PEN Texas was founded in 1991 by Patton Howell, who served as the state organization’s first and only president until his death last spring. Dr. Tim Redman, who along with about a dozen other writers and editors also helped establish the chapter, has served on the PEN Texas board of directors since the organization’s inception. Membership is open by application to the national center to those who have demonstrated work of substantial literary value.
PEN is an acronym for Poets, Playwrights, Editors,
Essayists and Novelists. PEN International was established in London
in 1921 as a literary community unbounded by politics or government.
The group works to advance literature, defend free expression,
foster international fellowship and to dispel national, ethnic and
racial hatreds. Among the organization’s founders were such literary
luminaries as George Bernard Shaw, D. H. Lawrence, Clara Dawson
Scott, Joseph Conrad and John Galsworthy.
