At the final day of the World Voices Festival, Miwa Messer, Ashley C. Ford, Maggie Smith, and Isaac Fitzgerald speak at Church of the Village. Photograph © Beowulf Sheehan/PEN America

 

PEN America’s 2023 World Voices Festival wrapped up on Saturday with a blow-out closing night event that capped four days of poignant conversations exploring the vitality of the written word.

The final day of the festival featured two events with festival Guest Chair Marlon James, exploring the power of story with Ben Okri and the difficulties of writing a second novel with Elif Batuman, Alexander Chee, Garth Greenwell, and Khaled Hosseini. The closing event, “For the People” featured performances and music with Kaitlyn Greenidge, Patricia Smith, Imani Perry, Tyriek Rashawn White, Elizabeth Nunez, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, and Mahogany L. Browne.

 

UKRAINIAN WRITERS AT WAR

Ukranian Writers at War with Artem Chapeye, Artem Chekh, Iryna Tsilyk, and Phil Klay, Church of the Village, PEN America 2023 World Voices Festival of International Literature, New York, May 2023. Photograph © Beowulf Sheehan/PEN America

 

Ukrainian writers Artem Chapeye, Artem Chekh, and Iryna Tsilyk were joined in conversation with Phil Klay to explore the meaning of words in a time of war.

Tsilyk spoke of producing a documentary about a family going through war, and then finding herself in the same place, listening to explosions and watching her son shaking in fear. “I lost the role of observer and filmmaker,” she said. “I became that mother who can’t protect my own child.”

She said making art has helped her create distance between herself and the situation. Artem Chapeye said when the war began, he was worried because “I’ supposed to be a writer, and I can’t find words.” Reading a book about the Holocaust helped him cope, knowing that people had survived and still found meaning in their lives. “Of course writing matters,” Chapeye said. 

 

OBJECTIVITY IN THE ERA OF POLARITY

Objectivity/Polarity, Wesley Lowery, Robert Costa, Suzanne Nossel, Jelani Cobb, and Margaret Sullivan, Strand Bookstore, PEN America 2023 World Voices Festival of International Literature, New York, May 2023. Photograph © Beowulf Sheehan/PEN America

 

Journalists Wesley Lowery, Robert Costa, Jelani Cobb, and Margaret Sullivan spoke with PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel about journalistic objectivity, critiques of the practice, and its continued relevance. They discussed how the news media must not fall into traps like CNN did this week giving Trump (or any candidate) free reign to elude facts.

 

KALEIDOSCOPE: POETIC FORMS AND COLLECTIVE HISTORIES

Kaleidoscope with Douglas Kearney, Monica Youn, and Courtney Faye Taylor, Lillian Vernon House, PEN America 2023 World Voices Festival of International Literature, New York, May 2023. Photograph © Beowulf Sheehan/PEN America

 

In this conversation moderated by acclaimed poet Douglas Kearney, Monica Youn and Courtney Faye Taylor explored how peering into the morphing, recurring, and relentless patterns of White supremacy—and detailing their shape—can provoke deeper conversations about collective histories. 

 

WRITER/SCHOLAR/TARGET: ONLINE HARASSMENT AND THE THREAT TO FREE EXPRESSION

 

Best-selling author Reza Aslan (An American Martyr in Persia: The Epic Life and Tragic Death of Howard Baskerville) and Black List founder Franklin Leonard discussed how antagonism in online spaces within this fractious moment launches outwards into offline reality, and the insidious impact of harassment on writers, scholars, and creators in a conversation moderated by author and journalist Jean Guerrero. 

Aslan said, “I don’t have a problem with threats that come to me for things I have done or said, I don’t know what to do with threats that come to me for things I have never done or said.”

 

STANDING IN THE SHADOWS OF HISTORY

Shadows of History of Zain Khalid, Juan Gabriel Vásquez, Anne Weber, and Anne Berest, AIA, PEN America 2023 World Voices Festival of International Literature, New York, May 2023. Photograph © Beowulf Sheehan/PEN America

 

Truth may be stranger than fiction, but in fascinating novels from Juan Gabriel Vásquez, Anne Berest, and Anne Weber, the two realms powerfully meld and mirror each other. They joined in conversation with novelist and fiction editor Zain Khalid.

 

WRITING TRUTHFULLY FOR KIDS ABOUT TODAY’S ISSUES

Writing Truthfully for Kids, Padma Venkatraman, Zetta Elliott, Traci Sorell, Ruta Sepetys, and Kyle Lukoff, AIA, PEN America 2023 World Voices Festival of International Literature, New York, May 2023. Photograph © Beowulf Sheehan/PEN America

Four distinctive voices in contemporary children’s literature whose works have been challenged in schools and libraries — Zetta Elliott (Moonwalking), Kyle Lukoff (Different Kinds of Fruit), Ruta Sepetys (I Must Betray You), and Traci Sorell (We Are Still Here: Native American Truths Everyone Should Know)—discussed the challenges of writing honestly and with sensitivity in a discussion moderated by Padma Venkatraman (Born Behind Bars).

They swapped stories about ridiculous book bans, including the time someone wanted to ban Sepetys’ Between Shades of Gray because they thought it was 50 Shades of Grey. Sepetys said wariness from publishers about difficult topics makes her even more resolved to write them. “That tells me it’s even more important.”

“I think it is crucial to hold as a foundation that children are human beings” and not less deserving of the truth, Lukoff said.

Sorrell expressed concern about bans of books that explore sexual abuse and give children information about real predators and groomers. Venkatraman said people have reached out to say her book helped them leave a bad situation. “Books can and do save lives,” she said.

 

FIRESIDE CHAT: MARLON JAMES AND BEN OKRI – A FIRE IN MY HEAD

PEN America 2023 World Voices Festival of International Literature, New York, May 2023. Photograph © Beowulf Sheehan/PEN America

 

Festival Guest Chair Marlon James and novelist Ben Okri spoke to an enthralled audience for a fireside chat at the Church of the Village. 

James and Okri discussed the power of story. “Stories can still do what they always did, which is to awaken us, which is to turn us inside out, which is to challenge our dominant view of the world,” he said. “Stories can drop us down a level, raise us up a level… silence us, make us aware of things we wouldn’t normally contemplate like grace and courage.”

“Stories can tell truths, illuminate things that history can’t tell us,” Okri said.

 

UNDER A WILD SKY: CONVERSATIONS WITH BIRDS AND THE SONGS OF POETS

The Huntington’s gardens hosted readings by Priyanka Kumar, author of Conversations with Birds; Eloise Klein Healy, L.A.’s inaugural Poet Laureate and life-long birdwatcher; and award-winning two-spirit poet Julian Talamantez Brolaski. @ Randy Shropshire / PEN America

 

Home to a remarkable array of avian life, The Huntington’s gardens served as the perfect setting for an afternoon of observing, listening, and celebrating birds and other non-human species with readings by Priyanka Kumar, author of Conversations with Birds; Eloise Klein Healy, L.A.’s inaugural Poet Laureate and life-long birdwatcher; and award-winning two-spirit poet Julian Talamantez Brolaski, lead singer, rhythm guitarist, and songwriter for Juan & the Pines.

 

INTELLIGENCE AND ARTIFICE: HOW WILL A.I. CHANGE LITERATURE?

Intelligence and Artifice, Meghan O’Gieblyn, Andrew Marantz, and Hari Kunzru, Strand Bookstore, PEN America 2023 World Voices Festival of International Literature, New York, May 2023. Photograph © Beowulf Sheehan/PEN America

 

Can ChatGPT—and future, more advanced AI models—begin writing novels or short stories? Hari Kunzru (Red Pill, White Tears) and Meghan O’Gieblyn (God, Human, Animal, Machine; Interior States) joined Andrew Marantz, author of the bestselling book Antisocial, for a timely and urgent conversation about the role of AI in literary spaces.

 

LEGACIES OF DISLOCATION, WAR, AND REVOLUTION

Dislocation, War, Revolution with Dinaw Mengestu, Tsering Yangzom Lama, Fatin Abbas, and Ben Okri, Lillian Vernon House, PEN America 2023 World Voices Festival of International Literature, New York, May 2023. Photograph © Beowulf Sheehan/PEN America

 

An international array of novelists including Ben Okri (The Last Gift of the Master Artists), Tsering Yangzom Lama (We Measure the Earth With Our Bodies), and Fatin Abbas (Ghost Season), whose work captures history’s seismic forces, spoke with novelist and PEN America Board member Dinaw Mengestu (All Our Names).

 

POLITICIZED: WRITING TRANS NARRATIVES TODAY

Politicized Trans Narratives with Geena Rocero, Maya Gittelman, James Hannaham, and Jeremiah Moss, AIA, PEN America 2023 World Voices Festival of International Literature, New York, May 2023. Photograph © Beowulf Sheehan/PEN America

 

This event convened transgender and cis writers including novelist James Hannaham (Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to Carlotta), writer and social critic Jeremiah Moss (Feral City), producer, model, and advocate Geena Rocero (Horse Barbie) in a panel moderated by writer and critic Maya Gittelman to explore how they approach writing transgender stories in light of an alarming rise in hate speech and anti-trans legislation, and the concurrently increasing removal of LGBTQIA+ stories from schools and libraries. 

Moss was frustrated that his memoir Feral City about his experience during the Covid lockdown was received as a hybrid. “Sometimes it was on the social science  table, sometimes as a trans memoir.” On the other hand he said, cracking up the packed audience, “How trans is that that nobody knows where it belongs.”

 

SECOND ACTS: RESOLUTION & IRRESOLUTION AFTER MEMOIR

Second Acts with Miwa Messer, Ashley C. Ford, Maggie Smith, and Isaac Fitzgerald, Church of the Village, PEN America 2023 World Voices Festival of International Literature, New York, May 2023. Photograph © Beowulf Sheehan/PEN America

 

Memoirists Ashley C. Ford, Maggie Smith, Isaac Fitzgerald spoke with moderator Miwa Messer about finding the courage to tell their stories without what Messer called the luxury of making things up, being honest about real people from their pasts.

Smith said she had to explore what it means to be “good,” which is often gendered and asks women to be quiet and compliant. She said she asks, “Who is my silence serving? The answer almost always encourages me to run my mouth.” 

Ford added, “Loving someone does not require you to be silent about the ways they hurt you.”

“Nobody deserves your forgiveness,” Fitzgerald said. “That’s a decision you make. But the flip side is, give them a chance to surprise you.”

 

FRIENDS FOR LIFE: THE COMPLICATED, UNBREAKABLE BONDS

Friends for Life with Sayaka Murata, Mona Awad, Yiyun Li, and Kamila Shamsie, Strand Bookstore, PEN America 2023 World Voices Festival of International Literature, New York, May 2023. Photograph © Beowulf Sheehan/PEN America

 

What role do friendships play in our lives—setting us on new paths, grounding us, dissolving and reappearing at critical moments—and how do they shape the stories of who we are? Yiyun Li, Kamila Shamsie, and Sayaka Murata joined in conversation with novelist and moderator Mona Awad. 

 

THE SECOND NOVEL

The Second Novel, Alexander Chee, Garth Greenwell, Khaled Hosseini, Marlon James, and Elif Batuman, Joe’s Pub, PEN America 2023 World Voices Festival of International Literature, New York, May 2023. Photograph © Beowulf Sheehan/PEN America

 

Festival Guest Chair Marlon James (The Book of Night Women) explored the stakes for writers when broaching their second novel and asked them how this process figured into their writing life. Participating in the discussion were Elif Batuman (Either/Or), Alexander Chee (The Queen of the Night), Garth Greenwell (Cleanness), and Khaled Hosseini (A Thousand Splendid Suns).

 

PEN AMERICA AND LUSH COSMETICS PRESENT THE BANNED BOOK LIBRARY (DAY 2)

Lush Banned Book Exhibition, Astor Place, PEN America 2023 World Voices Festival of International Literature, New York, May 2023. Photograph © Beowulf Sheehan/PEN America

 

PEN America and Lush Cosmetics joined to present the Banned Book Library, an interactive free public art installation detailing the rise in book bans across the United States. 

 

VITAL VOICES FROM INDIE LIT PUBLISHERS

Vital Voices with Kevin Chen, Chia-Lun Chang, Ada Zhang, India Lena González, Christina Olivares, Lynne Sachs, Ostap Kin, and Jennifer Shyue, AIA, PEN America 2023 World Voices Festival of International Literature, New York, May 2023. Photograph © Beowulf Sheehan/PEN America

 

Hosted by The Community of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP), this panel presented readings from fiction writers Kevin Chen (Ghost Town) and Ada Zhang (The Sorrows of Others); poets Chia-Lun Chang (Prescribee), India Lena González, Christina Olivares (Interrupt), and Lynne Sachs (Year by Year); and translators Mayada Ibrahim, Ostap Kin, and Jennifer Shyue.

 

INDIE LIT FAIR

Indie Lit Fair, LaGuardia Place, PEN America 2023 World Voices Festival of International Literature, New York, May 2023. Photograph © Beowulf Sheehan/PEN America

 

The eighth annual Indie Lit Fair, co-presented by the PEN World Voices Festival and the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP), celebrated the vitality and diversity of independent literary publishing, showcasing new and established poetry presses, fiction and creative nonfiction publishers, and innovative literary magazines. 

 

TRANSLATION MANIFESTO

Translation Manifesto with Jennifer Croft, Alexa Frank, Aaron Robertson, Anton Hur, and Bonnie Chau, AIA, PEN America 2023 World Voices Festival of International Literature, New York, May 2023. Photograph © Beowulf Sheehan/PEN America

 

PEN America’s Translation Committee’s new manifesto takes a critical eye to the world of translation. This panel moderated by writer and translator Bonnie Chau featured translators and editors Jennifer Croft, Alexa Frank, Anton Hur and Aaron Robertson for a discussion—and urgent call to action.

 

WORKER WRITERS SCHOOL

Worker Writers, Washington Square Park, PEN America 2023 World Voices Festival of International Literature, New York, May 2023. Photograph © Beowulf Sheehan/PEN America

 

FOR THE PEOPLE: AN EVENING WITH MAHOGANY L. BROWNE, KAITLYN GREENIDGE, RACHEL ELIZA GRIFFITHS ELIZABETH NUNEZ, IMANI PERRY, PATRICIA SMITH, AND TYRIEK WHITE

PEN America 2023 World Voices Festival of International Literature, New York, May 2023. Photograph © Beowulf Sheehan/PEN America

 

In the festival’s closing event, Mahogany L. Browne, (Chrome Valley: Poems), Rachel Eliza Griffiths (Seeing The Body), Kaitlyn Greenidge (Libertie), Elizabeth Nunez (Now Lila Knows), Imani Perry (South to America), Patricia Smith (Unshuttered: Poems) and Tyriek White (We Are A Haunting) came together for a series of discussions, readings, and musical performances that explore the intersection of art, history, and family in the Black literary tradition.