Director: Jo Glanville
Jo Glanville
Jo joined English PEN in September 2012 from Index on Censorship, where she served as an award-winning Editor since 2006. She was a BBC current affairs producer for eight years and appears regularly in the media as a commentator on culture and freedom of expression, including the Guardian, the Daily Telegraph, the London Review of Books.
Deputy Director: Heather Norman Söderlind
Heather joined English PEN as Deputy Director in March 2012. Her previous roles include Head of Public and Regional Marketing at the British Library and an international career in marketing at Reuters, including three overseas postings. She has a degree in Modern Languages from Oxford University.
Head of Programmes: Philip Cowell
Philip looks out for English PEN’s education and translation work – exploring the Freedom to Write and the Freedom to Read in social and community settings throughout the UK. He gets to work with a passionate team of people who focus on sending writers in to prisons, YOIs, detention and refugee centres and schools as well as promote, and fund the translation of, an excitingly diverse range of translated books in to the hands of a wide readership. Philip would love to hear from anyone interested in English PEN’s work in free speech, creative writing, translation and literature.
Head of Campaigns & Communications: Robert Sharp
Robert joined English PEN in 2009, coming from the Social Market Foundation, a Westminster think tank. He was previously director of Fifty Nine Productions, a production company, and worked on box-office favourites ‘War Horse’ and ‘Black Watch’ as well as work for the National Theatre and the Royal Opera House. He designed LiberalConspiracy.org, the UK’s most popular left-of-centre blog, and maintains his own eponymous website where he debates multiculturalism and political correctness. He studied Politics & Philosophy at the University of York.
Writers at Risk Programme Manager: Cat Lucas
Cat graduated from University College London in 2007 with a BA in French and Spanish. She worked as an intern on the Writers in Prison Programme from August 2007, before beginning full time as Campaigns Assistant in October 2008.
Writers in Translation Programme Manager: Emma Cleave
Emma graduated from the University of Leeds in 2007 with a BA in English Literature and French. She previously worked as an Outreach Coordinator at Bootstrap Company before joining English PEN in December 2010.
Readers & Writers Programme Officer: Irene Garrow
Irene is responsible for PEN’s work with prisons in the UK. Her background is in film making and Drama and she has an MA in Life Writing from Goldmiths, University of London. She worked as a writer in residence in a male prison for 4 years.
Events & Development Officer: Julia Ziemer
Julia joined PEN in June 2012. She worked previously at the Charles Dickens Museum and the Literature Department at the British Council. She graduated in 2006 with a BA in English Literature from Oxford University.
PA & Administrator: Carole Mitchell
Carole joined English PEN in March 2012. She previously worked in the Diplomatic Service where she acted as PA to British Ambassadors in several overseas postings.
Programmes Assistant: Mazin Saleem
Mazin joined English PEN in July 2011. His background is in development and fundraising, mainly in the youth and arts sectors. He works across both the Readers & Writers and Writers in Translation Programmes.
Financial Controller: Paul Ranford
Paul joined PEN as part-time Finance Manager in September 2011. A Chartered Accountant, his previous career involved various Finance Director positions in West End advertising and brand management agencies from which he retired to pursue academic and other interests in 2002. Recently Finance Manager (and now a Trustee) of the Poetry Society, he splits his time between financial management in the charity sector, lecturing on Business Studies and Personal Finance with the Open University, and studying and lecturing on the History and Philosophy of Science, in which he holds an MSc awarded by Imperial College.
