PEN at the Brooklyn Book Festival

It’s that time of year again, bibliophiles: this Sunday, September 23, Brooklyn Book Festival takes the borough by storm!

Swing by the PEN table at Booth #120 to learn about PEN’s recent action campaigns, pick up the new copy of PEN America: A Journal for Writers and Readers, and speak with staff about Banned Books Month. We’ll be on hand with excerpts from banned books and a video camera, encouraging festival attendees to read us their favorite excerpts in support of the American Library Association’s Virtual Read-out.

Here’s a list of PEN Members participating in the festival this year:

• Joshua Henkin
• Siri Hustvedt
• Phillip Lopate
• Edwidge Danticat
• Harold Augenbraum
• David Ulin
• Tina Chang
• Philip Levine
• Francine Prose
• Gish Jen
• Dr. Terrence Holt
• Kwame Dawes
• Pierre Joris
• Peter Thompson
• Pete Hamill
• Terry McMillan
• Hillary Jordan
• Elissa Schappell
• Victor Navasky
• Amitava Kumar
• Kurt Andersen
• Ben Greenman
• Colin Channer
• Jessica Hagedorn
• Brigid Hughes
• Sean McDonald
• Eileen Myles
• Paul Auster
• S.J. Rozan
• Joyce Carol Oates
• Rob Spillman
• Andrew Delbanco
• Richard Greenwald
• Alan Cheuse
• Benjamin Anastas
• Chris Hedges
• James Wolcott
• Cynthia Carr
• Albert Mobilio
• Alexander Chee
• Paul O. Zelinsky
• Susanna Reich
• Joseph Bruchac

And there’s more: this year the PEN Translation Committee has begun a new partnership with the Brooklyn Book Festival and will be presenting a panel about translating the literature of North Africa.

Here’s the panel description:

North African Writing in the Wake of the Arab Spring

Noted translators, editors and poets Pierre Joris (Exile Is My Trade: a Habib Tengour Reader), Deborah Kapchan (Gender on the Market: Moroccan Women and the Revoicing of Tradition) and Peter Thompson (A Passenger from the West by Nabile Farès) explore the effects of the Arab uprisings in North Africa on poetry and narratives and discuss their recent works in translation. Moderated by Nathalie Handal (Language of a New Century: Poetry from the Middle East, Asia & Beyond).

The new collaboration was initiated by Translation Committee member Margaret Carson. Hope it leads to a yearly tradition! The panel will be held in the Brooklyn Borough Hall Community Room (209 Joralemon Street) at 5:00 p.m. For the full schedule of events, see the Festival Website.