“I believe that writing also has to show what can be otherwise, what it is that the hard domineering eye cannot see, what makes people, apparently small in stature, feel assured in themselves regardless of the disdain of others.” —Abdulrazak Gurnah
Tanzanian-born British author and 2021 Nobel laureate in literature Abdulrazak Gurnah opened the PEN World Voices Festival on Wednesday evening with a conversation that was part remembrance, part travelog, part history lesson—in sum, a journey through past, present and future animated by riveting personal details and the ideas that have seeded his widely admired novels: belonging, colonialism, displacement, memory and migration. Read our recap of Gurnah’s conversation with Somali-born British novelist Nadifa Mohamed.
Need a reading recommendation? Check out our World Voices Festival-themed reading lists on Bookshop.org—Reconceptualizing Borders, which includes books on diaspora and borders; Nature, the Gentlest Mother, which features books on the natural world and our environment, and World Verses, a poetry-themed reading list.
Revisit our APA Heritage Month Reading List on epic novels and engrossing sagas, curated by Asian American Writers Workshop Executive Director Jafreen Uddin. The backdrops against which many of these books are set are grand and seemingly distant from our modern lives today: from the opium trade between China and India, to the twilight of the American Gold Rush; from the 1970 Bhola Cyclone, to the devastation of the Vietnam War. But the journeys of these characters resonate in a way that only good literature can, transporting the reader to worlds and experiences far beyond their own. Read more ››
The PEN Ten with Marwa Helal: “We have to laugh to keep from crying. I learned this from my elders. Humor isn’t just great defense, it attacks the institution in surprising ways that catches them off guard. Besides, we have to remind them who’s really in charge. There is no institution without us.”
Actors Yetide Badaki (American Gods), Holly Hunter (Mr. Mayor), and BD Wong (Awkwafina is Nora from Queens), and more perform short fiction about birds personified and birds as metaphor by authors Cristina Henríquez, Ben Loory, Heather Monley, and Mikkel Rosengaard. Author Amy Tan hosts and shares drawings of—and commentary on—the birds that inspire her to create. More info ››
James Ijames reinvents Shakespeare’s masterpiece with his new Pulitzer Prize-winning dramedy, FAT HAM. Juicy is a queer, Southern college kid, already grappling with some serious questions of identity, when the ghost of his father shows up in their backyard, demanding that Juicy avenge his murder. More info at publictheater.org/fat-ham ››
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