In all, 100 writers from 25 countries make up the Festival. A subset of noted authors will speak about their books at NYU international houses and the Holmes Bobst Library on May 2-3 as part of the New York City-wide program.

International Houses of NYU to Host PEN World Voices Festival

Many international houses and the Holmes Bobst Library at New York University will host a string of talks by major authors as part of the Eighth Annual PEN World Voices of International Literature program to be held across New York City from April 30 to May 6. The talks, which celebrate the power of the written word in action, are free and open to the public.

To register for the NYU-based events, please visit www.pen.org/festival. Here are the highlights:

Wednesday, May 2:

12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Lunchtime Literary Conversations: Eugène Nicole and Lila Azam Zanganeh La Maison Française, New York University, 16 Washington Mews (at University Place) Spend your lunch with two celebrated artists as they read from their new work and share their perspective on literature and criticism today. Award-winning novelist,Eugène Nicole, is a scholar known for his work in critical editions of Proust’s In Search of Lost Time. The author of the The Enchanter: Nabokov and Happiness, Lila Azam Zanganeh was the recipient of the 2011 Roger Shattuck Prize for Criticism.

Thursday, May 3:

12:30 to 1:30 p.m.

Swiss author Noëlle Revaz (novelist; author of Rapport aux bêtes) interviewed by Lisa Dierbeck: La Maison Française of NYU, at 16 Washington Mews.

A two-time Pushcart Prize nominee, Dierbeck has contributed to such publications as The Boston Globe, The New York Times Book Review and O, The Oprah Magazine.

Thursday, May 3:

1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Fame and the Writer

Participants: Jaume Cabre, Daniel Kehlmann, and others: Deutsches Haus, New York University, 42 Washington Mews. The public image of today’s international literary stars is more often defined by the Internet and worldwide book tours than by what they write. Many successful authors feel that their celebrity has little to do with their work, and even less with themselves and their personal lives. In this conversation, three successful European writers engage in a conversation about the alienating effects of seeing one’s life reflected in the public eye.

Thursday, May 3:

3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Herta Müller on Silence

Participants: Herta Müller

Deutsches Haus, New York University, 42 Washington Mews

Born in rural Romania as part of the German-speaking minority, Nobel Prize laureate Herta Müller has recalled her childhood as a “school of silence,” where the loss of words reflected an inadequacy of language itself. It also resulted from an oppressive dictatorial regime with both communist and nationalistic traits. Writing became a way to break the silence. Don’t miss the rare opportunity to hear Müller speak about these themes. In German. Translation is available.

Thursday, May 3

4 p.m. Translating Poets Alive

Participants: Yusef Komunyakaa, Charles Simic, Tracy K. Smith and Anne Waldman, with their translators, MFA in Creative Writing in Spanish students Valerie Mejer, Claudira Mora, Edgardo Nunez, Florencia San Martin, and Kadiri Vaquer

King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center, New York University, 53 Washington Square South (between Thompson and Sullivan Streets.)

Four seminal voices of American poetry—Yusef Komunyakaa, Charles Simic, Tracy Smith and Anne Waldman—will read excerpts of their work together with their translators, five students from the MFA in Creative Writing in Spanish at NYU. This is the first event of its kind in the US.

Thursday, May 3

7 p.m. to 9 p.m. In Conversation: Hugo Hamilton

Participants:  Hugo Hamilton and Fernando Savater

Glucksman Irish House, 1 Washington Mews, New York City

Hugo Hamilton, Glucksman Irish House’s writer-in-residence, grew up with three languages—English, Irish, and German—and a sense of never really belonging to any one language or ethnic group. This acclaimed journalist and fiction writer will discuss place, craft, and language.

Thursday, May 3

7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m Elevator Repair Service: Shuffle

Participants Elevator Repair Service, Ben Rubin, statistician Mark Hansen, and audience members

Holmes Bobst Library, NYU, 70 Washington Sq. South, New York City

Ever dream of attending one of Gatsby’s mysterious shindigs? Open your mind to a new literary experience with the groundbreaking theater ensemble, Elevator Repair Service (ERS), creator of acclaimed Gatz, now in its second run at the Public Theater. ERS, in collaboration with visual artist Ben Rubin and statistician Mark Hansen, looks back on the company’s last three scripts -- The Great Gatsby, The Sound and the Fury, and The Sun Also Rises -- through the lens of creative data analysis.Join us in NYU’s stunning Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, home to 3.7 million volumes, and take a fresh look at the literature you thought you knew. The public is invited to participate in a workshop, (May 1 and May 3 from 1:30 to 4 p.m. at The New School’s Tishman Auditorium) during which the performance will be created. The workshop participants will have the opportunity to perform alongside members of ERS on May 3.

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Robert Polner
Robert Polner
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