PEN World Voices to Focus on Literature in the Age of Trump
The PEN World Voices Festival, which for the past two years has highlighted geographic regions like Africa and Mexico, will shift its focus this year to gender and power in the age of President Trump.
This year’s festival, which runs from May 1-7 in New York, will feature 150 writers in a series of talks, readings and workshops related to social justice, sexuality and politics.
The festival begins with “United Against Hate,” an evening of performance with the musicians Patti Smith and Ani DiFranco, as well as novelists including Colum McCann and Salman Rushdie.
Other highlights include a talk about cultural identity with the National Book Award-winning novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Trevor Noah, of “The Daily Show.” And the reading “Literary Quest: Tenement Museum Edition” will feature the artist Laurie Anderson and the writers Teju Cole, Jennifer Egan and more, drawing inspiration from the museum’s history of New York’s immigrants.
The full lineup — which also includes appearances by Carrie Brownstein (“Portlandia”) and the cartoonist Roz Chast — and tickets are available at worldvoices.pen.org.