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Friend —
It’s hard to believe that this truly tremendous week has flown by. From our opening event on Tuesday with Maria Hinojosa, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Nikole Hannah-Jones, and Imbolo Mbue on the contested histories and narratives of our time, to yesterday’s riveting panel discussion between Yusef Komunyakaa, Edwidge Danticat, Threa Almontaser, and John Freeman on how revolutionary love can repair and heal, this year’s PEN World Voices Festival has left me feeling hopeful and inspired. I’m reminded, as I am every year, of what a privilege it is to gather and be in community with such incredible writers, thinkers, and storytellers.
But there’s more to come—while it is the last day of the 2021 PEN World Voices Festival, we've still got a full lineup of events for today. I’m especially looking forward to hearing Kiese Laymon, Robert Jones Jr., and Brian Broome come together tonight to speak on Black love, vulnerability, and performances of Black masculinity, as well as hearing Richard Flanagan close out the week with his reflections on the importance of bearing witness with the Arthur Miller Freedom to Write Lecture.
We hope that you will join us for these momentous conversations and come away, as I have, with a fuller understanding and appreciation of the importance of community, the power of storytelling, and the radical necessity of envisioning a better future.
Thank you,
Clarisse Rosaz Shariyf
Senior Director, Literary Programs
PEN America
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