2017 PEN Literary Gala & Free Expression Awards

Tuesday, April 25, 6:30pm
American Museum of Natural History
Central Park West at 79th Street, New York City

Watch videos and read transcripts from the night of the 2017 PEN America Literary Gala:

Welcome Remarks
Andrew Solomon, President, PEN America

Welcome from the 2017 Publisher Honoree
John Sargent, CEO, Macmillan

Presentation of the 2017 PEN/Allen Foundation Literary Service Award
Introduction by Meryl Streep, remarks by Stephen Sondheim, and performance by Audra McDonald

Director’s Remarks
Suzanne Nossel, Executive Director, PEN America

Presentation of the 2017 PEN/Toni and James C. Goodale Freedom of Expression Courage Award
Introduction by Toni Goodale and remarks by Bob Bland

Presentation of the 2017 PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award
Introduction by Pamela and Peter Barbey and remarks by Natalya Kaplan, cousin of Oleg Sentsov

Presentation of a letter from Oleg Sentsov
Alan Cumming, Actor

Call to Action: Save the NEA and NEH
Rita Dove, Poet

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We would like to thank all our donors for their generous support.

GALA COMMITTEE CHAIRS

Honorary Chairs
Annette Tapert Allen, Toni K. Goodale

Co-Chairs
Roxanne Donovan, Margaret Munzer Loeb, Sean Kelly

Chairs
Jay McInerney, Patricia Duff, Sheree Friedman, Alexandra Munroe, Judith Greenberg, Deborah Needleman, Holly Peterson, Joanna Coles, Pat Fili-Krushel, Zachary Karabell, Susie Lopez, Jeanmarie Fenrich, Elizabeth Hemmerdinger, Kelly Posner Gerstenhaber, Cathy Graham, Ed Tyler Nahem, Vicky Ward, Aidan Donnelley Rowley, Markus Dohle, Michael Pietsch, Kathy Kaye, Jonathan Herman, Suzy Wahba

HONOREES

APRIL 25 CEREMONY HERALDS THE POWER OF ART AND LITERATURE TO UNITE A DIVIDED WORLD

Master composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim will receive the 2017 PEN/Allen Foundation Literary Service Award at PEN America’s annual Literary Gala on April 25 at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Actress Meryl Streep, who starred in the 2014 film adaptation of Sondheim’s Into the Woods, will present the prize.

PEN America, the country’s largest writer-driven free expression advocacy organization, confers the Literary Service Award annually to a critically acclaimed writer whose body of work helps us understand and interpret the human condition, engendering empathy and imagination in even the darkest hours. As new threats to the creative community have arisen both around the world and particularly in the United States in recent months, Sondheim and other artists and writers—including previous winners J.K. Rowling, Tom Stoppard, Salman Rushdie, Toni Morrison, and Margaret Atwood—have spoken out across genre and art form to resist threats to artistic innovation, freedom of movement, and the right to dissent.

The gala will also recognize imprisoned Ukrainian writer and filmmaker Oleg Sentsov with the 2017 PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award. Sentsov, an outspoken critic of Russia’s intervention in Ukraine and takeover of Crimea, is serving a 20-year sentence in a Siberian penal colony after his arrest on terrorism charges that have been condemned by human rights groups as fabrications by a Russian government intent on silencing dissent.

The Women’s March will also be honored by PEN America at the gala for acting at a critical moment to overcome the inertia and fear of failure that can impair public mobilization, and for inspiring millions in America and around the world to do the same.

PEN America will also laud John Sargent, CEO of Macmillan Publishers, as the gala’s Publisher Honoree.