The theme for this year’s World Voices Festival, “Power to the People,” is a phrase that dates back to the 1960s and continues to resonate in our current moment, when so many of us are contending with the histories underlying today’s inequities. The books in this reading list push boundaries, challenge inherited narratives, and interrogate where power comes from, while rejecting systems of oppression. We hope you’ll check out each of these titles and also join us for the virtual festival. Check out the reading list ››
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Nearly one year has passed since uprisings across the United States and around the world decried anti-Black violence. Amid the pandemic, surging anti-Asian hate crimes have led to a swell of activism within, and in support of, AAPI communities. In a riveting opening night conversation moderated by Maria Hinojosa of Latino USA, whose recent memoir Once I Was You intimately explored America’s ongoing immigration crisis, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Nikole Hannah-Jones, and Imbolo Mbue confront questions of how to reconcile our collective pasts, challenging and reframing contested histories underlying today’s inequities. Get tickets ››
Across his career, Tasmanian novelist and Booker Prize winner Richard Flanagan has unearthed histories that are crucial to remember to avoid repeating. Flanagan closes this year’s festival with the Arthur Miller Freedom to Write Lecture, delivering a profound meditation on the contagiousness of fear, the potentials and limits of literature to incite moral reckoning, and new, insidious modes of censorship that pose critical challenges to free expression. Get tickets ››
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to financial losses for both writers and literary organizations in New York City, creating significant challenges that threaten the livelihood and diversity of the city’s literary arts community. A recent survey conducted by PEN America and the NYC Literary Action Coalition has found that the world’s literary capital is in need of urgent support and funding to reverse these disturbing trends. See the full findings ››
PEN America welcomes the 2021 Emerging Voices Fellows. Now in its 25th year, an expanded cohort of 14 fellows who represent a broad range of experiences, and are based in ten different states across the country, will partake in a five-month immersive mentorship program with virtually accessible programs that emphasize the business of books. Meet the 2021 Emerging Voices fellows ››
"As a writer, I believe in the power of words to cross boundaries at a time of deep division. Now more than ever, literature matters." Carmen Maria Machado joined Margaret Atwood, Jodi Picoult, Jacqueline Woodson, and many other authors whose works have been targeted for removal by the school board of Leander, Texas, in signing an open letter with PEN America that urges the school district to revoke its decision to the current bans and suspensions on books. Read Carmen's New York Times opinion piece on the book ban ››
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The PEN Ten with Linda Rui Feng:"Nowadays I’m learning to let the process of writing itself draw out the fragmentary and diffident sentence, to let it take its time and clarify what the hell happens to a character—before I have any clue."
The PEN Ten with Donika Kelly: "Poetry can shine a light on the lived realities of harmful social and political dynamics…but poetry alone can’t change them. What poetry does is reassure folks they aren’t alone in that reality."
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