PEN America will hold the 14th Annual PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature in New York City, from April 16 to 22, 2018.
This year’s edition of the Festival with the theme “Resist and Reimagine”, promises to bring together foremost authors and other luminaries at a time when many are turning to literature and the arts not for escapism, but as a guide to navigate contemporary crises.
The festival will bring together 165 writers and artists representing over 50 nationalities, including: Francisco Cantú, Ron Chernow, Maxine Beneba Clarke, Jelani Cobb, Dave Eggers, Roxane Gay, Xiaolu Guo, Masha Gessen, Chris Hayes, Siri Hustvedt, Jhumpa Lahiri, Hasan Minhaj, Eileen Myles, R.J. Palacio, Salman Rushdie, Leila Sales, Anita Sarkeesian, Leila Slimani, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, and Colson Whitehead.
Highlights of the events will include conversations, debates, readings and workshops aimed at building a collective step toward a more just world.
PEN America Festival Director, Chip Rolley, disclosed that: “For the first time in its history, we are deliberately training the Festival’s wide lens on America itself, probing the fissures and inconsistencies in our own culture, alongside those of writers visiting from overseas. We will examine different kinds of resistance—the internal and the external, the political and the personal—and tap into the imagination that is at the core of the best fiction, non-fiction, and poetry, joining together in a week that reaffirms our faith in the power of the word to transform our society, our politics, and our daily lives.”
Calling on New Yorkers to participate in the event, Peter Barbey, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Village Voice, which is co-sponsoring the 2018 PEN World Voices Festival, said: “This year’s theme, ‘Resist and Reimagine’, couldn’t be more timely or topical. It resonates here at The Village Voice since those very same principles have been reflected in our mission since our inception in 1955, at the beginning of an American cultural revolution.”
The Festival was founded by Salman Rushdie, Esther Allen, and Michael Roberts in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, with the aim of broadening channels of dialogue between the United States and the world—a mission that, today, has never been more relevant.
The organisers of the event will announce full programming at a later date in March.
For more information, participation, tickets, schedules and lots more. Please visit http://bit.ly/2qeT73f
