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Larry Siems: Ken Saro-Wiwa: The High Price of Dissent
Larry Siems is a poet and director of the Freedom to Write and International Programs at PEN American Center.In the spring of 1995, Ken Wiwa stood in for his… More
Quixote at 400
Becoming, not being, is what the novel as an art form is all about. And that is why we regard Don Quixote as the first modern fictional hero. More
The Way We Love Now: Wayne Koestenbaum
This panel’s title pays oblique homage to the late Susan Sontag, whose 1986 short story “The Way We Live Now” itself honored Anthony Trollope’s 1875 novel, The Way We… More
Quixote at 400
You may imagine the boss as the President, the General Secretary, the Chief of Army, the boss of your marriage or of your building, whatever you think. You immediately… More
Africa and the World: Writers at Home and Away
TSITSI DANGAREMBGA: When I think of myself, I don’t think of myself as an African writer. I think of myself as Tsitsi Dangarembga. The place I live that people… More
International Noir
The first thing I ever knew about Simenon was that he’d written an entire novel while enclosed in a glass booth in full view of the public. I heard… More
Quixote at 400
We may have our own personal opinions of an average writer, but in front of Don Quixote, we are all interchangeable. Conscripts of fate line up in front of… More
The Way We Love Now: Natsuo Kirino
Eroticism and its various definitions exist in paradox. It’s the nature of human beings to be held captive by eroticism. Even while longing to be set free, we still… More
Africa and the World
ZAKES MDA: I will read a passage here from The Whale Caller, which is a novel set in South Africa in a small town called Hermanus. Hermanus is well… More
Quixote at 400
In any case, since the book is supposed to be real, it follows that the story has to be written by an eyewitness to the events that take place… More
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