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This year's special guest will be Dutch writer Margriet de Moor, who writes about topical issues from the perspective of historical events. On Friday, de Moor's work will be honoured with a literary evening.

The PEN meeting will see three main round table debates. The first will be dedicated to literature from the Slovenian central region of Zasavje.

After the debate, which will kick off the meeting today, Slovenian Culture Minister Uroš Grilc will host a reception for the participants at the Brdo pri Kranju estate.

On Thursday, a panel debate moderated by International PEN president John Ralston Saul and secretary general Hori Takeaki will discuss PEN's work in the past and its plans for the future. In the evening, literary readings will be held across the country.

The Peace Committee will host a debate on challenges of the new media and digital freedom moderated by Kovač on Friday. With this meeting, a second term of Kovač at the helm of the Peace Committee will come to an end. Slovenian PEN Centre nominated its vice president Tone Peršak for his successor.

Slovenian PEN president Marjan Strojan told the press ahead of the meeting that the Slovenian PEN considered launching procedures to change the PEN statute so as to enable Kovač to run again because he did such a good job as president. Kovač said however that Peršak's nomination enjoyed broad support.

Before the official start of the PEN meeting, an event dubbed "Bled before Bled" was held in Ljubljana on Tuesday evening, dedicated to literary ties between Slovenia and Serbia.

Meanwhile, a meeting of the Women's Committee of PEN International will debate networking of women writers on Saturday, while a literary evening will be hosted on Friday by the recently established Mira - the women's section of Slovenia's PEN.