Save the Date: 2011 PEN World Voices Festival, April 25 to May 1‏

Save the Date: 2011 PEN World Voices Festival, April 25 to May 1‏

WHO WE ARE WHAT WE DO HOW TO HELP WORLD VOICES ADVOCACY PRESS THE SEVENTH ANNUAL PEN WORLD VOICES FESTIVAL CELEBRATES THE POWER OF THE WRITER'S VOICE TO REVITALIZE PUBLIC DEBATE ON CRITICAL WORLD ISSUES 100 Writers from 40 Nations Gather in New York, April 25 to May 1 This year, more than 100 writers from 40 countries will convene for the seventh annual PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature, celebrating the transformative power of the writer's voice--both on the page and as an essential element of public discourse. Chaired by Salman Rushdie, the Festival will take place in New York City, April 25 to May 1 and will include panels, lectures, readings, one-on-one conversations, and storytelling. Nigerian author and 1986 Nobel Prize-winner Wole Soyinka will deliver the Arthur Miller Freedom to Write Lecture on closing night. Festival participants will also include Laurie Anderson, Gioconda Belli, Harold Bloom, Deborah Eisenberg, Malcolm Gladwell, Hanif Kureishi, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc, Amélie Nothomb, Cynthia Ozick, Elif Shafak, Wallace Shawn, Vladimir Sorokin, Edmund White, and Irvine Welsh, among many others. The World Voices Festival affirms PEN's belief that our national dialogue must be enriched by a diverse and international range of voices, particularly in today's rapidly changing communications environment. Launched in the wake of September 11, 2001 as one means of combating American cultural isolationism, the Festival addresses the pressing need to redefine--and reassert--the vital role of the public intellectual in framing and leading informed public discourse. This year, the Festival has formed a partnership with The Standard, New York, and Friends of the High Line. The High Line will become both the literal and metaphorical spine of the Festival, with many events taking place on and around this Manhattan landmark and at the hotel. The Standard, New York, which rises above the High Line, will serve as the Festival's hub. Friends of the High Line, the non-profit conservancy that maintains the park and cultivates a vibrant community around the High Line, has transformed this defunct railway into a glorious public park 30 feet above street level. Like the High Line itself, the Festival's writers promise to provide audiences with a fresh, elevated perspective on the world. Watch an introduction to this year's Festival by Salman Rushdie. Read more about this year's Festival on the PEN web site.

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