The series comprises records of John Ralston Saul's involvement and leadership role with PEN Canada and PEN International. He served on the Executive of International PEN, The Canadian Centre from 1987 to 1992, serving as Secretary from 1987 to 1989, Vice-President from 1989 to 1990, and President from 1990 to 1992. This series includes Saul's personal copies of minutes, agendas, and correspondence of PEN Canada's Executive Committee, Board of Directors, and Annual General Meetings. It also holds his files relating to PEN's legal advisory committee, fundraising efforts (including its annual benefit), local working groups, publications prepared by PEN to raise its profile and funding (including an anthology of travel writing by PEN members), Rencontre Québécoise internationale des écrivains, and PEN's involvement with organizations like the Writers' Union of Canada and the Canadian Association of Journalists.
This series holds records of the 54th World Congress of PEN International in 1989, hosted by PEN Canada in Toronto and Montreal, documenting its organization, programming, publicity, and security arrangements. There are also files relating to the Common Agenda Alliance for the Arts, a coalition co-founded by PEN Canada with other cultural organizations to ensure a voice in constitutional reform in the early 1990s. Further issues covered in the series include libel reform, the growth of libel chill in Canada, and the persecution of writers abroad, particularly in Mexico. Other international work included support of prisoners abroad, including author Aung San Suu Kyi (with letters from her husband, Michael Aris, and mother-in-law Evelyn Aris), and support for Salman Rushdie, who participated in PEN Canada's annual benefit in Toronto in 1992.
