Isenberg To Step Down as PEN Executive Director

Steven Isenberg, executive director of PEN American Center since 2009, will end his tenure at the close of 2012.

“I wish to inform the Board that I will be leaving at the end of this year," Isenberg wrote in a letter to PEN's president and Board of Trustees. "I write to you now to give ample time for the search for my successor and to ensure a smooth, effective transition. By year’s end, PEN American Center will have finished celebrating its 90th anniversary, and I will be 72. Taking that together with the strength of our accomplishments, the course that we have set, and our staff’s readiness for the future, I am confident that my decision is right not only for me, but also for PEN. We can look back over these last three years with great satisfaction, especially in how we met the times with energy and resolve.”

PEN presient Peter Godwin stated that the board will begin planning their search for Isenberg's replacement next week.

Isenberg's letter can be read here.