Standing Before History: Remembering Ken Saro-Wiwa

May 2 | CUNY Graduate Center | NYC

Introduction by Larry Siems, with Ken Wiwa, Richard North Patterson, with a reading by Steve Connell and Sekou; moderated by Okey Ndibe

On November 10, 1995, Nigeria’s military dictatorship hanged Ken Saro-Wiwa, one of the country’s most acclaimed and popular writers and the leader of a grassroots environmental movement in the oil-rich but impoverished Niger Delta. The region still seethes with unrest and many of the issues Saro-Wiwa gave his life to raise will be the subject of a lawsuit opening in New York this week against oil interests for complicity in his murder. Join Ken Wiwa Jr. and author Richard North Patterson for a discussion of Ken Saro-Wiwa’s literary and political legacy, with readings from Saro-Wiwa’s work by Steve Connell and Sekou.

Cosponsored by Guernica magazine and the Martin E. Segal Theatre, The Graduate Center, CUNY

 LISTEN 
• Entire Event

• Larry Siems: Introduction
• Steve Connell and Sekou Read from The Transistor Radio
• Tribute
• Discussion: Ken Wiwa & Richard North Patterson
• Closing
• Q&A

PHOTO GALLERY
• View the photo gallery on Flickr
 

PEN Blogs

• Deji Olukotun:
Fifteen years after the death of author Ken Saro-Wiwa, the Niger Delta region of Nigeria remains embroiled in conflict. Kidnappings and murders are on the rise, and America is more dependent on Nigerian oil than ever. [More]