Mark your calendars. In New York City April 29 – May 4 the 4th annual Pen World Voices Festival arrives, featuring more than 100 authors (50 are international) in 82 events in NYC, Albany, Rochester and Boston, giving attendees the opportunity to hobnob with emerging and established writers. This year’s theme is Public Lives/Private Lives, exploring such intersections as expressing identity in the face of war and oppression, and when private stories must be told for the public good.
Just a few of the presentations to be offered are a cabaret night at Webster Hall—where dancer Bill T. Jones will perform a piece inspired by the poems of Dylan Thomas; a translation slam featuring Michael F. Moore, Michael Reynolds and Linda Gabouriau; and The Three Musketeers United, a night of readings by Salman Rushdie, Umberto Eco and Mario Vargas Llosa (they were previously on stage together twelve years earlier at the Royal Festival Hall in London). Look out for other events featuring Ian McEwan, Joyce Carol Oates, Roberto Saviano, Mario Vargas Llosa, Jeffrey Eugenides, Michael Ondaatje, and philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy.
And if you can’t be there in person, Internet, video and radio broadcasts will abound. For a full schedule of events and complete list of participating authors, visit www.pen.org.
Literary Lotus 