The World - News from Oct. 1, 1989

Three more ethnic groups in the East Bloc gained representation in the PEN international writers association, and Soviet delegates attended the association’s meeting for the first time. Concluding its weeklong congress in Toronto and Montreal, PEN accepted Ukrainian, Czech and Slovak chapters as members. A 65-year quarrel ended in May with the admission of the first chapter from the Soviet Union, based in Moscow. PEN had kept out the Soviet Union, citing that country’s persecution of writers and other intellectuals. Moscow had regarded the authors’ group as anti-Communist.