London Book Fair

English PEN is pleased to announce The London Book Fair has become a Silver PEN member, joining a select group of publishing companies and organisations whose commitment to the literary community extends far

beyond a list of authors.

As a Silver PEN Partner, The London Book Fair provides a major platform for English PEN to reach a global audience of publishers, agents, booksellers, librarians, journalists and the wider global book industry and to promote the core aims of English PEN. The London Book Fair is very proud of their continued partnership with English PEN - together they launched the English PEN Literary Café in 2008 to provide fair attendees with a programme of author interviews, readings and book signings with a wide range of international authors.

High-profile authors such as Umberto Eco, Azar Nafisi, William Dalrymple, Alaa Al Aswany, Kate Mosse and William Boyd have delighted Literary Café visitors during lively and fascinating interviews that focus on their latest books and writing styles, to issues of freedom of expression, the book industry, literacy and politics.

Alistair Burtenshaw, Group Exhibition Director, The London Book Fair, said: "The London Book Fair has for many years supported the aims and objectives of English PEN in a number of ways. We were delighted that English PEN were able to accept our proposal to work together to create The English PEN Literary Café, which in a very short period of time has become a much loved feature of The London Book Fair and a wonderful forum for authors from across the world to share their views, at the heart of the Fair".

Jonathan Heawood, Director, English PEN, said: "The London Book Fair provides English PEN with a remarkable window to the world. Thanks to the generosity of Alistair Burtenshaw and his team, we have now developed the English PEN Literary Café as the central venue at LBF for literary talks, readings and debates featuring some of the world's great authors. This enables us to build support for English PEN's work promoting literature and the human rights of authors around the world, and to fulfil our charitable objectives at the same time. It's a winning combination."