Welcome to the 2020 digital World Voices Festival, These Truths.
The PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature traditionally brings hundreds of writers from around the world to New York and Los Angeles each spring, drawing audiences of thousands to book talks, readings, and lectures. With those in-person events now impossible to convene, PEN America has curated an ongoing digital version of the Festival that includes a suite of podcasts, videos, interviews, and musical playlists, with live events and other features to be rolled out over the coming weeks.
In an era when the agreed-upon factual basis of our daily news is constantly undermined, there has never been a greater need for us to hear the deeper truths afforded by literature. This virtual edition of America’s premier international literary festival will engage with contested histories and memory, challenge the fabrications of truth served to us on an almost daily basis, and celebrate the beauty and power of storytelling.
![[VIRTUAL] DREAMing Out Loud: Virtual Reading & Book Release](https://pen.org/wp-content/plugins/phastpress/phast.php?service=images&src=https%3A%2F%2Fpen.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F05%2FDREAMing-Out-Loud-Reading-Simplified-Featured-Image-Wordpress-300x200-1.png&cacheMarker=1717018064-69753&token=1098dfbeee84dfc6)
[VIRTUAL] DREAMing Out Loud: Virtual Reading & Book Release
Join us for DREAMing Out Loud’s public reading with special guests Javier Zamora, Martyna Majok, Karla Villavicencio, Jenny Zhang, and Sonia Guiñansaca.
Dare to Speak: A Reading List
In this reading list, PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel expands on the books that helped inform the free speech principles in her new book, Dare to Speak.
A Linked History: A World Voices Festival Reading List From Jeremy Tiang
Playwright and translator Jeremy Tiang shares literary gems from Singapore and Malaysia—countries with complex, linked histories.
The Best of Just Press Play
To finish out our playlist series, we leave you with “The Best of Just Press Play”: a compilation of our authors’ favorite tracks to comfort you this summer.
These Truths: DREAMing Out Loud with Álvaro Enrigue
Álvaro Enrigue, the founder of PEN’s DREAMing Out Loud Program, introduces us to the writing workshop he created to amplify the voices of DREAMers.
PEN to Paper: The Discipline of the Haiku with Mark Nowak
Poet Mark Nowak shares a haiku exercise he developed for reckoning with the pandemic at the Worker Writers School, PEN America’s writing program for low-wage workers.
These Truths: Realizing a New Theatre with Lynn Nottage and Jeremy O. Harris
With Broadway shuttering until 2021, what will theatre look like amidst a pandemic and cultural uprising? Award-winning Black playwrights Lynn Nottage and Jeremy O. Harris help us imagine a new future for theatre in our final podcast this season.
Next Generation Now Virtual Storytime with Nic Stone
Middle grade and young adult fiction author Nic Stone shares one of her favorite passages from Dear Justyce, the sequel to her New York Times best-selling novel, Dear Martin.
The World Voices podcast convenes important writers to debate the most central questions of our time, like the meaning of freedom in a post-truth age and the vulnerability of language in a time of tyranny.
These Truths: Navigating Truths with Ishmael Beah and Alexis Okeowo
Sierra Leonean-American author Ishmael Beah and The New Yorker staff writer Alexis Okeowo discuss how fiction can help us navigate some of the most unrelenting humanitarian crises of our age.
These Truths: Round and Round Together with Fatima Shaik, Amy Nathan, and Sharon Langley
Fatima Shaik speaks with Amy Nathan and Sharon Langley about their picture book, A Ride to Remember: A Civil Rights Story, about how a community came together to integrate a public park and its carousel.
These Truths: Realizing a New Theatre with Lynn Nottage and Jeremy O. Harris
With Broadway shuttering until 2021, what will theatre look like amidst a pandemic and cultural uprising? Award-winning Black playwrights Lynn Nottage and Jeremy O. Harris help us imagine a new future for theatre in our final podcast this season.
These Truths: Prison & Justice Writing with Reginald Dwayne Betts
Poet Reginald Dwayne Betts discusses the writer’s role in deepening the American public’s understanding of mass incarceration with our Prison and Justice Writing Program.
From the balconies of Milan to the speakers of our smartphones, these playlists from writers around the world remind us all that music, like books, can connect humanity from a distance.
The Best of Just Press Play
To finish out our playlist series, we leave you with “The Best of Just Press Play”: a compilation of our authors’ favorite tracks to comfort you this summer.
Just Press Play with Abdellah Taïa
Abdellah Taïa, the first openly gay Arab writer in the world, dedicates his playlist to the planet we call home.
Just Press Play with Chigozie Obioma
Booker Prize Finalist Chigozie Obioma shares a playlist of songs that he writes to, is inspired by his travels, and offers moments of reflection.
Just Press Play with Bela Shayevich
Visual artist and writer Bela Shayevich, best known for translating Svetlana Alexievich’s Secondhand Time, provides a darkwave playlist with happy vibes.
Each workshop provides a single, unique exercise to jumpstart your writing practice. Through these videos, our audiences gain brief, intimate connections to their favorite writers and exclusive insights into their craft.
PEN to Paper: Authentic Voices with James Hannaham
Our final PEN to Paper episode features multidisciplinary artist and PEN/Faulkner Award-winning novelist James Hannaham on how to write authentic characters.
PEN to Paper: Hot Tips from Mona Simpson
Novelist Mona Simpson believes writing is a constant practice, and to help you nurture yours, she shares five tips, plenty of helpful anecdotes, and even some musical inspiration in this wide-ranging episode.
PEN to Paper: The Revision Cycle with Emily X. R. Pan
YA author Emily X. R. Pan takes us on a deep dive into her favorite part of writing, the revision process, which she proves is more fun than you might think.
PEN to Paper: Writing Through Intuition with Ananda Naima González
Ananda Naima González helps us achieve total freedom from the conventions of literary expression through “asemic writing.”
Explore life beyond the writing desk in this home video series, which introduces audiences to writers’ interior lives and hidden talents in a time of quarantine.
Writers in Residence: Basically Delicious with Jennifer Egan
PEN America President and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Jennifer Egan shares her crowd-pleasing salad dressing recipe for this holiday weekend.
Writers in Residence: Digging in the Country with Jan Stocklassa
Swedish author and self-proclaimed arm-chair detective Jan Stocklassa speaks to us from the country, where he’s digging into research for his next project and taking editorial notes from an unlikely source.
Writers in Residence: Preserving Memories with Si’an CHEN
Si’an CHEN shares a simple process for preserving specimens of the natural world that delight and inspire her.
Writers in Residence: A Poem-From-Home with Oksana Vasyakina
Poet Oksana Vasyakina invites us into her study, where she shares her latest piece, “These people didn’t know my father.”
In these virtual storytimes from our Next Generation Now series, writers read aloud stories that captivate the imagination of kids, teens and young adults.
Next Generation Now Virtual Storytime with Mae Respicio
Middle grade author Mae Respicio shares a reading and writing prompt inspired by her newest book, Any Day with You, in which a girl uses her creativity to keep her family together.
Next Generation Now Virtual Storytime with Kevin Noble Maillard
Kevin Noble Maillard depicts a modern Native American family as they explore the cultural significance of a favorite dish in lively and powerful verse.
Next Generation Now Virtual Storytime with Isaac Fitzgerald
Isaac Fitzgerald shares the empowering and heartwarming tale of a child who feels like a misfit and becomes a pirate instead.
Next Generation Now Virtual Storytime with Nic Stone
Middle grade and young adult fiction author Nic Stone shares one of her favorite passages from Dear Justyce, the sequel to her New York Times best-selling novel, Dear Martin.
The Community of Literary Magazines and Publishers’ annual book fair at the World Voices Festival goes digital in these weekly reading lists featuring independent presses and small publishers.
Indie Lit Fair, Vol. Six
Learn more about presses, publishers, and literary magazines like American Short Fiction, BOA Editions, and Entre Ríos Books in this sixth installment of the virtual edition of this year’s Indie Lit Fair.
Indie Lit Fair, Vol. Five
Learn more about presses, publishers, and literary magazines like 53rd State Press, Apogee Journal, and DSTL Arts in this fifth installment of the virtual edition of this year’s Indie Lit Fair.
Indie Lit Fair, Vol. Four
Presses, publishers, literary magazines, and more share discounts and highlights from their favorite titles in this fourth installment of the virtual edition of this year’s Indie Lit Fair.
Indie Lit Fair, Vol. Three
Presses, publishers, and literary magazines including Barrelhouse, Nightboat Books, Shade Mountain Press, and more share discounts and highlights from their favorite titles in this third installment of the virtual edition of this year’s Indie Lit Fair.
The art of translation takes center stage in this weekly series of virtual talks, marking the 50th anniversary of PEN America’s historic World of Translation conference.
In this tribute to the late Kamau Brathwaite, one of the great poet-thinkers of our time, acclaimed writers Honor Ford-Smith, Aracelis Girmay, M. NourbeSe Philip, Roger Guenveur Smith, and Christian Campbell celebrate his 90th birthday with readings, remembrances, and conversation about his legacy.
The PEN Ten: An Interview with Lynn Steger Strong
“Stories, I would argue, force readers to look and see and come to their own conclusions, to reconsider arguments they might consider predetermined.”
The PEN Ten: An Interview with Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Horror as a genre is “the space of shadows on the wall that we stared at before we went to sleep when we were children and the frightful darkness around a campfire.”
The PEN Ten: An Interview with Jean Kyoung Frazier
“I’ve never been great at imagining my future self and the things she may want, things that will be good for her, but each year that goes by, I do feel like I get to know myself a little bit better.”
The PEN Ten: An Interview with Mark Doty
“Poetry constructs communities across space and time by showing us our common ground. And it reminds us that words are more than just little packages of information.”
Dare to Speak: A Reading List
In this reading list, PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel expands on the books that helped inform the free speech principles in her new book, Dare to Speak.
A Linked History: A World Voices Festival Reading List From Jeremy Tiang
Playwright and translator Jeremy Tiang shares literary gems from Singapore and Malaysia—countries with complex, linked histories.
Drama as Reading: A World Voices Festival Reading List from Si’an CHEN
Playwright and translator Si’an CHEN curates a diverse, immersive selection of plays that are full of energy, and whose words are profound.
Finding Meaning: A World Voices Festival Reading List from Peter Stamm
For his reading list, award-winning novelist Peter Stamm turned to the central question: How does one deal with a meaningless world?
Become a World Voices Festival Insider
Sign up to have the latest digital content from the PEN World Voices Festival delivered directly to your inbox. You’ll get updates on authors you already love and others you’ll love to know.
About the PEN World Voices Festival
The PEN World Voices Literary Festival is the premier celebration of international literature in the United States, a landmark event on New York City’s, and now Los Angeles’s, cultural calendar. Each spring, the Festival presents writers from the United States and around the world in a week of cross-cultural exchanges and events—from lively debates that delve into the most pressing issues of our time, to intimate conversations that awaken us to the quiet beauty and power of literature. An engaging program of talks, panels, conversations, and performances draws a vibrant and diverse crowd of socially engaged and intellectually curious New Yorkers and LA audiences, who are eager to be challenged, inspired, and entertained.
PEN America thanks the following sponsors for their support of the 2020 PEN World Voices Festival:
The National Endowment for the Arts
New York State Council on the Arts
The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs
The Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment (New York City)
Amazon Literary Partnership
The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation
Acton Family Giving
Join Us
Becoming a PEN America Member today means becoming a supporter of the PEN World Voices Festival. Sign up now as a reader or writer Member and join thousands across the country in defending our freedom of expression.