Wales PEN Cymru is one of the 145 PEN centres in more than 100 countries across the world, and it is affiliated to PEN International which is the leading voice of literature worldwide.

PEN promotes literature and defends freedom of expression. It campaigns on behalf of writers around the world who are persecuted, imprisoned, harassed and attacked for what they have written. It has committees representing writers in prison, translation and linguistic rights, women writers and a peace committee.

Menna Elfyn is an award winning poet and playwright from Wales who writers in Welsh but whose work has been translated into over eighteen languages. She has published fourteen collections of poetry, children’s novels, libretti for UK and US composers as well as plays for television and radio. Her most recent bilingual collections are: Bondo 2017 and Murmur 2012, published by Bloodaxe Books, the latter was selected by Poetry Book Society Recommended Translation in autumn 2012, the first book of Welsh poetry in English translation ever to be chosen. A Welsh language poetry collection will be published by Barddas (Welsh language poetry press) in 2022.