{"id":8112,"date":"2017-02-17T12:23:42","date_gmt":"2017-02-17T17:23:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/?p=8112"},"modified":"2017-03-02T02:27:37","modified_gmt":"2017-03-02T07:27:37","slug":"pen-world-voices-festival-gender-and-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/pen-world-voices-festival-gender-and-power","title":{"rendered":"PEN World Voices Festival: Gender and Power"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York, NY (February 16, 2017) \u2013The thirteenth annual PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature will focus its lens on today\u2019s fractious relationship between gender and power. Taking place in New York City, May 1-7, 2017, the weeklong Festival will use literature and the arts to address how gender both enables and impairs full participation in politics and society. At a moment of unprecedented threats to freedom and truth, and of emboldened mobilization and resistance, the Festival will connect leading global writers, artists and thinkers with concerned citizens to examine bigotry, misogyny and xenophobia, and to bolster the movement to counter them.<\/p>\n

Participants include Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Laurie Anderson, Rita Mae Brown,<\/strong> Carrie Brownstein<\/strong>, Teju Cole, Ani DiFranco, Jennifer Egan, Athena Farrokhzad, Vivian Gornick, Aleksandar Hemon, Dorit Rabinyan, Colum McCann, Nancy Morejon, Eileen Myles,<\/strong> Viet Thanh Nguygen<\/strong>, Trevor Noah, Marge Piercy, Salman Rushdie, Patti Smith, Andrew Solomon, Jeff VanderMeer, Dubravka<\/strong> Ugre\u0161i\u0107<\/strong> and Binyavanga Wainaina.<\/strong><\/p>\n

For the first time this year, the 2017 Festival\u2019s programming will reflect the vision of a diverse team of curators to explore the breadth of gender and power in all its dimensions. Chaired by Rob Spillman<\/strong>, founding editor of Tin House<\/em>, the curatorial team includes Susan Bernofsky, Jennifer Finney Boylan, Kim Chan, Ram Devineni, Mona Eltahawy, Marlon James, Saeed Jones, Meg Lemke, Valeria Luiselli, Paul Morris, Chinelo Okparanta, Steph Opitz, Clarisse Rosaz Shariyf<\/strong> and Andy Tepper<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

While some expected 2017 to be a year of ascendency for women at the upper echelons of political power globally, it risks instead becoming a time of retrenchment on rights. Through a rich and eclectic array of dialogues, panels, readings and workshops, the Festival will investigate, among other topics, the social constructs that restrict female and LGBTQ empowerment, sexuality and gender fluidity, and the transcendent power of art and story to enable people to see beyond their differences. In response to the resurgence of nationalism and neo-isolationism, PEN World Voices \u2013 the only American international literary festival \u2013 will create a crucial platform for writers and intellectuals from around the globe to debate how to confront the barriers and virulent backlash that jeopardize the rights of women, LGBTQ and other populations at risk.<\/p>\n

\u201cPEN America launched the World Voices Festival after 9\/11 at a moment when the U.S. was becoming cut off from the rest of the globe,\u201d said Suzanne Nossel, executive director of PEN America.\u00a0\u201cAmid visa bans and an America First foreign policy, World Voices is now an important antidote to an America at risk of only talking to itself, fanning baseless fears, and damaging relations with allies and people around the world. This year\u2019s Festival will center on both celebration and mobilization, rallying around PEN America\u2019s mission to defend free expression and enable the breadth of voices vital to an open marketplace of ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Festival will kick off with United Against Hate, an evening of performances and readings, rallying prominent voices in literature and the arts such as Patti Smith<\/strong> and her daughter Jesse Smith, Ani DiFranco<\/strong>, and novelists Marlon James<\/strong>, Colum McCann, Salman Rushdie<\/strong> and others, to confront emboldened bigotry around the world. Festival highlights also include a conversation between Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie<\/strong> and Trevor Noah<\/strong> on cultural straddling; two events on dystopian fiction that explore crucial issues of gender, reproduction and the environment; and panel discussions on subjects such as media representation of transgender identities, the LGBTQ cultural landscape, and sexuality and gender norms in graphic novels.<\/p>\n

This year, the Festival is also collaborating with Women of the World (WOW), produced by the Apollo Theater and the South Bank Center of London, on a series of events centered on activism and the achievements of women and girls from all parts of the world.<\/p>\n

PEN World Voices will bring the perspective of gender and power to the Festival\u2019s most popular and original events: the roving Literary Quests at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum and the Westbeth Center for the Arts, where distinguished writers read and engage in intimate conversations with the public inside studios and apartments; Dreaming Out Loud, where undocumented students from CUNY share their hopes and fears for the future \u2013 an event particularly relevant in these perilous times; and the World Voices: International PlayF, presented by the Martin E. Segal Theater Center at the Graduate Center, CUNY, which showcases play readings by nine dramatists, each hailing from a different world region.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe intersection of gender and power has emerged as one of the most pressing flashpoints of our time,\u201d said Rob Spillman, curatorial chair. \u201cWith politics seeming to fail us, literature and intellectual curiosity are essential catalysts to help see beyond the determined forces that can hold back entire populations and social progress. In an era of nonstop news, text and tweets, the chance to sit down, hear stories and engage in face-to-face dialogue has the power to transcend barriers, both geographically and culturally.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Village Voice<\/em> will serve as the Festival\u2019s official media sponsor, partnering on initiatives to help broaden the impact of Festival events and reach new audiences throughout the City.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are honored once again to be the Official Media Sponsor of the\u00a0Pen World Voices Festival,\u201d Peter Barbey, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Village Voice<\/em>, says.\u00a0\u201cIn today\u2019s political climate, it\u2019s more necessary than ever for us to support writers\u00a0in the U.S and around the world.\u00a0It\u2019s vital that we strive to keep America an example to the world of standing up for free speech\u2014free from censorship and free from intimidation.\u00a0We look forward to New York audiences joining us at the Festival in a show of solidarity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Festival highlights include:<\/p>\n