PEN USA had their annual Literary Awards Dinner last Wednesday. “We suffer under a tyrannous regime while a number of small nations are dedicated to our destruction,” said Gore Vidal, getting into the party spirit. He's such a character. The event was littered with similarly heavy speeches, and in the background was a fiesty bidding war over cigar boxes signed by Billy Clinton and Arnie Schwarzenegger. Charlie bagged the Screenplay award. Says the LA Daily News:

Charlie Kaufman, who nabbed the award for best screenplay for “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” took things to a more humble level. “What am I doing in this room of fantastic writers and political controversy?” asked the notoriously shy Kaufman, who received his second PEN honor and refused to be interviewed on the cigar controversy. “I guess I'm protesting against erasing people from your memory.” (Source)

As are we all, as are we all. And from Film Stew:

… on this night, PEN really saved the best for last, with an award presented to Charlie Kaufman for Best Screenplay of 2004 for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind… Respectfully riffing on the previous issues and guests, Kaufman accepted his acolade with typical self-effacement.

“People are talking about such profound things – so what am I doing here?” Kaufman laughed. Our man Charlie also joked that he's such an awkward public speaker that for a prior award, the consensus was “they should've gotten Donald instead!” (his imaginary brother from Adaptation). Kaufman revealed he is at work on a new screenplay, but details for the moment, he said, are as top secret as one of George Clooney's CIA missions from Confessions. (Source)

Onya, Charlie.