RESONANCES: It’s called the world’s most solitary occupation, but writers never create entirely on their own. The best writing reflects and resonates with stories from the past and the present. In this session, award-winning writers from around the world read from their own work, and works that have influenced them. With Rowan Ricardo Phillips, Alicia Kopf, Xiaolu Guo and Aminatta Forna. Moderated by Bridgett Davis.
Presented with Baruch College’s Great Works of Literature and Sidney Harman Writers -in-Residence Programs
With support from The Institut Ramon Llull, Catalan Language and Culture
Free with RSVP
TRANSLATION AND THE POWER(S) OF LANGUAGE: Languages rarely exist in isolation, and almost always find themselves in a pecking order of power. In a country like the U.S., Spanish is seen as secondary to English, though it is the official language of over 20 countries and the lingua franca for numerous communities, from indigenous peoples to newly arrived immigrants. And yet, the existence of a dominant language can also be a deterrent to linguistic diversity. This panel explores some of the places where Spanish abuts other languages and how power relationships ebb and flow. How does translation affect these relationships? Can it restore a place of equality between a majority language and a minoritized language? And does it erase difference in the process?
With Alicia Kopf, Judith Santopietro, Trifonia Melibea Obono, Rubén Ríos-Avila. Moderated by Mary Ann Newman.
With support from The Institut Ramon Llull, Catalan Language and Culture
Free with RSVP
TRANSLATION SLAM: The Festival favorite is back. Competing translations of poems vie for audience approval and evoke an illuminating discussion about interpretation and the choices made by both poet and translator. Featuring Chinese poet Un Sio San and Catalan poet Maria Cabrera Callís and translators Bonnie Huie, Amanda Lee Koe, Mara Faye Lethem, and Mary Ann Newman. Both rounds of translation are followed by audience Q&A with the poets and translators. Hosted by Michael Moore and Jeremy Tiang.
Co-presented with the Nuyorican Poets Cafe
LITERARY QUEST: The artist-residents of this New York cultural institution open their homes and workspaces for intimate salon-style readings and conversations with Festival authors, followed by cocktails in their legendary gallery. With Nachoem Wijnberg, Rupert Thomson, Ashley Hay, Susan Kuklin, Basma Abdel Aziz, Ayelet Gundar-Goshen, Trifonia Melibea Obono, Sharon Bala, Demian Vitanza, Alicia Kopf, Hadi Nasiri, Kanchana Ugbabe, and Ayse Kulin.
Co-presented with the Westbeth Artists Residents Council
SANT JORDI: On Sant Jordi, the traditional Catalan day of books and roses, Cabrera and Kopf will participate in a conversation moderated by Mary Ann Newman at one of New York's favorite independent bookstores, McNally Jackson.
SANT JORDI
23 APR 2018, 6:00 PM
MCNALLY JACKSON, 52 PRINCE STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10012
This event is not part of PEN World Voices.
Free and open to the public.
LIT CRAWL NYC - PEN AMERICA: Words Without Borders and SLICE Literary present a Multilingual Most Exquisite Corpse! Join four international writers who, along with their translators, will stitch together a story in multiple languages. With Basma Abdel Aziz, Maria Cabrera, Sergio Chejfec, Heather Cleary, Petra Hůlová, Elisabeth Jaquette, Mary Ann Newman, and Alex Zucker. Hosted by SLICE’s Randy Brown Winston and WWB’s Jessie Chaffee.
Saturday, April 21, 2018
7-8 PM | PHASE TWO
Multilingual Exquisite Corpse
Think Coffee, 248 Mercer St
Free and open to the public.
Catalan poet Maria Cabrera Callís has a degree in Catalan philology and is a doctoral candidate in Linguistics. She teaches at the Universitat de Barcelona and works as a translator and copy editor. She has published poetry collections Jonàs (Amadeu Oller Prize 2004); La matinada clara (2009), and La ciutat cansada (Carles Riba Award 2016). She does spoken word with musical groups El pèsol feréstec and Vladivostok, and is codirector of the fanzine Cor Pelut.
Alicia Kopf is the artistic name for Catalan writer Imma Ávalos. After her first individual exhibition at the Joan Prats Gallery in Barcelona, she participated in many collective exhibitions at CCCB and MACBA, or the Tàpies Foundation, amongst others. Her first novel, Germà de gel (L´Altra Editorial, 2016), has received several awards and will be published in nearly 10 languages.
Photo Credit for Alicia Kopf: Laia Gutiérrez
ABOUT THE FESTIVAL: PEN World Voices is America’s premier international literary festival, attracting the best known writers from across the globe. Since its founding, PEN World Voices has presented more than 1,800 writers and artists from 118 countries speaking 56 languages in venues across New York City in a weeklong series of literary events with a human rights focus. The Festival was founded by Salman Rushdie, Esther Allen, and Michael Roberts in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, with the aim of broadening channels of dialogue between the United States and the world—a mission that, today, has never been more relevant.
