PEN World Voices
CARO LLEWELLYN, our very own and former director of the Sydney Writers Festival now lives and works in New York, where she is director of the lit fest PEN World Voices.
Time Out NYC announced her nextfestival this week:
“Yes, the line-up for the sixth annual PEN World Voices festival of international literature has just been announced, and it’s sexy. Sexy in the way that librarian hair and geek glasses are sexy. The folk from PEN were at the Instituto Cervantes in midtown earlier today, plying the assembled crowd with Spanish wine and empanadas, and talking about the literary treats that await New Yorkers when the whole shebang kicks off on April 26.
“Festival participants include such literati as Salman Rushdie (who’s also the festival’s chair), Richard Ford, Sebastian Junger, Adam Gopnik, Roddy Doyle, Colm Toibin, Ben Okri, Mohsin Hamid, A.M. Homes, Sherman Alexie and Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison. Patti Smith and Brooklyn’s own Jonathan Lethem will be in the same room at the same time, talking to each other, and you can watch. Natalie Merchant will sing snippets from her latest album at the fourth annual PEN Cabaret.
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“All told, more than 150 authors, translators, editors and performers will add their voices to the throng, coming to the city from Europe, Chile, Russia, the Middle East, India, the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, Nigeria, China, Mexico and, of course, the rest of the US. Many of the events are free, while some are ticketed. Tickets have a habit of selling out, so consider yourself warned: Get your order in now.”
So, if you plan to be in New York in the second half of April, this is the sexy geeky event you won’t want to miss: PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature, various venues, Apr 26 - May 2, 2010. See www.pen.org/festival for details.
