A New Zealand centre of PEN, the international writers' organisation, was founded in Wellington in 1934 by journalist and writer Pat Lawlor, who referred to himself as a "bookman". The organisation was small at first but when a newsletter, the PEN Gazette, was first published in 1938 the membership spread throughout the country.
Its first important step was in 1944 when it made representations to the government for the setting up of a State Literary Fund to help writers undertake "belles lettres, poetry or prose". PEN's persistent campaign saw the government agree to the establishment of a fund in 1946. PEN had three representatives on the State Literary Fund Advisory Committee, which supported many writers whose work might not otherwise have survived. It often helped in the publication of manuscripts and eventually began supporting literary fellowships at New Zealand's universities.
During the next 30 years, the organisation campaigned for a Public Lending Right to compensate authors for the loss of royalties on library use of their books. In 1973, the Authors' Fund was introduced and had over 1,400 authors who benefited from PEN's initiative. In 1975, PEN initiated the New Zealand Writers’ Guild to represent writers in their dealings with broadcasting and professional theatres. PEN retained its influence as an adviser to government on literary matters after the administration of the grants and the Authors' Fund was moved from the Internal Affairs Department to the Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council in 1988, and underwent further developments in 2008 when it was changed to the Public Lending Rights.
The organisation was instrumental in establishing the first literary awards in New Zealand – The Hubert Church Award for fiction, The Jessie McKay Award for poetry and the Eric McCormick Award for non-fiction. These awards are now administered by New Zealand Booksellers and incorporated into the Montana New Zealand Awards as the Society Best First Book Awards. The Society still administers the Lillian Ida Smith Award, The Foxton Fellowship, the Ashton Wylie Charitable Trust Awards, and two new awards – the Janet Frame Memorial Award and the NZSA/CLL Research Award as well as the Ohau Retreat.
In 1994, anticipating that PEN needed to act more strongly in the professional interests of writers, members changed the organisation into the New Zealand Society of Authors (PEN NZ Inc). The new organisation retained the functions and culture of PEN but broadened into an effective advocate for and supporter of writers. The first successful campaign by the new Society gained equal control with publishers of Copyright Licensing Limited a company set up to collect and distribute money to copyright holders for the reprographic use of their copyright material, especially by educational institutions.
The Society now works closely with our industry partners, government and Creative New Zealand to ensure that the professional interests of writers are strongly represented on all issues.
