NEW YORK (AP) — Salman Rushdie, Neil Gaiman and Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman will be among the authors featured at this spring’s PEN World Voices Festival, the writers organization announced Wednesday.

Now in its fifth year, the PEN festival will include readings, discussions and performances throughout New York City from April 27 to May 3, with participants expected from more than 40 countries.

Other writers expected include Edwidge Danticat, Michael Ondaatje, Colm Toibin and David Grossman, while Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson and Parker Posey will perform at a “PEN Cabaret.”

Because of the economic crisis, the festival is slightly smaller than last year’s gathering, with the number of authors dropping from around 180 to about 160 and the number of events trimmed from 81 to 76.

“It’s a huge financial undertaking and we need to be fiscally responsible,” says festival director Caro Llewellyn. “The economy makes it all the more extraordinary that we’re doing this. Publishing imprints are shutting down and we’re still going ahead. It’s still a really big celebration.”