SAN MIGUEL PEN
AN AUTONOMOUS CENTRE OF PEN INTERNATIONAL
We celebrate freedom of expression around the world
Promote literature
Stand up for writers in peril
Foster friendship and solidarity among writers
WE CONDEMN THE MURDERS OF JOURNALISTS
San Miguel PEN is alarmed and dismayed by the sharp increase in the number of journalists being murdered worldwide, especially the targeted killing of Palestinian journalists in Gaza. We stand with PEN International in condemning all attacks on freedom of expression, from harassment and intimidation to imprisonment to murder.
For more details, and to donate toward efforts to protect journalists and other writers at risk, click here: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/summer-appeal-2025-pen-international.
For the latest news on writers at risk, click here: https://www.pen-international.org/latest-news.
Our Active Grass Roots PEN Centre welcomes YOU!
In 1979, Peter Elstob founded the San Miguel Centre of PEN International, an association of writers with over 130 Centres in more than 100 countries. Promoting friendship and intellectual cooperation among writers everywhere, PEN International represents the conscience of literature, and vigorously defends writers worldwide who have been persecuted for their work.
Upcoming
San Miguel PEN Celebrates Poets
Local, Mexican and Latin American
Fernando Soledad
Born in San Miguel, student in San Miguel PEN’s own Victor Sahuatoba’s Grumpy Muse workshop.
Nacido en San Miguel en 1992, Fernando Soledad es escritor, traductor, músico y poeta.
My Guanajuato
Hill of frogs
Where the sun pours out
over the branches and
the garambullos bleed
from a sweet wound
Mi Guanajuato
Cerro de ranas.
donde el sol se derrama.
sobre las ramas y
los garambullos sangran
de una dulce herida
Victor Sahuatoba
Poet, novelist, essayist, playwright, San Miguel PEN VP Emeritus, founder of FELISMA and Grumpy Muse writing workshop and bookstore.
Poeta, novelista, ensayista, dramaturgo, vicepresidente emérito de PEN San Miguel y fundador de FELISMA, así como del taller de escritura y librería la Musa Hosca.
Baroque Still Life in San Miguel
From the orange beside the lamb
hang tufts of moss...
And from the fountain on top of the well
springs forth desire:
Its orange bleat
is of stone.
Naturaleza Barroca en San Miguel
Del naranjo junto al cordero
cuelgan mechones de heno...
Y de la fuente sobre la pila
brinca salta el deseo:
Su anaranjado balido
es de cantera...
Celebrating Three Mexican Poets and their Indigenous-language Poems
Celebrating Three Mexican Poets and their Indigenous-language Poems
See and hear three brilliant Mexican poets read their original short poems in three different indigenous languages—and read the poems yourself in Spanish or English translation!
Irma Pineda
Zapotec
Mikeas Sánchez
Zoque
Dennise Martínez
Purépecha
San Miguel PEN Shows Up
San Miguel PEN at 2024 PEN International Congress, Oxford
The eve of the PEN International Annual Congress, this time in Oxford, was chilly and sodden. I arrived at night. Flood alerts lighted up my phone. The theme of the conference, “Writers in a World at War,” and the dark and desolate plaza where the coach from Heathrow left me off, set the serious tone with hammering rain, little shelter and a troubling absence of taxis.
Lucina Kathmann at 37th Guadalajara Book Fair: A Global Literary Celebration.
San Miguel PEN’s very own, Lucina Kathmann, Vice-President of PEN International, and our Treasurer, was among the 857,315 ebullient people who attended the 37th Feria Internacional del Libro in Guadalajara, the second-largest book fair in the world this year. In this...
PEN International Committees Supported by San Miguel PEN
Writers in Prison Commitee
WOMEN WRITERS COMMITTEE
Translation and Linguistic Rights Committee
Writers For Peace Commitee
Young Writers Commitee
Acknowledgement to Country
PEN San Miguel respects all the people of this land past and present.
The Indigenous Peoples of these lands (known collectively as Chichimecas), the Zacatecos, Guachichiles, Tecuexes, Caxcanes, Otomí, Pames and Guamares. [Of these groups, — the Otomí and Pames still exist.]
We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which we meet and live today and pay our respect to Elders past and present.