Overall Impression of the PEN Festival

I went to a few events last year so I have a little context to judge this festival. I thought that, overall, it was great. Last year they had a lot more problems: not enough time for the speakers to speak and cumbersome set-up of panels. Also, there was never any time for questions last year. This year there was time for questions, only not enough time. I think that they should tack on at least another 15 min. breathing room to make sure people don't walk away unsatisfied every time (as I did).

Also I liked the breadth of the panels. There seemed to be something for everyone. That's good. One thing that I noticed though was there were not enough people of color in the audience. At many of the events, I would look back to see that I was the only one in attendance. (I was surprised that there weren't more black people at the event with Saul Williams.) I think that this is a problem of marketing. They should try to reach out to people of color, as that will most certainly enrich the whole experience for everyone.

Overall I think that PEN is doing a fantastic job since the improvements in the events were so dramatic from last year. I'm sure that the next one will be even better. I, definitely, want to attend next year. I got a lot out of it.

PEN World Voices Events, Part 3

Mixing Art and Politics
With Dorothea Dieckmann, Almudena Grandes, Janne Teller, Saul Williams; moderated by Sam Tanenhaus

This was the most heated of the events that I attended. The question of where art ends and politics begins is a sticky one. It is always interesting to see artists and writers tackle this subject since the feelings about it vary so much. Some think that their work is totally political and others feel that they are complete individuals with no responsibility to politics at all. This panel was no different. The most outspoken was Saul Williams.

What was most interesting was the very last question from the back of the room from a Egyptian woman. It was more of a comment than a question. "How is it that PEN did not have a representative from the third world on a panel such as this? This is supposed to be PEN World Literature Festival." Actually, this was a good point. PEN does need to be more careful next year.

Reporting on Iraq, Living in Terror:
With Carolin Emcke & Mark Danner

This was the event that I looked forward to the most for this festival since I am such a fan of Mark Danner's work. What I got out of this event was a real surprise: the war came home to me. Before me sat two people who have been to Iraq and have seen firsthand the devastation that this war has brought to that country. Danner painted an image that I don't soon think will be out of my mind. It involves cell phones. Evidently after an explosion in Iraq many cell phones go off on the broken, blown apart bodies as families call loved ones to see if they are all right. Also the problem of the electricity being on for only 4 hours a day means that people have to go to the market constantly to get food since refrigeration is impossible. The market place is incredible dangerous as suicide bombers blow them up constantly. This happened again just two weeks ago and killed 160 people. Mark Danner also told a pretty jarring story of a mother searching through a makeshift outdoor morgue of body parts for the upper half of her son's body.

The problem for reporting in Iraq is that it is so dangerous. Reporters don't dare leave the hotels so the stories of the ordinary Iraqis just don't get out. Carolin Emcke tied it together with the theme of the festival by saying that the very sense of home is totally shattered there. There is no sense of safety or continuity. There is no sense of knowing what is going to happen from one day to another.

PEN World Voices Events, Part 2

Words Without Borders: Every Day in Africa
With Marguerite Abouet, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Yasmina Khadra, Uzodinma Iweala; moderated by Dedi Felman

This event I think was supposed to be about African literature and it turned into anything but that. The most outspoken of the authors was definitely Yasmina Khadra. He is an ex-military officer working under a female pseudonym. The first words out of his mouth were "I disagree with the whole premise of the is panel" ...okay, that was interesting. The point of contention seemed to be Africa itself. "I am a writer of the world." None of the other authors expressed agreement with this premise. All was still, then we continued on.

Since the theme of this year's festival was "Home and Away" the moderator tried to pull us back to topic and asked the panel "What does home mean to you?" Marguerite Abouet said that the Ivory Coast was home even though she lived in France, Uzodinma Iweala said America (he was born in Washington, D.C.) even though he has close feelings for Nigeria, Abdulrazak Gurnah didn't seem to give a clear answer that I can recall, and Yasmina Khadra said his home was "inside his books." Interesting, again.

They went on to discuss literature and language. Uzodinma Iweala writes in English and so does Abdulrazak Gurnah who is from Zanzibar which was an English colony (hmm, I didn't know that!) Marguerite Abouet writes in French and so does Yasmina Khadra. Khadra went even further to say that he loves French. He then said, "Arabic is the language of poetry and French is the language of literature." He fell in love with the blonde blue-eyed French language. Then Khadra when on to say that literature has nothing to do with language but with verbs.

At this point I just want to know what the hell the man is talking about. As a black woman, I was beginning to feel dissed. In my notes I scrawled "Who is this guy?" But then I composed myself so that I might try to gleam something out of this panel that I came all this way to witness.

Uzodinma Iweala, who is the second most verbose person on the panel said some stuff that, in retrospect, were quite beautiful. He said that he liked the way Africans take language and manipulate it. Using hip-hop as an example, he talked about how the African diaspora takes language and twists it around and changes the meaning of words. Then when asked about the importance of location, he said that he liked to use place as a means to locate his readers emotionally. Taking for example the spot where he had his first kiss, the location has more meaning because of what happened there. "The more you are able to connect with emotions, the more you are able to connect." Yasmina Khadra then chimed in to say that the true territory of the author is his imagination.

Towards the end of the session the final question was "What is your responsibility as a writer?" The two responses that were the most provocative to me were from Abdulrazak Gurnah and Yasmina Khadra. Gurnah said, "to speak truthfully ... and, oh yes, beautifully" and Khadra said, "none." Then he left to go to another panel.

Yasmina Khadra may have been terse and even insulting but I cannot deny that he made me think. I think what he meant by "literature has nothing to do with language but with verbs" is that the language you choose to write in is not as important as the meaning. (At least that seems to be the only meaning that makes sense to me.) And while I do not like this "I am beyond Africa" attitude, it is remarkable to see a man reach beyond the typecasting of western culture to speak what he believes to be true and real. Then again at the end of every provocative statement he made, there was a noticable grin on his face. It may be that he was just having a little fun with us by keeping us on edge.

Update: I found this blog post about Yasmina Khadra that was apropos.

A Report From PEN World Voices Festival, Part 1

Going to the PEN Festival seems to have been a good idea for me on many levels. On the first level is me the new writer, then me the bookseller, then me the reader. I'll attempt to tell what I've gotten out of the festival so far:

The over arching theme of "Home and Away"

There are a lot of events that touch of the theme of "home" in the PEN schedule. At first I thought that it was a bit corny but the more I hear the writers speak on this theme the more relevant it seems. "Home" is a very painful subject for me. I basically had to run away from mine and I miss it so much. I feel so uneasy in the new place that I live. Sometimes I out right hate it. So it struck me to the heart when Neil Gaiman said that being away from home was necessary for your creativity. He said that, as a ex-patriot himself, that it is better to be uneasy and out of your comfort zone (I'm paraphrasing) so that you can look back and be able to be a good observer simply because you are not comfortable — interesting. It's making me think that having to be here in Brooklyn might be a blessing and not a curse. I have to think on this more.

PEN America is becoming a relevant part of literary life

I've always heard of PEN as an organization but it has been for the most part irrelevant to my literary existence. It has seemed like an elite organization that stood up authors when they got into political trouble. A useful organization that was mostly invisible. Under the stewardship of Salman Rushdie, it seems to be taking on new life. The festival is wonderfully filling a void of emptiness that has become the life of writers and readers (in NYC). For this I am excited and grateful.

Briefly meeting Neil Gaiman

What a thrill! I only spoke to him for two seconds but what a thrill! He momentarily pushed past me while I was in line and I nearly turned around to say "Hey, buddy!" and then I saw that it was him. Oops! (Hee! hee! hee!) He signed my books "Fragile Things" and "The Sandman: Dream Country" It was interesting to read his blog post from behind the scenes at the Town Hall reading. It looked so smooth and calm from the audience. It's cool to see that my writing heroes get nervous and flummoxed, too.

Introduction to a new author

French graphic novelist Marguerite Abouet. Her graphic novel, "Aya" is about normal life in the Ivory Coast. I liked what she said in describing her work: "so much is told about how Africans die, but very little about how Africans live." She was charming and her bright smile lit up the room as you struggled to understand what she was saying through her French translator. I will be seeing her again at another event tonight.

Here are some very nice photos of the Town Hall Reading. Also here are some other photos of the festival.

Our PEN World Voices Events

Geoff and I can't afford to go to all the events that we would like to attend, so we spent much of the afternoon going through their calender trying to whittle down the events that both interest us and we can afford. Fortunately there are a number of events that are interesting and FREE.

Wednesday | April 25th:
Town Hall Readings: Writing Home
Where: The Town Hall: 123 West 43rd St.
What time: 8 p.m.–9:30 p.m.
With Don DeLillo, Kiran Desai, Neil Gaiman, Nadine Gordimer, Alain Mabanckou, Steve Martin, Salman Rushdie, Pia Tafdrup, Tatyana Tolstaya, Saadi Youssef

Thursday | April 26th:
Where on Earth: The Refugee Emergency
Where: Lang Recital Hall, Hunter College: 695 Park Ave.
What time: 3–4:30 p.m.
With Ishmael Beah, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Laila Lalami, Saadi Youssef; moderated by Russell Banks

Conversation: Neil Gaiman & Marguerite Abouet
with Sean Wilsey
Where: 37 Arts: 450 West 37th St.
What time: 6–7 p.m.

Friday | April 27th:
Words Without Borders: Every Day in Africa
Where: Instituto Cervantes New York: 211–215 East 49th St.
What time: 6–7:30 p.m.
With Marguerite Abouet, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Yasmina Khadra, Uzodinma Iweala; moderated by Dedi Felman

Saturday | April 28th:
Mixing Art and Politics
Where: Instituto Cervantes New York: 211–215 East 49th St.
What time: 12–1:30 p.m.
With Dorothea Dieckmann, Almudena Grandes, Janne Teller, Saul Williams; moderated by Sam Tanenhaus
(Just for Jenn.)

Conversation: Caryl Phillips & Abdulrazak Gurnah
with Radhika Jones
Where: Elebash Recital Hall, The CUNY Graduate Center: 365 Fifth Ave.
What time: 1:30–2:30 p.m.
(Just for Geoff)

Reporting on Iraq, Living in Terror:
Carolin Emcke & Mark Danner
Where: The Bowery Ballroom: 6 Delancey St.
What time: 3:30–4:30 p.m.

Sunday | April 29th:
A Tribute to Ryszard Kapuscinski
Where: New York Public Library,Celeste Bartos Forum: 5th Ave. & 42nd St. (Enter on 42nd St.)
What time: 2–3:30 p.m.
With Breyten Breytenbach, Carolin Emcke, Philip Gourevitch, Adam Michnik, Salman
(Just for Geoff)

PEN World Voices 2007

April 24 - 29
The New York Festival of International Literature

For this year's Festival, PEN World Voices brings together writers from around the world to discuss their relationships to their own and each others’ homes; the political and social implications of concepts like homelands; and how literature helps us negotiate the divide between the familiar and the strange, the mundane and the exotic.