Alberto Manguel guest writes for PEN International Magazine

The next issue of PEN International, Volume 58 No. 1, will be published in May 2008. Featuring new writing from around the world, It will take its title from the theme of this year's Free the Word! festival of world literature in London: 'The Writer Next Door, Mon voisin l'écrivain, Mi vecino, il escritor'.

Expect writing from unexpected places with 96 pages of stories, poems, essays and more. Alberto Manguel, who is in conversation with Daniel Pennac and Azar Nafisi in 'The Rights of the Reader' on Saturday 12 April at the Southbank Centre as part of Free the Word! is one of our special guest writers, contributing a piece about what 'The Writer Next Door' means to him.

Other writers include Alexis Wright, Azar Nafisi, Alain Mabanckou, André Gorz and many others.

This issue will also inaugurate a new feature for newly translated works, sponsored by Bloomberg.

To order individual copies for £4, or to subscribe, contact us at pisubscribers@internationalpen.org.uk