Guantánamo Diary: An Evening of Reading and Conversation

*This event has been rescheduled for February 9th at 7:00pm.*

Theatre 80, 80 St Mark’s Place, just west of 1st Ave. 

SOLD OUT: There will be a waitlist at the door

With Molly Crabapple, Justin Vivian Bond, John Guare, Ayan Mathis, Eileen Myles, Luc Sante, Andrew Solomon, and Lili Taylor.

PEN American Center and the ACLU will present a public reading and conversation to mark the publication of Mohamedou Ould Slahi’s Guantánamo Diary (Little, Brown & Company). The first and only diary by a still-imprisoned Guantánamo detainee to be released publicly, Guantánamo Diary is an authoritative first-hand account of imprisonment, torture, and day-to-day human interactions in the world’s most infamous detention camp. 

Three years into his captivity, Slahi began a diary to recount both his life before he was seized by the United States and his experiences as a detainee. His diary is not merely a vivid record of a miscarriage of justice, but a deeply personal memoir—terrifying, darkly humorous, and surprisingly gracious. His attorneys fought for seven years to have the manuscript declassified and cleared for public release, yet some sections remained redacted in the published edition.

A document of historical importance, Guantánamo Diary will be released simultaneously around the world on January 20, 2015 and form the basis of an international and ongoing campaign to free Slahi.

For this unprecedented international publishing event, authors, artists and activists including Molly Crabapple, Justin Vivian Bond, John Guare, Ayana Mathis, Eileen Myles, Luc Sante, Andrew Solomon and Lili Taylor will join forces to read from the book. A conversation between Guantánamo Diary editor Larry Siems and Nancy Hollander, a lead attorney for Mohamedou Ould Slahi, will follow, moderated by Philip Gourevitch. Hina Shamsi (Director, ACLU National Security Project) will introduce the event.

SOLD OUT – There will be a waitlist at the door