Announcing the Full Program for the Seventh Annual PEN World Voices Festival‏

Announcing the Full Program for the Seventh Annual PEN World Voices Festival‏

WHO WE ARE WHAT WE DO HOW TO HELP WORLD VOICES ADVOCACY PRESS More than 100 Writers from 40 countries Featuring Gioconda Belli, Harold Bloom, Ernesto Cardenal, Deborah Eisenberg, Jonathan Franzen, Malcolm Gladwell, Hanif Kureishi, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc, Andrea Levy, Amélie Nothomb, Cynthia Ozick, Salman Rushdie, Elif Shafak, Wallace Shawn, Vladimir Sorokin, Wole Soyinka, Irvine Welsh, and Edmund White, among many others. PEN American Center is proud to announce the Seventh Annual PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature. This year more than 100 writers from 40 nations will convene to New York City to celebrate the power of the writer's voice as a bold and vital element of public discourse. Dare to view the world from a fresh perspective at stages across the city, including the Festival's new hubs--The Standard, New York and the High Line. The program will feature panel discussions, one-on-one conversations, readings, performances, and much more. For a full schedule of Festival events and a complete list of participating authors, please visit www.pen.org/festival Be sure to also follow us on Facebook and Twitter (using the #pwv11 hashtag) for the latest updates. Many events are free but some events require paid tickets and/or reservations and are likely to sell out, including the highlighted events below. Get your tickets early! Note: If you plan to travel to New York to attend the Festival, please check out our accommodation page Monday Opening Night: Written on Water Get a glimpse of the week-long celebration of world literature at Chelsea Piers' stunning Lighthouse with a stellar lineup of authors: Gioconda Belli, Iva Bittová, Mircea Cărtărescu, Deborah Eisenberg, Evan Fallenberg, Malcolm Gladwell, Hanif Kureishi, Andrea Levy, Agi Mishol, Amélie Nothomb, Salman Rushdie, Wallace Shawn, Vladimir Sorokin, and Liao Yiwu. [Event details] Wednesday Revolutionaries in the Arab World Hear from experts and on-the-ground bloggers how social media and citizen journalism galvanize the revolution. In the borderless world of the Internet, where revolutionary ideas spread at lightning speed, will other despotic regimes collapse? With former Lebanese Minister of Culture Ghassan Salamé, Palestinian journalist Rula Jebreal (author of Miral), and Dutch writer Abdelkader Benali. [Event details] Thursday China in Two Acts Born in Beijing and educated in the United States, New Yorker contributor Zha Jianying delivers unique insight into the rapidly changing world inside China. A panel of journalists and writers--including Ian Buruma, Yan Lianke, Linda Polman, David Rieff, and Liao Yiwu--join her to discuss the political and cultural forces shaping the world's most populous nation, as well as the plight of the Nobel Peace Prize-winner and political prisoner Liu Xiaobo. [Event details] WikiLeaks Join us for one of the most anticipated (and controversial) events of the Festival with a panel of experts--the Human Rights Project's Tom Keenan, media theorist Geert Lovink, Henry R. Luce Professor of Democracy Ian Buruma, and policy analyst David Rieff--contemplating the legal and moral ramifications of making classified information accessible to the public. [Event details] Friday Poetry: The Second Skin Experimental performance artist and musician Laurie Anderson curates a multimedia extravaganza exploring the porous borders between poetry and music. With John Burnside, Ernesto Cardenal, David-Dephy Gogibedashvili, Hasina Gul, Yusef Komunyakaa, Juan Carlos Mestre, Joachim Sartorius, Andrzej Sosnowski, Pia Tafdrup, and surprise guests. [Event details] [See full schedule of Festival events]