PEN World Congress

PEN, the professional writers organization, with over 15,000 members in 130 Centers worldwide, founded in 1921 by George Bernard Shaw, John Galsworthy, and others, was forbidden in the former Soviet Union.  In May 2000, despite protests by several Russian writers who feared it would serve to endorse the war in Chechnya, PEN held its World Congress for the first time in Moscow - attended by 200 delegates from 70 Centers.  Highlights include the entire opening address by Nobel Laureate Gunter Grass, author of THE TIN DRUM, CAT & MOUSE, and other best-selling novels, & an exclusive interview with former Navy Officer Alexander Nikitin.  Acquitted in St. Petersburg after three years in solitary confinement, Nikitin describes how Russia's military-industrial complex had him imprisoned in 1996 & charged with Treason and Theft of State Secrets for daring to publish his suppressed report on the radiation hazard to the world's fisheries due to the scuttling of Russian nuclear submarines in the Barents Sea.  The program includes an interview with U.S. Ambassador Collins & the PEN Congress' "Final Resolution On The War In Chechnya"  -  the strongest public criticism of Russian policies ever made in that troubled nation.