (WIPN), Inside Time, the Arts Alliance, the Prison Education Trust, Quickreads and many publishers.

The English PEN prison writing competition celebrated its third year, judged by author Jackie Kay. As an established annual event, it offers an important opportunity for English PEN to reach across the prison population on an ambitious scale and is a showcase for talent and ability that encourages creative and original expression. More than 400 offenders from 60 prisons submitted entries. A new category for flash fiction was added to the competition in response to interest expressed from young offenders involved in English PEN workshops. The winners and commended entries were published in a pamphlet, Running to Stand Still, which was launched at a public event at the Free Word Centre in January.

Giving voice to communities


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Workshop leaders and participants in the

Brave New Words projectCredit: English PEN

English PEN’s Writers in Translation programme has now supported nearly 100 books, available on our dedicated website World Bookshelf, launched this year in a new partnership with Foyles. We are proud to be at the heart of a thriving and creative network of translators, authors, publishers, booksellers, readers and academics in the UK, supporting outstanding literature in translation. English PEN is a lead partner in the annual event International Translation Day (ITD), at the British Library. ITD sold out in 2013 and is a unique forum, bringing together the leading figures in the translation sector. We also supported the Literary Translation Centre at the London Book Fair, another important annual series of events for translators and publishers.

Through our PEN Promotes programme, funded by Bloomberg, we helped to publicise ten titles in translation from ten different languages (Arabic, Chinese, Czech, French, German, Polish, Russian, Spanish, Tamil and Ukrainian). Our PEN Translates programme, funded by Arts Council England, supported the translation costs of 32 titles from 15 different languages (Arabic, Bulgarian, Chinese, Czech, Finnish, French, German, Hebrew, Hungarian, Occitan, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish).

We have supported 38 events featuring over 60 international writers, translators and literary professionals in 35 venues across the UK (including Bath, Birmingham, Canterbury, Edinburgh, Ilkley, Norwich, London, Manchester, Oxford, Stratford-upon-Avon and York) and have reached a total of around 3,000 participants. Highlights include an event at the Mosaic Rooms to celebrate the publication Writing Revolution, which featured readings from leading actors Jonjo O’Neill and Sam West, as well as a discussion with visiting authors and editors about new writing in the Arab world, which was another great success.

We have published 57 original PEN Atlas dispatches on English PEN’s website. This included writing from Africa, Argentina, Austria, Burma, Chechnya, Czech Republic, Egypt, Equitorial Guinea, France, Greece, Iran, Italy, Kurdistan, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, North America, Palestine, Poland, Romania, Russia, South Korea, Syria, Taiwan, Turkey and Ukraine. Contributors ranged from emerging writers and translators to literary heavyweights such as Otto de Kat, Hannah Krall, Andrey Kurkov and Mikhail Shiskin.

In May 2013 we partnered with The Reading Agency and Booktrust on the first ever Independent Foreign Fiction Readers’ Prize, which gave readers a chance to shadow the prestigious prize and select their own winner. This project was over-subscribed and included a readers’ day event at the Free Word Centre which was well attended by reading groups from around the UK. In March 2014 we also partnered with Oxygen Books on a Readers’ Day at the Library of Birmingham.

Translating world literature


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Our PEN Translates programme supported the translation costs of 32 titles from 15 different languages

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o interviewed by English PEN

trustee Amanda Hopkinson at International Translation Day

2013 at the British Library Credit: George Torode

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English PEN runs events throughout the year, featuring leading authors, new talent and international writers. We engage with the major challenges for freedom of expression and reach a diverse audience through our literary programme. We also award prizes for excellence, including the PEN Ackerley Prize for literary biography, which Richard Holloway won for Leaving Alexandria: A Memoir of Faith and Doubt and the Hessell-Tiltman for history, awarded to Keith Lowe for Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of World War II.

The PEN Literary Cafe at the London Book Fair featured writers from Turkey, the 2013 market focus. We held a sell-out event at the Arcola Theatre in East London with leading Turkish authors including Murathan Mungan, Oya Bayder and Ece Temelkuran. It was well attended by the local Turkish and Kurdish community. We were also delighted to host talks with Lionel Shriver and Will Self at the London Book Fair itself.

Highlights of the year included a screening of Under Milk Wood to mark the anniversary of Dylan Thomas’s birth at the Tricycle Cinema. Musician and broadcaster Cerys Matthews interviewed screenwriter and director Andrew Sinclair about the making of the film. Celebrated poet Linton Kwesi Johnson continued our annual series Inspirations, selecting the literature that has influenced him in his career, in a memorable evening with Patience Agbabi. In June, English PEN took part in the two-day Nordicana Festival at the landmark Farmiloe Building in London with a sell-out discussion chaired by broadcaster and author Mark Lawson. Panellists included Borgen screenwriter Adam Price. We were also delighted to see another event sell out with Mexican author Juan Pablo Villalobos and DBC Pierre at the Rich Mix in London. This included a bilingual reading with live performance art, a discussion about Mexican politics and writing and a DJ set from Moshi Moshi records.

In an outstanding programme of creative and popular events, our fundraising auction at Sotheby’s, ‘First Editions, Second Thoughts’, was a unique evening. Fifty leading authors annotated first editions of their work – a revealing and fascinating endeavour. This was an exceptional literary enterprise, adding to the sum of our knowledge about the creative process and creating new artworks, as well as a significant fundraiser for the charity. We are grateful to former English PEN trustee Rick Gekoski for his energy and dedication. The board of English PEN has recognised Rick’s significant contribution by giving him the title of Honorary Vice-President of English PEN.

Celebrating writers at public events


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Linton Kwesi Johnson continued our annual series Inspirations, selecting the literature that has influenced him in his career

Patience Agbabi, Burt Caesar, Sheila Reid and Linton Kwesi Johnson perform ‘Inspirations’ at the

Tricycle Theatre, 2 February 2014.Credit: George Torode



The Members and Friends of English PEN

Arts Council England

English PEN would like to thank all those who have supported us this year

Trusts & Foundations

AB Charitable TrustBig Lottery FundCalouste Gulbenkian Foundation Esmeé Fairbairn FoundationEuropean CommissionThe Foyle FoundationJohn Lyon’s Charity

The Monument TrustThe Neil Kreitman FoundationThe Open Society FoundationsThe Phoenix Charitable TrustThe Sigrid Rausing TrustThe Thompson Family Charitable Trust

Silver PEN Partners

CanongateFaber & FaberHachette UK HarperCollins

London Book Fair Penguin Random House Simon & Schuster

Corporate Donors

Bloomberg LP Bob & CoFour Colman Getty

Sotheby’s, London FT Weekend Islington Council

Benefactors

Ken and Barbara FollettMichael Henderson Flowers JohnsonRuth MaxtedIan Townend (in memory of his son Robert Joseph Townend)

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Participants at the PEN Quiz, November 2013. Credit: George Torode

Report of the Trustees and Financial Statements

for the year ended 31 March 2014

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Structure, governance and management


Governing document

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. The Articles of Association were amended on 24 January 2014.

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.

Recruitment and appointment of new trustees

The Articles of Association of English PEN allow for the election of between five and 18 trustees, to serve up to a maximum of two terms, with an additional three spaces for co-options. Trustees are elected by and from English PEN’s members at the Annual General Meeting.

Induction and training of new trustees

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

Organisational structure

Membership of English PEN is open to poets, playwrights, essayists, editors, journalists, novelists, translators, publishers and other persons similarly engaged who share the organisation’s 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. Non-voting friends and student members also contribute to English PEN’s voluntary activities. The Board of Trustees, chaired by the President, is responsible for the organisation’s 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 in Prison Committee and the Writers in Translation Committee, each of which has Terms of Reference setting out its purpose, membership and reporting structure.

Related parties

English PEN is the founding centre of PEN International, and has voting rights at the Assembly of Delegates, which constitutes PEN International’s Annual General Meeting. English PEN is also one of eight founding members of the Free Word Centre, which opened in London in 2009 after a three-year feasibility study concluded that the beneficiaries of organisations in the literature, literacy and free speech sectors would be well served by the creation of a new flagship building. Whilst Free Word provides English PEN with a physical home, and the capacity for far closer working relationships within these sectors, it has no authority over English PEN’s 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 charity’s policy to hold reserves to cover operating costs for six months. Current reserves are sufficient.

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English PEN’s registration as a charity on 26 August 2008 marked the Charity Commission’s acceptance of the organisation’s 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 will enable English PEN to concentrate its resources most effectively on this beneficiary class, whilst – as the Charity Commission acknowledges – benefiting the public generally.

The Charity Commission’s Board made three noteworthy points in their review of English PEN’s 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 the public benefit must be assessed in relation to ‘each individual object in turn’.

This means in practice that the public benefit of English PEN’s 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 PEN’s clear internal procedures for assessing the scale of a human rights threat before engaging in political campaigning, this guidance give the charity flexibility to allocate its resources to campaigns as and when appropriate in pursuit of its charitable objects.

Statement of trustees’ responsibilitiesThe trustees (who are also the directors of English PEN for the purpose 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 judgments 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 company’s 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 auditorsSo 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 company’s 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 company’s auditors are aware of that information.

AuditorsThe auditors, Messrs. Grant Harrod Lerman Davis LLP, will be proposed for re-appointment at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting.

On behalf of the board:

Maureen Freely – President 9 October 2014

Public benefit


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Report of the Trustees for the year ended 31 March 2014


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 2014. 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 E P AllfreyC L Armitstead M FreelyR GekoskiP Gwyn Jones C L Goodings D HahnE A Hoffman R HolmesA T Hopkinson C JarvisR N KentB P W Kernon C M KingN LalwaniL F M Mackie D P MillerH MatarG A Proudler P SandsR SchwartzK N ShamsieF S ShihabG SlovoS J Tripathi

Director

Deputy Director

Registered Office

Company Number

Charity Number

Auditors

Bankers

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Resigned 11 March 2014 Appointed 2 December 2013 Appointed 2 December 2013 Appointed 11 March 2014 Resigned 2 December 2013 Appointed 2 December 2013 Resigned 2 December 2013

Resigned 2 December 2013 Resigned 31 January 2014

Resigned 12 April 2014

Appointed 2 December 2013 Resigned 2 December 2013

Resigned 2 December 2013 Appointed 2 December 2013

Resigned 2 December 2013 Resigned 2 November 2013 Resigned 2 December 2013 Resigned 2 November 2013 Resigned 2 December 2013

Jo Glanville

Catherine Taylor

Free Word Centre60 Farringdon Road, London EC1R 3GA

05747142 (England and Wales)

1125610

Grant Harrod Lerman Davis LLPChartered Accountants and Statutory Auditors49A High StreetRuislip, Middlesex, HA4 7BD

HSBC76-78 Kings RoadLondon SW3 4TZ

We have audited the financial statements of English PEN for the year ended 31 March 2014 on pages 17-28. 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 company’s 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 company’s 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 company’s members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Respective responsibilities of trustees and auditorsAs 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 Board’s Ethical Standards for Auditors, including APB Ethical Standard - Provisions Available for Small Entities (Revised), in the circumstances set out in note 13 to the financial statements.

Scope of the audit of the financial statementsAn 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 company’s 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 statementsIn our opinion the financial statements:

• give a true and fair view of the state of the charitable company’s affairs as at 31 March 2014 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 2006In 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 Lerman Davis LLPChartered AccountantsStatutory Auditors49A High StreetRuislipMiddlesexHA4 7BD

9 October 2014


Report of the Independent Auditors to the Members of English PEN

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Report of the Independent Auditors to the Members of English PEN Annual accounts 2013-2014


17

Statement of Financial Activities for the year ended 31 March 2014

UnrestrictedFunds

£

RestrictedFunds

£

TotalFunds

Year ended2013

£

TotalFunds

Year ended2014

£

Note

The notes on pages 19 to 28 form part of these financial statements. None of the company’s 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.

112,252 441,168

8,400 244

151,408

1,214

714,686

44,509 -- - -

513,480 23,098

-

581,087

133,599

24,550

158,149

288,939

447,088

- - - -

287,957 -

287,957 -

123,788 63,592

188,920 40,189

(170,936)- -

245,553

42,404 -

42,404

109,244

151,648

107,627 54,545 10,021

117

622,143 3,555

798,008

42,531

115,691 50,380

135,837 51,017

266,909 13,652

-

676,017

121,991 -

121,991

276,192

398,183

112,252 441,168

8,400 244

439,365

1,214

1,002,643

44,509

123,788 63,592

188,920 40,189

342,544 23,098

-

826,640

176,003

24,550

200,553

398,183

598,736

2

3,4

6

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

Total Incoming Resources

Resources ExpendedCost of Generating Funds: Costs of generating voluntary income

Charitable Activities Readers and Writers Writers at Risk Writers in Translation Campaigns Other Charitable expenditureGovernance costsOther resources expended

Total Resources Expended

Net Income/(Outgoing Resources)

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

Net Movement in funds for the year

Funds Brought Forward

Funds Carried Forward


Annual accounts 2013-2014

18

Balance sheet as at 31 March 2014

34,836209,629244,465

77,490300,652378,142

(175,519)

202,623

447,088

Fixed AssetsTangible assetsInvestments

Current AssetsDebtorsCash at bank and in hand

CreditorsAmounts falling due within one year

Net Current Assets

Total Assets Less Current Liabilities

FundsRestrictedUnrestricted DesignatedUnrestricted

---

-151,648151,648

-

151,648

151,648

6,348185,079191,427

109,874220,310330,184

(123,428)

206,756

398,183

109,244-

288,939

398,183

34,836209,629244,465

77,490452,300529,790

(175,519)

354,271

598,736

151,648255,718191,370

598,736

56

7

8

910

UnrestrictedFunds

£

RestrictedFunds

£

2013 Total funds

£

2014 Total funds

£

Note

The notes on pages 19 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 on 9th October 2014 and were signed on its behalf by:

Maureen Freely Barry Kernon President Treasurer Company Registration Number: 05747142

Annual accounts 2013-2014 Annual accounts 2013-2014


1 Accounting policies

Basis of 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.

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.

Fund accounting

Restricted funds are funds which are to be used in accordance with specific restrictions imposed by the donor.

Unrestricted funds are funds which are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in futherance of the general objects of the charity.

Designated funds represent amounts set aside by the trustees from unrestricted income to meet specific purposes.

Tangible fixed assets

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:

Fixtures, fittings, computers & software - 25% per annum on a reducing balance basis

Investments

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.

Pension costs

Pension contributions payable to employee defined contribution pension schemes are charged to the Statement of Financial Affairs in the period to which they relate.

19



2 Grants receivable

Restricted

AB Charitable Trust


Bloomberg L.P.

Booktrust

Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation

Esmée Fairbairn

European Commission

Foyle Foundation

John Lyon’s Charity

MB Reckitt Trust

Open Society Foundations

Other Restricted Grants

PEN Pinter Prize Fund

Swan Mountain Trust

Phoenix Charitable Foundation

The Big Lottery Fund

The Limbourne Trust

The Logos Trust

The Monument Trust

The Pack Foundation

The Sigrid Rausing Trust

Unrestricted

Arts Council England – Revenue

Arts Council England – GftA

The Neil Kreitman Foundation

Total Grants Receivable

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

10,000

-

5,000

-

-

-

-

-

25,000

40,000

70,000

-

-

70,000

110,000

-

120,000

50,000

30,000

27,083

18,456

19,500

8,000

60,720

2,774

5,000

1,000

-

-

5,000

1,000

16,000

5,000

25,000

394,533

110,000

107,610

10,000

227,610

622,143

7,500

120,000

50,000

1,000

-

-

19,541

10,000

-

-

17,166

3,500

5,000

-

5,000

8,250

-

-

16,000

-

25,000

287,957

36,190

105,218

10,000

151,408

439,365

7,500

-

-

1,000

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

15,000

-

10,000

-

-

-

-

-

25,000

58,500

-

-

-

-

58,500

Grants received

£

Deferred income carried

forward£

Total 2013£

Total 2014£

Deferred income

brought forward

£

20

-

120,000

50,000

-

-

-

19,541

10,000

-

-

17,166

3,500

-

-

-

8,250

-

-

16,000

-

25,000

269,457

106,190

105,218

10,000

221,408

490,865


2012



2013Staff are allocated as follows:

Wages and salaries

Social security costs

Pension costs

Readers and Writers staff

Writers at Risk staff

Writers in Translation staff

Campaigns staff

Other charitable activities

Management and Administration

Total

20132014The aggregate payroll costs were

283,887

27,268

15,077

326,232

2.0

1.5

1.5

0.5

2.0

2.0

9.5

312,319

30,844

6,755

349,918

2.0

1.5

1.5

0.5

2.0

2.0

9.5

During the year three trustees were reimbursed £1,143 expenses for travel (including £848 for travel to one PEN International conference in Krakow) (2013 : £936 to four trustees).

During the year, three trustees received a total of £840 for translation work (2013 : £680).

No employee received an annual remuneration in excess of £60,000 (2013: nil).

The total number of employees calculated on a full time equivalent basis during the year was 9.5 (2013 - 9.5).

3 Staff costs

21

56,788

192

6

1,030

393

-

-

1,934

-

500

2,184

-

-

-

51

-

129

-

385

63,592

50,380

Staff Costs (note 3)

Temps/recruitment/training

Rent and other office costs

Printing and design

Travel, subsistence and entertaining

Advertising and marketing

Writers’ fees and expenses

Grants to Writers

Campaign costs

Prizes, events/workshops and room hire

Research and Professional Costs

Audit costs

Accountancy costs

Legal fees

Bank charges

Depreciation

Subscriptions, publications and conferences

Bad debts

Miscellaneous expenses

Total Resources Expended and Support Costs

2013

61,825

156

4,804

45

791

1,200

18,799

96,018

-

4,030

-

-

-

-

395

-

17

-

840

188,920

135,837

4 Total resources expended

154,453

8,601

61,628

12,898

7,929

-

1,030

-

-

70,067

9,275

4,800

481

-

3,456

15,752

37,599

(760)

(156)

387,053

309,440

30,266

-

213

61

1,036

-

-

-

546

-

8,050

-

-

-

17

-

-

-

-

40,189

51,017

46,586

175

880

8,307

4,120

-

44,251

4,718

-

9,538

4,660

-

-

-

51

-

502

-

-

123,788

115,691

Writers at Risk

£

Writers in Translation

£

Other Charitable

Expenditure

£

Campaigns

£

Readers & Writers

£

-

113

1,498

7,692

486

-

-

-

-

192

4,483

600

-

7,370

-

-

-

-

664

23,098

13,652

349,918

9,237

69,029

30,033

14,755

1,200

64,080

102,670

546

84,327

28,652

5,400

481

7,370

3,970

15,752

38,247

(760)

1,733

826,640

676,017

326,232

6,030

61,593

26,334

14,464

1,975

60,210

55,101

32,185

56,625

5,492

5,100

415

-

1,106

2,100

18,886

-

2,169

676,017

2014

£

2013

£

Governance

£



22



CostAt 1 April 2013 Additions Disposals

At 31 March 2014

DepreciationAt 1 April 2013 Charge for the year

At 31 March 2014

Net Book ValueAt 31 March 2014

At 31 March 2013

Fittings, Computers and Software

12,424 44,240

-

56,664

6,076 15,752

21,828

34,836

6,348

5 Tangible fixed assets

City of London Inv Trust

M&G Investment (Charifund)

COIF Fixed Interest (CCLA)

Cost 2014Market Value 2014

56,023

70,056

83,550

209,629

Market Value 2013 Cost 2013

31,397

44,160

82,901

158,458

43,792

55,047

86,240

185,079

31,397

44,160

82,901

158,458

23

Market value as at 1 April

Unrealised gain on investment

Market Value as at 31 March

Historical Cost

2013£

2014£

185,079

-

185,079

158,548

185,079

24,550

209,629

158,548

6 Fixed asset investments



Trade debtors

FEST Auction costs paid in advance

Other debtors

2013£

2014£

20,850

29,558

59,466

109,874

70,725

-

6,765

77,490

Trade creditors

Social security and other taxes

Deferred income - Restricted

Deferred income - Voluntary

Accruals and other creditors

2013£

2014£

24,898

8,412

58,500

-

31,618

123,428

26,554

8,504

110,000

-

30,461

175,519

8 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

24

7 Debtors



25

9 Restricted funds

7,500

120,000

50,000

-

-

19,541

10,000

-

-

17,166

9,500

5,000

-

8,250

16,000

25,000

287,957

AB Charitable Trust


Bloomberg L.P.

Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation

Esmée Fairbairn Foundation

European Commission

Foyle Foundation

John Lyon’s Charity

MB Reckitt Trust

Open Society Foundations

Other Restricted Grants

PEN Pinter Prize Fund

Prisoners of Conscience Appeal Fund

The Big Lottery Fund

The Monument Trust

The Sigrid Rausing Trust

3,450

96,800

36,875

3,286

5,637

16,210

-

6,241

1,000

17,166

9,500

5,000

1,534

8,250

9,604

25,000

245,553

4,050

101,768

23,615

-

-

4,551

10,000

-

-

-

-

-

1,121

-

6,543

-

151,648

-

78,568

10,490

3,286

5,637

1,220

-

6,241

1,000

-

-

-

2,655

-

147

-

109,244

IncomingResources

£

ResourcesExpended

£

Balance at 2014

£

Balance at2013

£



26

The AB Charitable Trust (ABCT) funded Living Words, our pilot project for older people with dementia and for marginalised young people, in partnership with the Orwell Prize. ABCT is an independent, UK-based grant-making organisation founded in 1990 that is concerned with promoting and defending human dignity. ABCT supports charities that defend human rights and promote respect for vulnerable individuals whatever their circumstances.

Bloomberg LP contributed to English PEN’s 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.

Big Lottery Fund supported the Flash Words project for young offenders which offered short runs of creative writing workshops, featuring flash fiction in four Young Offender Institutions in 2013-14. This short form of writing proved especially popular with the young men and women participants and, in response to their interest, a new category for flash fiction was introduced for the 2013 annual English PEN writing competition for prisoners.

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 Foyle Foundation supported the April 2014 Literary Translation Centre (LTC) at the London Book Fair, enabling the LTC partners to organise a stimulating series of events and discussions with international translators and literary professionals. The Foyle Foundation is an independent grant-making trust that distributes grants to UK charities. The Foundation supports charities in three main areas: Arts and Learning, Libraries, and small charities.

Esmée 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.

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 10 refugee centres across the country, bringing writers together with refugees, migrants and asylum seekers.

John Lyon’s 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.

The Open Society Foundations (OSF) contributed to English PEN’s 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.

The Sigrid Rausing Trust funded English PEN’s advocacy for freedom of expression in the UK and around the world.



Designated fund created from proceeds of FEST auction

Funds utilised in upgrading and developing computer infrastructure

Funds utilised in charitable programmes:

- Readers and Writers

- Writers at Risk

- Campaigns

Office supports costs - paid internship

Total Designated Fund at 31 March 2014

2013£

2014£

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

344,570

(22,888)

(50,000)

(1,860)

(6,650)

(7,454)

255,718

10 Designated fund

The success of English PEN’s FEST auction (‘First Editions, Second Thoughts’) in May 2013 was reported in last year’s Annual Report. The auction provided a profit of £344,570 that the trustees immediately designated for use in (1) upgrading and developing English PEN’s computer infrastructure and associated systems to enhance our reach to potential members and improve the development of membership services; and (2) supporting and developing our charitable activities for the benefit of our beneficiaries in the medium and longer term. The designated fund was utilised as follows during the year to 31 March 2014:

27



28

12 Limited Liability

209,629

-

-

209,629

General Unrestricted Funds

Designated Funds

Restricted Funds

Total Funds

(53,095)

255,718

151,648

354,271

288,939

-

109,244

398,183

191,370

255,718

151,648

598,736

34,836

-

-

34,836

Investments£

NetCurrent

Assets£

Total 2013£

Total 2014£

TangibleFixed Assets

£

11 Analysis of Net Assets Between Funds

English PEN is a company limited by guarantee. Liability is limited to £1 per member.

As at 31 March 2014 there were 1,047 members.

13 Operating Lease Commitments

At 31 March 2014 English PEN had annual commitments of £2,261 under an operating lease expiring within 2-5 years.

14 APB Ethical Standard - Provisions Available for Small EntitiesIn 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.


English PENFree Word Centre

60 Farringdon RoadLondon EC1R 3GA

T +44 (0) 20 7324 2535

Design

Brett Biedscheid, statetostate.co.uk

Printed by McAllister Litho Glasgow Ltd

English PEN is a company limited by guarantee, number 5747142 and a

registered charity, number 1125610

Registered OfficeFree Word Centre60 Farringdon RoadLondon EC1R 3GAwww.englishpen.org

Registered Company Number05747142 (England and Wales)

Registered Charity Number1125610

Documents

English PEN Annual Report 2013-14